The Department of Education has announced a negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare regulations for a wide-range of issues pertinent to UPCEA member institutions. The extremely wide range of topics to be discussed include, but is not limited to:

• State authorization
• Regular and substantive interaction
• Definition of “credit hour”
• Discussion of EQUIP-style programmatic delivery by third-party providers
• Barriers to innovation
• Direct assessment + competency-based programs
• Faith based entities taking part in title IV/HEA programs

The Department plans to also establish two subcommittees for this set of work. The first subcommittee will focus on proposed regulations related to direct assessment programs/competency-based education. The second subcommittee would be focusing on the eligibility of faith-based entities to participate in title IV, HEA programs.

The Department plans to hold three public hearings for interested parties. Those hearings will be held:

September 6, 2018 – Washington, DC
September 11, 2018 – New Orleans, LA
September 13, 2018 – Sturtevant, WI

UPCEA plans to attend the Washington DC meeting.

Public comments are sought and the deadline to submit is September 14, 2018. We encourage you as individuals, and through your institution, to submit comments. To submit a formal comment for this negotiated rulemaking committee, or to weigh in on the topics they are discussing, click here.

For the full announcement from ED, click here.