Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 940 CMR - OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL › Title 940 CMR 31.00 - For-profit and occupational schools › Section 31.03 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Clearly and Conspicuously
. Presented
				as to be readily noticed and understood by a reasonable person, as defined in
				940 CMR 6.01:
Definitions
. Further, without limiting the requirements of the
				preceding section, to be clear and conspicuous, the disclosures in
				940 CMR
				31.05 must be:
(a) contained on a school's website in a manner that is easy to
				locate and access; and
(b) provided to and signed and dated by the consumer or
				prospective student, with copies to be provided both to the consumer or
				prospective student (and if the prospective student is younger than 18 years
				old, to the prospective student's parent or guardian) and retained by the
				school.
Employment in the Field of Study
.
				Employment in the job specified in the name of the program or in the
				certificate, diploma, or degree conferred by a school upon graduation from the
				program, or the reasonable equivalent thereof, such as those set forth in the
				"Sample of reported job titles" and "Related Occupations" listed in the Summary
				Report for each Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code obtained by
				entering the program's Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) code on
				O*NET crosswalk, http://www.onetonline.org/crosswalk/CIP. The "reasonable
				equivalent" does not include a job for which:
(a) training in the program is not required; and
(b) the entry level salary is less than 80% of the entry level
				salary of the job specified in the name of the program.
Enrollment Agreement
. A contract or
				agreement under which a consumer agrees to pay tuition or fees to a school or
				to obtain a loan or grant to pay tuition or fees to a school.
For-profit School
. A private
				post-secondary institution established, operated, or incorporated for
				profit-making purposes, including any for-profit institution of higher
				education that offers courses for credit or programs leading to a certificate,
				diploma, or degree.
Graduate Placement Rate
. The number of
				students obtaining full time (at least 32 hours per week) and non-temporary
				employment in the field of study during the latest two calendar years for which
				the school has obtained verification, divided by the number of all students
				graduating from the program during the latest two calendar years. The graduate
				placement rate shall be determined within 180 days from the end of each
				calendar year.
Graduation Rate
. The number of
				students who received certificates, diplomas, or degrees in the program during
				the latest two calendar years, divided by the number of students who enrolled
				in the program during the latest two calendar years. The graduation rate shall
				be determined within 180 days from the end of each calendar year.
Institutional Loan
. A loan provided
				directly from a school to a student, or from a school to a student through an
				affiliated lending institution or whose payments to the lender are guaranteed
				or insured, in whole or in part, by the school.
Lending Institution
.
(a) Any private entity that itself, or through an affiliate,
				engages in the business of making loans to students, parents, or others, for
				the purposes of financing higher education expenses or that securitizes such
				loans;
(b) any private entity, or association of entities, that
				guarantees educational loans; or
(c) any industry, trade, or professional association that
				receives money from any entity described above 940 CMR 31.03:
Lending Institution
(a) and (b).
Loan Amount
. The total principal
				amount borrowed by a student in connection with enrollment in a program from
				all public and institutional lending sources.
Loan Nonpayment Percentage
. The sum
				of:
(a) the most recent federal cohort default rate (as calculated
				pursuant to 34 CFR Part 668 , Subparts M and N); and
(b) the percentage of student borrowers in said cohort, other
				than those borrowers in 940 CMR 31.03:
Loan Nonpayment
				Percentage
(a), whose Stafford loans, at the time the most recent
				cohort default rate was calculated, were in deferment or forbearance;
				and
(c) the percentage of student borrowers in said cohort, other
				than those borrowers in categories 940 CMR 31.03:
Loan Nonpayment
				Percentage
(a) and (b), who defaulted under the terms of
				institutional loans during the cohort default period.
Median Completion Time
. The median
				duration of attendance in months, rounded to the nearest month, of all students
				who obtained a certificate, diploma, or degree from a program during the latest
				two calendar years.
Occupational Program
. Any program
				whose principal purpose is to train or prepare individuals for a business,
				trade, technical, or industrial occupation, or any other vocational purpose,
				including but not limited to occupational certificate, or diploma programs
				offered by correspondence schools, private business schools, private trade
				schools and similar entities, and by for-profit schools.
Placement
. A student's employment,
				career, or occupation after leaving a school, or the employment, career, or
				occupation a school program qualifies or prepares students to enter or
				obtain.
Placement Services
. Services or
				assistance provided by a school in connection with the securing or attempting
				to secure employment for students.
Preferred Lender and Preferred Lender
				List
. Any Lending Institution or selection of Lending Institutions
				that a school endorses, promotes, chooses, or assigns preferential status to,
				by, without limitation, posting a Lending Institution's name or loan product's
				name on the school's website or including a Lending Institution's name or loan
				product's name in informational mailings or brochures or any other document
				provided to students, prospective students, or their parents, or arranging or
				otherwise facilitating the origination of loans from the Lending
				Institution.
Program
. A course of study for which a
				school confers a certificate, diploma, or degree.
Program Cost
. The tuition and fees
				charged for completing a program, including the typical costs for books and
				supplies (unless those costs are included as part of tuition and fees) the cost
				of room and board (whether on or off campus), and transportation.
School
. Any institution:
(a) that is a for-profit school; or
(b) that offers an occupational program, except:
1. a school charging no fee or tuition to any students;
2. a school offering exclusively recreational programs for the
				purpose of relaxation and enjoyment in non-occupational pastimes, exercise or
				other such diversions;
3. a program owned and operated by established religious
				institutions for the exclusive purpose of providing religious
				instruction;
4. a course of instruction for the primary education of
				students in grades prekindergarten through 12;
5. a public community college, public college, public
				university, or charitable nonprofit college or university; and
6. incidental training associated with the purchase of a
				product from a vendor, provided, however, that the training is to familiarize
				the purchaser with its use and the purchaser is not awarded any form of a
				certificate or diploma for having received the training.
Total Placement Rate
. The product of
				the graduate placement rate and the graduation rate. The total placement rate
				shall be determined within 180 days from the end of each calendar
				year.