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BPPE proposes catalog changes to clarify hours, records access and internship disclosures
Summary
BPPE staff presented proposed regulatory text to revise catalog requirements, including clearer statements about hours of administrative service, student records access, English-language proficiency for programs, and disclosures about internships or externships by distance.
Regulation staff proposed edits to the bureau’s catalog requirements that would require institutions to disclose business hours for administration, instruction and student services; designate a principal school official for international student support; specify English-language proficiency expectations by program; and disclose internships’ distance or location when internships are required for program completion.
Parker Strohmeyer, the bureau’s regulation specialist, told the advisory committee the changes are intended to make catalogs more useful and accessible to students and the public. “Disclosing hours of available services, administration, instruction, and other critical functions of an institution is essential not only for students, but general members of the public,” he said.
The package would also add flexibility for catalog updates — allowing institutions to update catalogs directly as opposed to using supplements or inserts only — and would move the current housing-disclosure requirement out of the catalog rule. Strohmeyer said the bureau removed the housing disclosure because the vast majority of approved institutions do not provide housing and the existing regulation’s housing-cost disclosure did not reliably differentiate rental versus ownership costs.
Committee members raised operational concerns relevant to distance education, multiple campus locations and internships. Members suggested that internship or externship disclosures be location-specific because internship sites and distances may vary by campus and term. One member said that, for some institutions, records are stored centrally and that catalog language should clarify how students, including distance learners, can obtain records and whether digital copies will be available.
BPPE staff said proposed text is a work in progress and the bureau welcomes further feedback from institutions, student advocates and other stakeholders before formal rulemaking continues. The committee did not take a vote on the proposed catalog text during the meeting.
