On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education issued a bulletin to colleges, warning that, under federal law, they cannot prohibit employees — including ex-employees who have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) — from talking with the Department about their schools’ handling of federal student aid. The Department’s office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) said it was issuing the Enforcement Bulletin because it has learned that some ex-employees “believe” they are barred from communicating with FSA because they signed NDAs with their former employers.
In fact, as the FSA bulletin points out, under federal regulations, in order to be eligible for federal aid, schools must sign an agreement that includes a duty to cooperate with Department investigations, including by providing reasonable access to employees. FSA reaffirmed in this week’s bulletin that any effort by a school to prohibit an employee or ex-employee from speaking to the Department about federal aid matters would violate those rules.
The provision in the Department of Education regulations protecting the rights of college whistleblowers echoes other federal regulations upholding whistleblower activities by employees of companies that contract with government.
Having spoken with hundreds of employees and former employees of for-profit and career colleges, I think the reason that many people in this industry believe that an NDA prohibits them from contacting FSA or other law enforcement agency is because their...
Two former Cincinnati high school football players have been sentenced to prison in a $6.8 million fraud scheme. Andrew Kerobo and Deonta "Tay Ocho" Belser initially faced a total of 40 counts rela...