Regulatory Environment
Describe how the regulatory environment has changed over the past few years.
Having been in the career sector for the past five years I have seen a lot changes on the regulatory environment that affect our schools. Mainly the gainful employment rules, the expansion of the Misrepresentation Rule, State Authorization regulation on distance education, etc. I believe the importance of compliance extends beyond having good students and a good reputation; we have seen how a few bad apples can affect regulation for all schools in our sector. If all schools operated with the same level of integrity, the need for constant regulatory changes would stay more or less consistent.
Carolina,
The rules are only as good as the integrity of the career school or college and their employees. Creating a zero tolerance environment from the beginning is critical. This is done through key leadership and developing mission and value statements that set a positive tone. Unfortunately, not every school is willing to monitor and address areas of non-compliance.
Cindy Bryant
I agree with Carolina with regard to the affect that some "bad apples" have had on the regulatory environment of the career school sector. There is more oversight from the Department of Education, as well as more stringent and expanded rules. It also seems as if the regulatory environment has become more politically charged.
Dear Cindy,
In my opinion, the regulatory environment is moving from measuring “student satisfaction†at completing their programs of study to measuring completion and placement rates and making sure that students are getting jobs in the areas that they got their degree. In other words, the regulatory environment is concerned in assessing that the education attained is rewarding student by becoming active participants in the market place.
Andres,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with the forum. You are correct, at the end of the day the overall concern is that the college is meeting and exceeding expectations.
Cindy Bryant
I have only been working in vocational education for the past 5 years. Within that time not only have the regulations become much more strict, but the student disclosures as well as annual reports have required an increasing amount of information every year. I understand that regulatory boards want to make sure that schools really are benefitting the students who attend; but the regulations continue to expand yearly.
Jennifer,
Unfortunately, due to a few "bad actors" in the career college industry many regulations were warranted. Apparently the USDOE has not achieved the results that they had hoped for and the regulatory environment has become more intense.
Cindy Bryant
