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A Texas judge issued a national injunction Friday blocking a federal rule that dictated the clock-hour length for career training programs.
Under the so-called bare minimum rule, some programs that lead to professional licensure or certification can’t exceed the minimum number of clock hours required for attaining a state license. If they exceed the minimum, the entire program would lose eligibility for federal student aid. That means that if a massage therapy program requires students to take 600 clock hours but the state only requires 500 clock hours, students couldn’t use federal loans or grants to pay for the program.
The rule change was part of a package of regulations finalized in late October and set to take effect July 1. It would apply only to programs at for-profit institutions as well as nondegree programs in any sector. But U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of the Northern District of Texas found that the administration didn’t fully explain its rationale for the rule change or provide enough notice and that the plaintiffs would’ve been irreparably harmed if the rule took effect. Currently, students can use federal student aid to pay for up to 150 percent of a state’s minimum licensure requirements.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Cortiva Institute School of Beauty, Health, and Wellness, which runs cosmetology, massage therapy and esthetician programs in Texas, in May over the minimum clock-hour requirement, arguing the Education Department didn’t have the authority to issue the rule and failed to follow the appropriate procedures required for regulatory changes.
Pittman agreed, saying that the plaintiffs faced “an uphill battle” to prove that the agency lacks the authority to set the conditions required for institutions to receive federal financial aid and expressed skepticism of the institute’s claims of irreparable harm. Nonetheless, he found that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on some of the merits of their arguments and enjoined the department from implementing the rule.
The Biden administration can appeal the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
