Cosmetology schools are among those who’ve expressed opposition to the new accountability regulations.
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Initial data showing which college programs pass and fail a new student earnings test is slated to be released at some point in 2027. The first round of programmatic penalties based on the data won’t kick in until 2028—and only for some.
The Education Department finalized the metric, known as the Do No Harm test, last month. The end goal of the program is to more equally hold all colleges accountable for the outcomes of their students. It does so by cutting off access to federal loans for low-earning degree programs. (In rare cases, colleges could lose access to the Pell Grant, too.) Under the law that created the metric, the department must publish data for at least two years before the sanction kicks in. And now, critics worry that an exception for certain programs could even further delay that penalty, undermining the initial purpose of the test.
Here’s how the earnings metric works.
