Alternate Earnings Appeals (Gainful Employment)

On March 5, 2018, NSLDN submitted a FOIA request to the U.S. Department of Education seeking information related to alternate earnings appeals submitted pursuant to the Gainful Employment regulation. Specifically, the request seeks:

1. All documents constituting notices of intent to file alternate earnings appeals submitted by institutions of higher education pursuant to 34 C.F.R. § 668.406.
2. All documents constituting alternate earnings appeals submitted by institutions of higher education pursuant to 34 C.F.R. § 668.406.
3. All documents constituting or reflecting communications with any institution of higher education regarding an alternate earnings appeal submitted under 34 C.F.R. § 668.406.

A copy of the NSLDN FOIA is available here.

On May 23, 2018, after the Department failed to respond to the FOIA request within the time period required by law, NSLDN filed a lawsuit seeking judicial review. The complaint is available here.

On August 29, 2018, the Department produced a spreadsheet identifying the institutions that have filed responsive appeals. A copy of that spreadsheet is available here.

On October 1, 2018, the Department released an interim production of documents regarding appeals that have been denied by the Department. A copy of those documents are available here (Part 1 of 2) and here (Part 2 of 2).

On December 14, 2018, the Department released a second interim production of documents, consisting of appeals that have been granted by the Department. Due to the large file size, that production is available in multiple parts:

Page 1-100
Page 101-200
Page 201-300
Page 301-500
Page 501-700
Page 701-900
Page 901-1100
Page 1101-1300
Page 1301-1500
Page 1501-1700
Page 1701-1900
Page 1901-2091

Full December 14 production

In January 2019, the Department informed NSLDN that it had no more responsive documents.