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Citations: (R)667.21 AsOfDate: 12/31/95 From the Compilation of Regulations through 12/31/95. Sec. 667.21 State review standards. (a) Each State participating under this part must develop standards, in consultation with institutions in the State, under which the SPRE reviews referred institutions. The State- developed review standards must evaluate, with regard to a referred institution-- (1) The extent to which the institution makes available to its students and prospective students its catalogs, admission requirements, course outlines, tuition-and-fee schedules, refund policy, course cancellation policy, rules and regulations, and enrollment agreement, if appropriate; (2) Whether the institution's descriptions of its courses and educational programs are accurate; (3) Whether the institution has a method to assess that a student has the ability to complete successfully the educational program for which he or she applies; (4) Whether the institution maintains and enforces standards relating to satisfactory academic progress; (5) Whether the institution maintains adequate student and other records; (6) Whether the institution complies with relevant safety, and health standards, such as fire, building, and sanitation codes; (7) The extent to which the institution's financial and administrative capacity is appropriate to its scale of operations, and whether the institution maintains adequate financial and other information to determine the adequacy of its financial and administrative capacity; (8) For an institution that the SPRE determines is at financial risk, the adequacy of the institution's plans to provide for, if the institution closes-- (i) Instruction to enrolled students; and (ii) Retention of and access to academic and financial aid records; (9) If an institution provides a vocational program-- (i) Whether the tuition and fees charged for that vocational program are excessive given the amount of money that a student who successfully completes the program may reasonably be expected to earn; and (ii) Whether the vocational program provides students with quality training that leads to useful employment in an occupation recognized in that State. In making this evaluation, one of the factors the SPRE shall consider is the appropriateness of the length of the vocational program in terms of both the number of days of instruction and the number of credit or clock hours the program offers; (10) The extent to which the institution provides to its students relevant information regarding-- (i) Market and job availability for students in its occupational, professional, and vocational programs; and (ii) The relationship between the institution's educational programs and State licensing standards for specific occupations; (11) The appropriateness of the number of semester, trimester, or quarter credit or clock hours required for the completion of an educational program; (12) The appropriateness of the length of 600-clock-hour educational programs; (13) Whether, and the extent to which, the actions of any owner or shareholder of the institution, or any person exercising control over the institution may adversely affect its participation in a title IV, HEA program; (14) The extent to which the institution's procedures for investigating and resolving student complaints are adequate; (15) The extent to which the institution's advertising promotion, and student recruiting practices are appropriate; (16) Whether the institution has a fair and equitable refund policy; and (17) The extent to which the institution's educational programs are successful as measured by-- (i) The completion and graduation rates of the students enrolled in those programs, taking into account the length of the programs and the selectivity of the institution's admission policy (for the purpose of this provision, a completion rate is the same as a graduation rate); (ii) The institution's withdrawal rate; (iii) With respect to the institution's vocational and professional programs, the placement rate of the institution's graduates in occupations related to their educational programs, with related programs and occupations determined by reference to the NOICC Master Crosswalk; (iv) Where appropriate, the rate at which the institution's graduates pass licensure examinations; and (v) The success of the institution's students who express other completion goals, such as transferring to another institution, obtaining full-time employment in their field of study, or qualifying for military service, in meeting those goals. (b) In developing the review standards in paragraph (a) of this section, a State-- (1) May establish different standards for different types or categories of institutions or educational programs; (2)(i) Shall specify the records and information that a referred institution would need to maintain to demonstrate to a SPRE the institution's compliance with those standards; and (ii) If a referred institution was not, before the institution was referred, otherwise required to keep records relating to its compliance with State review standards, and did not keep those records, must allow the institution a reasonable period of time to obtain those records to enable the institution to demonstrate its compliance with the State standards; (3) Except for standards regarding prospective students in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, shall establish standards that apply at least to all regular students; (4) Shall quantify the standards described in paragraph (a)(9)(i) and (a)(17)(i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of this section by establishing-- (i) Criteria under which a SPRE determines if the tuition and fees charged by an institution for a vocational program are excessive compared to the amount of money that a student who successfully completes that program may reasonably be expected to earn; (ii) Acceptable completion and graduation rates of students enrolled in educational programs offered by an institution; (iii) An acceptable withdrawal rate of students at an institution; (iv) With respect to an institution's vocational and professional programs, an acceptable placement rate of the institution's graduates in occupations related to their educational programs; and (v) An acceptable rate or rates at which the institution's graduates pass licensure examinations; and (5) Shall determine the extent to which it is appropriate to base a State review standard on a related title IV, HEA program standard or requirement or establish as the State's review standard the comparable title IV, HEA program standard or requirement. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1099a-3) (Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the control number 1840-0659) |