Why Shouldn’t All Universities Show Gainful Employment?

When the Obama Administration demanded that for-profit schools show gainful employment of their graduates of lose federal funding, some of us–though precious few–wondered aloud why this standard was not applied to non-profit institutions of higher learning as well. In fact, Amanda Ripley, a talented writer for, among others, The Atlantic, asked President Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, that very question at a forum the magazine held and he not so adroitly tried to sidestep it.

Now, President Trump’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, wants to actually apply such an equal treatment. “In place of the gainful employment rule, DeVos proposed a new rule that would require all schools to publish data on student outcomes,” Jenna Robinson reports. “The data — such as debt levels, expected earnings after graduation, completion rates, program costs, accreditation, and consistency with licensure requirements — would then be published on the College Scorecard website.”

Related Topics