Posted Date:January 19, 2017
| Author: | Gail McLarnon, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Innovation |
Subject: Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #103 - Release of the 2017 GE Disclosure Template
We are announcing the release of the 2017 Gainful Employment (GE) Disclosure Template. Institutions will have until April 3, 2017 to update disclosures for each of their Gainful Employment (GE) programs, using the 2017 GE Disclosure Template.
Because 2017 is the first year disclosures must be made in accordance with the Final Regulations that were on published October 31, 2014, the new template differs significantly from templates used in previous years. Most notably, some of the disclosure items for the 2017 template will not be from the most recently completed award year. The completion rate calculated on the 2017 template is based on the most recent cohort of students for whom sufficient time has passed for the cohort to complete the program within its scheduled length. For example, the completion rate cohort for a four-year GE program would be students who began enrollment in the program between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. The completion rate cohort for an 18-month program would consist of students who began enrollment in the program between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014. In each case, the applicable cohort of students will have had enough time to complete the program within the scheduled length of the GE program.
Gainful employment regulations define student as an individual who received Title IV, HEA program funds for enrolling in a GE program. Generally, information to be reported on the 2017 GE Disclosure Template will be for students who are Title IV recipients. The one exception is for calculating the percentage of students who, during the most recently completed award year, borrowed for attendance in the GE program. That cohort is the number of individuals, both Title IV and non-Title IV recipients, who were enrolled in the GE program between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.
Bulk Upload Tool
We have received a number of inquiries questioning the lack of bulk upload functionality for the 2017 GE Disclosure Template. For a variety of reasons we will not provide a bulk upload tool this year. We will consider whether to reinstitute the bulk upload tool in future years.
Student Warnings
Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #99 includes a comprehensive discussion (not repeated here) of the student warning requirements. We strongly suggest that all institutions review this document. However, we are providing one clarification here. If an institution has submitted an intent to file an alternate earnings appeal, it is not required to provide student warnings for a failing program while the Secretary considers the appeal. The Department’s Debt-to-Earnings (D/E) rates spreadsheet will be annotated to indicate that the program’s D/E rates are under appeal.
Availability of the 2017 GE Disclosure Template
The 2017 GE Disclosure Template is available on the following web page:
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/negreg-summerfall.html
Once the template is completed by the institution, the template application will generate a zip file containing the GE program’s disclosure page, which the institution will host on its GE program’s web page. Also available on the above web page and from the Help menu on the template website, is a comprehensive GE Disclosure Template Quick Start Guide to assist institutions in using the GE Disclosure Template.
Any web page containing academic, cost, financial aid, or admissions information about a GE program must include the GE Disclosure Template for that program or a prominent, readily accessible, clear, conspicuous, and direct link to the program’s disclosure template. In addition, all promotional materials made available to prospective students that identify a GE program by name or otherwise promote the program must include the GE Disclosure Template in a prominent manner. Where space or airtime constraints preclude inclusion of the template itself, the web address of, or the direct link to, the GE Disclosure Template must be provided.
Distribution of GE Disclosure Template
Unlike in previous years, the 2017 GE Disclosure Template must be distributed to prospective students as a separate document before the student signs an enrollment agreement, completes registration, or makes any financial commitment to the institution. The disclosure template may be provided by hand-delivering it (individually or as part of a group presentation) to prospective students; or by sending it to the primary email address used by the institution for communicating with that student, ensuring that the disclosure template is the only substantive content in the email. If the hand-delivery method is used, written confirmation of receipt must be obtained from the prospective student. Likewise, if email delivery is utilized, the institution must receive electronic or other written acknowledgement that the email was received by the prospective student. If the institution receives a response that the email could not be delivered, the disclosure template must be sent using a different address or method of delivery. In all cases, the institution must maintain a record of its efforts to provide the disclosure template.
Now that the 2017 GE Disclosure Template is available, institutions must begin complying with these new disclosure distribution requirements no later than the April 3, 2017 deadline established for posting the new template.
Contact Information
If after reviewing the GE Disclosure Template Quick Start Guide there are any technical questions regarding the GE Disclosure Template, please contact our help desk toll-free at (855) 359-3697 or gedt@inovas.net.
If there are any policy questions about the gainful employment disclosure requirements that are not answered in the GE Disclosure Template Quick Start Guide or in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section of the GE Information Page, please submit those questions to the GE Questions mailbox at GE-Questions@ed.gov.