Correspondence

Dear Secretary Duncan:

Given the significant investment of taxpayer resources in postsecondary education, the federal government has an obligation to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the student aid programs. One important way to protect the integrity of federal student aid is to ensure participating institutions provide a high-quality education to their students. Any institution misusing federal funds or failing to provide a quality education should not be eligible to participate in the federal student aid programs.

In an effort to provide proper oversight of federal student aid, we strongly support measures that require all institutions of higher education to provide students clear information regarding the quality of postsecondary education programs. The Department should ensure consumers have access to meaningful measures of student outcomes, including graduation rates, persistence rates, and in-field job-placement rates. Transparency is a stronger and more sensible approach than the complex and burdensome gainful employment regulation published by the Department in the Federal Register on July 26, 2010.