Brian,
Welcome! I really like what you shared about enhancing the the overall objective of the Educational industry. First if we can agree that transparency is critical to every consumer decision regardless of the product they are seeking then we can view the regulatory changes as an enhancement. Too many times regulation is seen as a necessary evil instead of a positive means to an end. It the next year or two we will be able to evaluate the effect of the regulations on graduation rates. Schools offering short programs already be able to asses the differences.
Cindy Bryant
Edwin,
Thank you for sharing your experience and pathway to compliance. Have you had an opportunity to assess your outcomes since the regulations were released? It sounds as if the impact has had an overall positive effect at your campuses.
Cindy Bryant
We've had a lot of changes regarding almost every aspect of our daily operations. Overall I believe the additional documentation requirements will benefit far more than it may hinder progress. We are being held more accountable and that is always a good thing.
I think it has become very tight on for profit schools since I have started. They have plugged up some loopholes and are trying to make things right for the student. I think they are good changes, considering some of the things some of the schools had been doing. The changes were very minor to our school but some of the changes did need to be made for the benefit of the student.
Candace,
You mention that the regulatory changes were minor for your school. Bravo! The majority of the career sector were already practicing many of the regulations prior to Program Integrity coming into play. Unfortunately there were a few schools that failed the sector and just like student complaints the bad news spread.
Cindy Bryant
I feel like the regulatory agencies are monitoring much closer cause of all the false promises prospective students were getting from admission reps who come and go. Working as admission counselors they don't fully understand the ramifications of informing students fully. Schools now scrutinize all data being in put much closer so it is accurate to reflect the good standing of the school.
In the past the schools disclosures where not so transparent and accessable.
julian,
Welcome! It is no secret that regulatory agencies have increased their oversight because they have fallen under the same scrutiny as the career college sector. As an educational institution there is the responsibility to self-regulate the activities of our admissions, staff and faculty members. One way to accomplish this is through monitoring and evaluating data more closely but what about monitoring people to ensure they are doing the right thing? How can this be accomplished without undermining the trust of the individual?
Cindy Bryant
Rob,
Based on your statement that in the past the schools disclosures where not so transparent and accessible, how will this change the educational landscape in the future?
Cindy Bryant
Accreditors, along with State and Federal Regulators are moving towards metric driven accreditation and compliance standards. New formulas for measuring success are consistently being presented and modified to set standards for career colleges. Our corporation and each of the campuses need to be aware of the standards and keep regular track of the outcomes.
The regualatory environment has changed over the years by becoming more stict in overseeing what schools are doing and how they are doing it. The regulatory environment is trying to become more uniform in the way schools across the country operate. I am not sure of the changes that this has had on my school as I am fairly new to the position of Financial Aid.
Danielle,
You are right about the regulations becoming more inflexible. What do you think the overall outcome will be if the regulatory agencies become more uniform in their regulations and standards?
Cindy Bryant
I think that changes are good it creats good energy, for the past few years we have experience high increas in organization and custumer services
Patricia,
Thank you for sharing the positive impact that the regulations have had on your career college.
Cindy Bryant
The regulatory environment stresses transparency thru full disclosure. And since transparancy builds trust, that creates a competitive advantage for our school. It also builds high standards and creates values which in turn lead to high performance standards for our students.
We've always been cognizant of the needs of the accreditation body for reporting but in the past we didn't always get supporting information from the employer - if we had a verbal confirmation from the graduate that they were employed or returning to school that was sufficient.
To provide further support of our employed and waived statuses we now look for additional level of support from the school they are returning to or written verification directly from the employer and strive to get the job duties to show the relationship to the field.
Kathy,
A few years ago securing employment verification's was a much simpler process. Today it is much more complicated and requires time and manpower. We are not only verifying the student but verify the employer and the school adviser. I would like to say that the process will ease up in the future but I feel that we will need to practice this regiment until we have earned the legislator's and public's trust once again.
Cindy Bryant
The regulatory environment has changed over the past few years in many ways. One way it has changed is that bonuses and commission for Admissions Departments can no longer be given.
The increase in negative press has caused a major change in the overall regulations that we follow. we have made extra efforts to make sure that we are in compliance with these changes. It hasn't made a huge impact on our school because we have always tried to follow the ragualions but we have had to make changes here and there.
The landscape seems to be changing daily, especially for financial aid and online learning. We have added new personnel to keep pace with the changes as well as to work with other states to make sure we are compliant with their regulations for online learning.
