Gainful Employment and Title IV Compliance
November 15, 2011 is the deadline for Gainful Employment disclosure statistics to be reported to the Department of Education for the 2010-2011 award year. To the extent that information is available for programs that prepare students for gainful employment in a particular area of practice, information about those programs must be submitted to the Department of Education to be considered for Title IV funding. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-02/pdf/2011-19534.pdf
Lawsuits
A large number of schools are being investigated for dishonest recruiting practices, inflated job placement rates and rate of tuition compared to available salary upon completion. One school recently settled with 8,500 former students for $40 million. Career Education Corp, which owns the schools, faces another class action lawsuit under similar facts.
Responsibility Lies on the Schools
Schools must comply with federal regulations regarding recruiting, advertising, enrollment practices, and the manner in which they obtain and enroll students. Disregarding these rules can be financially devastating, as many schools have recently discovered. A lawsuit was just filed in August of 2011 against Education Management Corp. alleging widespread fraud. The government is allowed triple damages in these types of cases, putting many schools at risk to lose their federal funding from 2003 to present X 3. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/education/09forprofit.html
Gragg Compliance
We make sure your school is compliant with all federal regulations and with the directives from the Department of Education. We track and monitor all online advertisements to uncover cases of enticement, inflated salary, misrepresentation, as well as many other factors. Gragg manages your disclosures that are required for the receipt of Title IV funds which is the financial life blood of your organization.
 |
This post is guest written by our Compliance Manager, Jennifer Flood.
