Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a letter clarifying what it means for a third-party vendor to misrepresent itself to students within higher education spaces. Effectively, this new guidance puts American colleges and universities on notice of their responsibility to provide students accurate and truthful information about the academic programs they offer and the external contractors they use to offer them.
In response, Stephanie Hall, senior director for Higher Education Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
The Education Department’s new guidance is a welcome and much-needed step toward ensuring transparency within our higher education system. While the online higher education space has seen rapid growth in recent years, federal oversight hasn’t kept pace, leaving these programs alarmingly underregulated and vulnerable to abuses. It is a reasonable expectation that colleges should be forthcoming about who they contract with and to what extent.
By holding institutions accountable for their relationships with third-party vendors, the department can work toward ensuring students are able to make fully informed decisions about their education.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Mishka Espey at [email protected].