Sean Yakobson | Contributing Writer
A new regulation being implemented by the Department of Education potentially threatens the eligibility of numerous programs at FIU for federal direct loan programs.
The U.S. Department of Education is the federal agency that is responsible for education policy, distributes federal education funding, manages student aid, and enforces civil rights laws in schools. It doesn’t directly run schools; that responsibility is up to the states, districts, colleges, and universities.
For students, what that means is that the department is most visible through financial aid, civil rights protections, and programs that support access and equity. For institutions like schools, it matters because federal dollars often come with requirements they must follow.
The U.S. Department of Education’s new federal postsecondary accountability rule, the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and Earnings accountability framework, officially goes into effect on July 1, 2027.
The new accountability test is an earnings-based check for college programs. Undergraduate programs will have to show that graduates earn more than workers with only a high school diploma, while graduates’ programs will be measured against bachelor’s degree holders. Programs that fail for two out of three consecutive years could lose access to federal student loans and, in some cases, eventually lose Pell Grant eligibility.
The U.S. Department of Education published the final rule on July 1, 2026, following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (a massive federal budget reconciliation package that was signed into law on July 4, 2025). As opposed to standardized tests taken by students, this framework is a financial and earnings “test” applied to higher education programs.
The policy is meant to judge whether a degree program gives students enough financial return to justify federal aid. It applies across postsecondary programs under Title IV, which simply means schools that are accredited by the government to accept federal student aid.
If a program consistently leaves graduates earning too little compared with similar workers, the federal government may stop backing it with student aid. Undergraduates and graduate degrees, certificates, and doctorates, across public and private institutions are subject to the earnings test.
The programs that are most likely at risk within FIU under STATS are the ones where graduates tend to earn less in the first few years after finishing, which means programs in education, social work, counseling, humanities, some arts, religious studies/ministry, and other low-pay or part-time heavy fields.
Alicia Silva, 22, a senior, is a graphic design major at FIU, and expresses her concern about how this new policy could potentially impact programs that are known to not yield immediate results when entering the workforce.
“I think it presents an issue for schools that offer majors that aren’t immediately profitable upon graduation, I think it’s a lose-lose type of situation for people going into these majors such as: early childhood education, media, journalism, anything in the arts”.
Alicia graduates this upcoming fall semester but reflects on how this new policy could have potentially affected her as a graphic design major.
“It would put me in a situation where my degree would be potentially in danger, I wouldn’t know if my school would cut the program before failing to comply, as students within the graphic design program (we) can’t really expect to meet these expectations in the first couple of years after graduation.”
FIU would not lose aid across the whole university right away; the risk is more program by program. The main danger is that a few low-earning programs could lose Direct Loan eligibility
If they fail the earnings test in two out of three years, the university would need to monitor whether those programs receive a large share of its aid or enrollment.
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