The Department of Education refuted a report that the Trump administration is seeking to ban students majoring in certain college degrees, insisting that a new rule will instead “[hold] colleges accountable for leaving students worse off than if they never enrolled.” “This is fake news at its finest,” the Department of Education wrote on X after The New Republic shared a July report that said students pursuing some lower-paying degrees could lose access to federal loans. The federal government doesn’t set curriculum or programs,” the department said, adding that it was seeking to prevent colleges from leaving students with heavy debts that do not translate into improved employment prospects. American students deserve education and training pathways that prepare them for the workforce – and transparency about programs that will never pay off.” The dispute centers around a Los Angeles Times report that said the new rule, finalized in July, would see undergraduate programs assessed by comparing their graduates’ median earnings four years after completion with those of working adults of a similar age who hold only a high school diploma.
Graduate programs would be compared with the earnings of workers who hold bachelor’s degrees, it said. The New Republic characterized the policy as cutting off students in low-paying fields from college loans. Its report said that social work, art, religious studies, music, teaching assistance and cosmetology could be among the degrees most heavily affected.
It also cited concerns that some professions are socially valuable despite generally offering lower salaries. The Los Angeles Times reported that an estimated 3 percent of bachelor’s and advanced degree programs at public and nonprofit institutions will fail the test, compared with roughly one-third of programs at for-profit colleges. Overall, an estimated 5.2 percent of programs could fail, affecting programs attended by 4.2 percent of federal loan or grant recipients, according to the outlet.
When approached for comment, the Department of Education pointed Newsweek to a press release that contained the following quote from Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent: “The Trump Administration is hitting the hard reset button on higher education and implementing commonsense reforms that will drive down the cost of higher education and hold all institutions, regardless of sector, accountable for low earnings outcomes. Amid rising rates of default and delinquency in the $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio, this new accountability framework is a responsible policy that will safeguard American taxpayer dollars and protect students from taking on unmanageable debt for programs that cannot demonstrate a reasonable return on investment.” A Postsecondary Commission and Mathematica study published in May compared the earnings of almost a million students who entered public colleges in Texas with those of similar people who didn’t attend college. Among bachelor’s degree fields, liberal arts produced the lowest measured 15-year net earnings gain, at approximately $35,400.
Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies followed at about $42,400, while social sciences generated roughly $51,300 and communications about $70,400. However, every broad bachelor’s degree field examined still produced a positive average return. STEM programs offered greater value, the report found.
It said that those who selected a program of study in engineering and architecture saw cumulative net value-added earnings of more than $200,000 on average. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Dave Siminoff.
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