Years of regulatory shenanigans in higher education undertaken by liberal activists and bureaucrats have selectively targeted career and faith-based schools while giving a hall pass to the worst performing public and private programs. President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have taken historic action to level the playing field, holding all types of colleges and universities more accountable for student outcomes.

Last week, Secretary McMahon’s Department of Education finished the AHEAD negotiated rulemaking. The committee reached a consensus, an uncommon feat in these regulation-writing sessions, to implement a new accountability framework that puts post-secondary institutions on the hook for how well they prepare students to succeed after graduation, no matter what kind of school.

Perhaps the most consequential piece of the committee’s work was its creation of a new “earnings premium” standard. As required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, this test will compare graduates’ median income four years after completing a degree to reasonable thresholds. Programs that fail to meet those benchmarks two out of three years will lose eligibility for federal student aid.

With this new earnings test in place for all colleges and universities, the negotiators wisely repealed the

© Independent Journal Review