PARITY Act would end higher education’s 90/10 double standard
by Andrew Langer · The Washington TimesOPINION:
For years, federal higher education policy has been fashioned around the fallacy that unelected bureaucrats in Washington are better suited to make decisions than students and their families.
This mentality, which typifies liberals’ elitism, is hardly new. Leftists have long sought to consolidate control of higher education and protect conventional four-year universities, which often serve as purveyors of their woke agenda. The policy was even codified into the federal rule book by the Obama and Biden administrations.
That may soon change, however, thanks to the PARITY Act, introduced by Rep. Mark Harris, North Carolina Republican, and Sen. Jim Banks, Indiana Republican, which would finally retire one of the Education Department’s most egregious rules that limit student choice.
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Although the 90/10 rule predates the Obama administration, the Obama Education Department pursued a more aggressive regulatory approach toward proprietary colleges, including administering the 90/10 rule and creating the gainful employment regime.
The Biden administration went further, expanding the federal funds included in the 90/10 calculation and reinstating a strengthened gainful employment framework.
The rules would “stop taxpayer dollars from going to schools that continually saddle students with unaffordable debt,” James Kvaal, the Biden administration’s undersecretary of education, insisted at the time.
If that were true, why not hold all schools to the same standard? Why should a degree in diesel mechanics be treated any differently from one in LGBTQ studies, critical race theory or any of the many woke majors offered at public and private universities?
A full 40% of programs at private colleges and 30% at public schools would fail the gainful employment rule. Roughly 40% of public four-year colleges would violate the 90/10 rule if it were applied uniformly across all types of institutions.
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The rules were not applied to woke universities, however, because they were never meant to protect students. They were intended to prop up the higher education cartel and to corner students into conventional campus programs.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Trump signed into law last year, established real, meaningful accountability metrics that hold all schools — not just a select few — responsible for student outcomes. In doing so, it rendered the 90/10 and gainful employment rule obsolete.
Earlier this year, the Department of Education’s AHEAD rulemaking committee replaced gainful employment with a uniform “earnings premium” metric under the new STATS framework, effective July 1, 2027. Now, it is time to do away with 90/10.
Whatever justification may have existed for 90/10 as a proxy for institutional value, Congress has now adopted more direct, outcome-based accountability measures that apply across higher education. That raises the fundamental question of what independent regulatory purpose 90/10 continues to serve and whether its disparate treatment of one sector remains justified.
By requiring career colleges to collect at least 10% of their revenue from non-federal student aid, the 90/10 rule prevents students — especially low-income earners, minorities and nontraditional students, such as veterans and single mothers — from choosing these schools, even when they may be a better fit for their learning and career goals.
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Today’s young people — often called the Toolbelt Generation and Micro-Credential Generation — are increasingly eschewing traditional four-year colleges in favor of programs that teach real-world, job-ready skills.
As Higher Ed Dive reported recently: “Today’s students prioritize affordability, program flexibility and career outcomes over institutional reputation and the traditional four-year, on-campus experience.”
Mr. Trump, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Republican leaders in Congress understand that competition fosters innovation and improves student outcomes. They know that students and their families make better decisions about their education than distant bureaucrats, and they are fighting to restore local control.
As Mr. Harris explains, Washington should not pick winners and losers in higher education — and that is exactly what the 90/10 rule does. By finally repealing this regulatory relic, the PARITY Act will end the double standard that targets proprietary institutions and hold all types of colleges and universities to consistent, high standards.
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The House and Senate education committees should move quickly to advance the PARITY Act, and Congress should send it to the president’s desk for his signature.
Repealing the 90/10 rule will finally level the playing field in higher education and empower students to make informed decisions about their education. That will mark a major step in dismantling liberals’ long-held grip on higher education, which has caused tuition to skyrocket and outcomes to plummet.
• Andrew Langer is president of the Main Street Foundation.