Biden-Harris Administration Releases Proposed Regulations to Increase College Access and Quality, and Strengthen Oversight of Distance Education

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today released proposed regulations that would increase college access for high school students, provide better public data on student outcomes, including to increase oversight over distance education programs, and ensure the student aid programs work in the best interests of students. The regulations propose changes to three distinct areas, including the federal TRIO programs, Distance Education, and Return to Title IV (R2T4). Today’s proposed regulations build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to increase college access and affordability and improve the quality and value of postsecondary education.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we continue our relentless push to make higher education more affordable and accessible to all Americans. The regulations proposed today, if enacted, would help expand both access and affordability to our most disadvantaged students: those from low-income backgrounds, students without immigration status, and students with disabilities,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “By broadening eligibility for federal programs and placing guardrails that help protect against situations that leave students with debt but no degree, we can open more doors to the life-changing potential of higher education.”

The proposed regulations will be formally published in the coming days, and the public will be invited to comment on the proposed regulations for a period of 30 days. The rules propose needed and critical improvements to:

• Increase Dreamers’ access to higher education through the federal TRIO programs. The TRIO programs are federal outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities. The proposed changes would expand eligibility to include students without immigration status who are enrolled in or seek to enroll in a high school in the United States, territories, or Freely Associated States. The expansion in eligibility would apply to the Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Educational Opportunity Center programs which serve students at the elementary and high school levels. These changes would increase high school completion, college access, enrollment, completion, and overall earnings of students without status.

• Account for student outcomes in evaluating student success and increase oversight over programs offered through distance education. Online learning, which has substantially increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, has the potential to provide some flexibility to college students. However, the Department currently has very limited data on students enrolled in and programs offered through distance education which limits the Department’s ability to answer important questions about student outcomes and conduct adequate oversight over distance education. Proposed changes include requiring additional reporting for programs offered entirely through distance education and students’ distance education status which would allow the Department to share and evaluate data and protect students through offering closed school discharges when an institution ends a program offered in-person or online. The regulations also propose protections to make sure online students in career-focused programs get direct instructor interaction by prohibiting the use of asynchronous instruction.

• Help students who withdraw from paying any outstanding balances and increase accuracy and simplicity of calculations for institutions under R2T4. R2T4 regulations govern the process institutions must conduct when an HEA Title IV recipient ceases attendance during a payment period. An R2T4 calculation determines whether funds must be returned by the school and/or student. The issue is one of the top compliance findings for institutions and raises complex and challenging questions. Proposed changes would help students who withdraw better pay down their balances so they may more easily return their education and would streamline and simplify the calculation for institutions.

The proposed regulations released today are the latest action in the Department’s ongoing work to better ensure students and taxpayers receive value from postsecondary education. The Department launched negotiations on Program Integrity and Institutional Quality with a series of public hearings in April 2023. The negotiating committee and TRIO subcommittee, which were formed to develop and inform proposed language, met over the course of January through March 2024, and reached consensus on the issue of TRIO expansion. In addition to the issues included in the notice of proposed rulemaking, the Department considered regulations on Accreditation, State Authorization, and Cash Management. As further detailed in a blog post today on the timing of forthcoming regulations, the remainder of those issues will be released in proposed rules in 2025.

View an unofficial copy of the proposed regulations here.