Trade Schools With Asynchronous Online Learning Face New Restrictions. Here’s What It Means for Students.
Credit: RichVintage / E+ / Getty Images- Many trade schools allow students to learn at their own pace through online modules.
- Some say this method of learning, however, doesn’t adequately prepare students for careers.
- The Department of Education is looking to cut access to federal financial aid to these programs.
- Advocates representing institutions are against the department’s proposal.
A Department of Education (ED) proposal promises to overturn many online learning practices at trade schools across the U.S.
ED plans to soon make federal financial aid unavailable for clock-hour programs that use asynchronous online learning.
Essentially, this means students pursuing a certificate or credential from a trade program won’t have access to federal financial aid if their program utilizes a learn-at-your-own-pace distance learning methodology.
Consumer and student advocates are largely in favor of the rule change, while many representing colleges and universities pushed back against the department’s proposal.
Definitions
- Asynchronous learning: Describes online programs that don’t require students to tune in for live lectures and discussions. Often, students can learn and complete modules at their own pace.
- Clock-hour programs: Educational programs that offer certificates in technical trades like welding or practical nursing. Programs are not based on credits and instead have a flat number of hours of instruction tied to the program.
Carolyn Fast, director of higher education policy at the Century Foundation, was part of the group of negotiators that helped craft the department’s rule change. She told BestColleges that ED’s proposal would only impact a small percentage of overall college programs because it targets programs the department has determined require hands-on training.
“This is a little bit less of a big deal than if it were to affect all programs,” she said. “It’s not going to affect the vast majority of programs.”
Clock-hour programs tend to be in skilled trades like welding and nursing, Fast said. ED determined that asynchronous programs can’t adequately teach students the skills they need in these trades, so ED shouldn’t award federal financial aid to students to pursue certificates from these programs.
“You’re not going to be able to have a fully asynchronous welding program and assume it’s going to actually help people become a welder,” she said.
Others believe the department’s proposal will limit access to trade programs for nontraditional students.
The American Council on Education (ACE) was one of two dozen groups that penned a letter to ED Secretary Miguel Cardona asking him to amend ED’s proposal.
Emmanual Guillory, senior director of government relations at ACE, told BestColleges that asynchronous learning is sometimes the only option that fits for working adults pursuing trade school.
“They need to be able to have the flexibility to take a course when it works in their schedule,” he said.
Students will still be able to pursue asynchronous programs at trade schools, he added. However, they won’t be able to access federal financial aid like student loans or Pell Grants under this proposed change.
Aid is often vital for many Americans looking to upskill or learn a new trade.
Fast contends that aid shouldn’t go to programs that aren’t providing enough instructions to students. She said most clock-hour programs aren’t fully asynchronous, so these programs will need to adapt to be fully synchronous.
This may mean requiring students to attend live lectures remotely, for example.
Guillory said some institutions may choose to close their programs rather than make them in-person or synchronous.
“It can definitely cause programs to close,” he said.
Fast stressed that this proposal isn’t groundbreaking. In fact, it would be a return to pre-2020 regulations that previously disallowed clock-hour programs from being asynchronous, she said.
The department tried new distance education rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. ED now says it has since heard feedback from students who say they aren’t acquiring the required competencies through asynchronous learning.
“The department has found during program reviews and from speaking to students that asynchronous learning in clock-hour programs has often consisted of playing videos, reading assignments, or scrolling through pages, without the meaningful interaction with the coursework or instructors that is necessary for mastery in hands-on job-training programs and the development of important skills such as critical thinking and effective communication,” ED stated.
The public comment period for this proposal ended Aug. 23.
A final rule is likely coming by the end of 2024. ED may look to begin implementing the rule change with the 2025-26 academic year or delay implementation to give college programs time to adjust.