Education Dept. Urges Judge to Uphold Gainful Employment Rule

Trump administration lawyers urged a federal judge in a recent court filing to uphold regulations put in place under former president Joe Biden that require career education programs to show their graduates can afford their student loans and make more than a high school graduate. 

Programs that fail those tests under the so-called gainful-employment rule could lose access to federal financial aid. The trade association representing cosmetology schools sued the Biden administration over the rule, arguing that the regulations jeopardized the “very existence” of cosmetology schools and used flawed measures to determine whether graduates of career education programs are gainfully employed.

The regulations also included new reporting requirements for all colleges under the financial value transparency framework. Department of Justice lawyers asked the judge to keep the reporting requirements even if they strike down the gainful-employment part of the rule.

The 51-page brief filed Friday evening offers a glimpse into the Education Department’s stance on the gainful-employment rule, which has gone through multiple iterations and become a political football. The administration was granted a 90-day extension to file its response to a motion for summary judgment, which is a way to reach a final decision without a full trial. Administration officials said in February that they needed more time to evaluate their position in the case. In the end, the Trump administration decided to fight to keep the gainful-employment regulations.

“It is the Federal Government’s responsibility to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars, and the Department of Education’s interest in doing so is particularly acute in light of the billions of dollars it disburses in Title IV aid, and the high levels of unpaid student debt that continue to plague many Americans who have sought some form of higher education,” the filing states. (Title IV refers to federal financial aid.)