FILE - New graduates line up before the start of the Bergen Community College commencement in N.J, May 17, 2018. The majority of programs offered at Oregon colleges pass a federally-proposed earnings test. But degrees that educate musicians, actors, hair stylists and some healthcare professions do not.
Seth Wenig / AP
There’s potentially bad news for Oregonians interested in pursuing careers or training in music, theater, cosmetology or alternative healthcare: Federal student loans that help pay for degrees in these fields could be stripped away under new regulations being considered by the U.S. Department of Education.
Higher education stakeholders, including students, institutions and research groups, are considering a set of rules this week that are designed to hold colleges more accountable for student outcomes.
The Education Department has been developing postsecondary accountability regulations for over a decade. But the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill last year is prompting an overhaul. The bill included a “Do No Harm” provision directing the federal agency to implement a new earnings-based accountability test.
At the core of the measures is the principle that students who graduate from any postsecondary program should be able to secure better jobs and higher wages as a result of their degree.
“Congress passed that bill back in July and they introduced, for the first time in legislation, an institutional accountability framework that is based on whether students are earning more after attending some type of postsecondary education,” said Jill Desjean, a policy director at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
The proposed framework measures whether students graduating with a two- or four-year undergraduate degree, in any academic program, make more than the average high school graduate. Programs at higher levels, like Masters or professional degrees, would be measured against the average earnings of a bachelor’s degree holder.
In a separate rule, earnings of students who complete undergraduate certificates — which are typically short-term, workforce-related programs — would also be measured against high school graduates.
Programs that fail to meet the earnings threshold over multiple years could become ineligible for federal student loans. Pell grants, for low-income students, would still be available.
The vast majority of degree programs offered by Oregon colleges and universities would pass the proposed earnings test, according to federal estimates published this week. But of the 7% of programs estimated to fail in the state, many are in the fine arts and cosmetology fields.
An analysis of federal student earnings data by University of Tennessee education policy professor Robert Kelchen showed that nearly 40 degree programs from public, private and for-profit institutions in Oregon don’t pass the test. Nearly half of the failing programs offer undergraduate certificates.
On the flipside, degree programs in biology, computer science and social sciences showed fail rates of less than two percent. No degree programs in engineering, from any U.S. institution, failed the earnings test.
In negotiations over the proposed measures this week, higher education experts had reservations about the one-size-fits-all accountability approach that would be placed on programs. Geographic differences and shifting job markets can significantly impact wages, said Desjean.
“There’s a lot that goes into how much someone earns after they finish a program, and obviously that’s outside of a school’s control,” Desjean said.
The “Do No Harm” rule could push institutions to prematurely eliminate degree programs that would not pass the earnings test, including programs that train students in careers with cultural and social value.
“So do we not have any more musicians because the earnings outcomes don’t match up against this framework?” Desjean asked.
“There are fields that are low paying, fields like early childhood education,” Desjean said. “It’s just a career that for whatever reason our society does not value enough.”
There’s still room for change in the proposed accountability framework.
Federal negotiators are expected to vote on a revised proposal Friday, after which the rules would then undergo a 30-day public comment period that could result in more modifications. The finalized framework would go into effect July 1.
