Gainful Employment: Getting the Institution Involved, 9:45 - 10:45 a.m.

By Joelle Fredman, NASFAA Staff Reporter

The regulations and disclosures surrounding gainful employment (GE) regulations involve much more than just the financial aid office, but it can be a struggle to get other offices involved, according to a panel of financial aid professionals working at institutions with multiple gainful employment programs.

The speakers — Cristi Millard of Salt Lake Community College, Andrew Hammontree of the Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Vicki Kucera of the Central Community College Hastings Campus, and Debra Hintz of the University of Wyoming — on Monday shared with conference attendees the successes and challenges  they have had in trying to get the entire campus on board in partnering with the financial aid office to fulfill GE regulations.

Hammontree, for example, said that he overcame communication issues surrounding the regulations on his campus by setting up face-to-face meetings with people in various departments, such as enrollment and admissions, to explain to them how they could contribute to reporting requirements, and by being more vocal when mistakes were made by other offices that would skew a program’s data. Despite this, however, Hammontree said that his financial aid office is still overly burdened by reporting requirements, as well as solely responsible for fulfilling disclosure requirements.

Kucera as well said that she relies heavily on her institutional research and IT departments to provide her with the data needed to comply with GE reporting requirements, but that she had to fight for their support. While Kucera’s office still analyzes the data, she said that the help from other offices on campuses has made the process much more manageable.

Millard suggested that financial aid advisors who may be tasked with complying with GE regulations for the first time — if the Department of Education (ED) follows through on an idea it proposed to expand the regulations to all undergraduate institutions — sit down as early as possible with other offices to form a partnership to comply with the regulations.  

“It is an institutional responsibility,” Millard said. “You’ve got to get everybody on board.”   

The panelists also discussed issues they face with regard to the disclosure regulations that can involve the entire institution, such as identifying prospective students to send disclosures to, which Kucera and Millard said should ideally involve the admissions department.

 

Publication Date: 6/25/2018


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