Dive Brief:
- An audit has found that the U.S. Department of Education failed to address the potential risks of direct assessment degree programs — competency-based degrees where students’ skills and knowledge are evaluated directly rather than having students take and pass courses worth certain amounts of credit hours.
- The audit by the education department’s Office of Inspector General found that processes weren't established to make sure that direct assessment programs met federal requirements before being approved to receive federal financial aid.
- By not addressing the potential risks, the education department increased the likelihood that schools might create programs that aren’t eligible for federal financial aid, such as correspondence courses.
Dive Insight:
The audit taps the brakes on the enthusiasm for direct assessment degrees. One of the other risks of direct assessment is that federal funding could go to a program that awards credit to students based on their life experiences, even though financial aid can pay for only learning that comes from instruction provided by the school, according to the audit.
