Political and Legal Environment
There is no one central governing body that oversees the administration of these institutions. However the Department of Education along side state regulatory bodies and accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education create a regulatory framework for the education industry. Although the federal government enforces laws and regulations these also vary by state making the education political environment difficult to discuss as a whole. Below we will touch on the how the surrounding environment can threaten or create opportunities for institutions in this environment.
The Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education (ED), a federal department, aims to use its $68 billion budget
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Over the past three decades, average tuition and fees at a public four-year educational institutions have increased by a staggering 231 percent meanwhile the average family income grew only 16 percent. This makes it difficult for families to offer support for post secondary education, thus making students rely on financial aid. ED provides support through Title IV programs, in the form of loans and grants. The 2015 fiscal year budget concentrates on financial aid for students in postsecondary education, special education as well as high-poverty schools while raising the budget 2% to the previous year. Unfortunately this still causes a threat to the industry if tuitions continue to rise. Below shows the Percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduate students in degree-granting postsecondary institutions receiving any financial …show more content…
If an institution violates this rule at any point they will be ineligible to participate in the Title IV Programs for at least two consecutive years. According to the 2014 summary report for proprietary 90/10, on average 70.24 percent of higher educations total revenue was comprised of Federal education funds. Although this is far from the 90-percentile mark, with the increased net price of tuition a lot more students will be relying on financial aid programs causing a threat to educational