Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) is now sponsoring a new piece of legislation as the 119th Congress enters its last few weeks to repeal a rule that he says unfairly targets trade schools. The bill, known as the Promoting Access and Revenue Integrity Through Institutional Transparency (PARITY) Act, would ultimately expand the access that Americans have to trade schools and vocational education by repealing the 90/10 rule.
Harris introduced the bill during a panel that was hosted by the non-profit Consumer Action for a Strong Economy. The rule caps the revenue a school can receive from the federal government. It also only applies to proprietary schools, not to non-profit colleges and universities. Harris commented on how unfair the rule is toward vocational schools.
“The 90/10 rule unfairly singles out career and vocational schools while allowing other institutions to operate under a different set of standards,” Harris went on to say. If the PARITY Act becomes law, it would toss out a provision from the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 that requires all proprietary schools to derive at least 10% of their revenue from non-federal sources.
According to a report from The Daily Caller, Harris made the case that the rule establishes an unfair barrier for low-income students seeking vocational training rather than a two-year or four-year college degree. Due to the 90/10 rule, these schools are forced to raise tuition, which causes students to take out costly private loans in order to stay in compliance with the Higher Education Act, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Education Jeff Andrade went on to explain during the panel.
Making matters worse for those interested in learning a trade and establishing a career in a legitimate field that is desperate for qualified workers, former President Joe Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, tuition assistance from the GI Bill doesn’t count toward the 10% non-federal aid requirement, which Harris claims has restricted veterans’ ability to get career training after their military service has ended.
The 90/10 rule was intended to be a provision that pushed high-quality trade schools. However, those in support of the PARITY Act say that the rule has become redundant due to new -quality assurance mechanisms that exist for schools that have been implemented through the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
The report then explains that while the 90/10 rule helps determine the school’s eligibility for government student aid by input measures, the new rules under OBBBA is focused on student outcomes. These regulations apply to both proprietary schools and traditional colleges and universities, deciding whether a school is worthy to receive federal financial aid based on students’ return on investment from taking out loans.
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It then points out that if the 90/10 rule applied to traditional two and four year colleges, 80% of two-year schools and 40% of four-year schools would be considered non-compliant, according to Harris. “It’s time for Congress to end Washington’s double standard against career schools,” Harris went on to say. Andrade said that he expects resistance to the PARITY Act from individuals who are concerned about potential costs to the government and taxpayer.
“Changing the 90/10 rule, if you look at it historically, has been challenging. The first challenge […] is that there is a cost on the mandatory side we’ve evaluated to be about $1.5 billion over ten years. That’s a function of the fact that student loans cost money; they don’t really make money for the federal government,” he said.
Harris stated that he feels career schools are worth the price. “Career schools, there’s no question, offer a much more affordable and practical path to education by giving that hands-on training and a direct path into the workforce […] 86% of trade school graduates are employed in their field within 12 months after graduation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 12% job growth in those trades by 2031, compared to 5% across all occupations,” he said.
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