Student Loans

As someone from outside the USA I find the discussion of the “gainful employment” regulations made by the U.S. Department of Education a little hard to understand. As I understand it, the US government provides low interest student loans to students to study, much like Australia and other countries. These loan schemes are frequently controversial, with issues of if students take on more than they will be able to repay.

In "Now What?" (Inside Higher ED, March 21, 2013), Paul Fain writes that U.S. Department of Education “gainful employment” regulations,have been struck down by a court. The regulations were to measure performance of vocational programs in education institutions. One measure was the percentage of graduates repaying their loans. This seems a curious measure to use and one a court might well strike out, as the educational institution would have little say on if its graduates pay their loans or not. It would be reasonable to see if the courses provided a qualification in a job category in demand, what the rate of employment of graduates was and how much their salary went up. However, such measures are used in Australia only to provide potential students with information when choosing courses, it is left to the students to decide what courses to take.

As an example, here are the statistics for Computer Science graduates from the Australian National University (where I teach),  as reported by the Australian Government's "My University" website:

Overall satisfaction rate (opens in a new window)	79.2%
Good Teaching Scale (opens in a new window)	45.8%
Generic Skills Scale (opens in a new window)	85.4%

Graduate Outcomes (Average of 2009 to 2011)

Graduate Outcomes (Average of 2009 to 2011)	Value
Graduates in full time employment (opens in a new window)	77.9%
Graduates in full time study (opens in a new window)	9.6%
Median graduate salary (opens in a new window)	$54,000

The ANU rates well, except on the "Good Teaching Scale (45.8%). Staff have been encouraged to get trained in the latest education techniques and make full use of technology, to improve teaching and I have found this works Even before finishing the ANU's certificate in Higher Education, my student satisfaction scores increased, after applying what I learned on the program. I discuss some of what can be done, in "MOOCs with Books".