On October 14, 2026, a coalition of policy organizations urged Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Representative Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, to advance the Promoting Access and Revenue Integrity Through Institutional Transparency (PARITY) Act to a full vote in Congress. The bill, introduced by Senator Jim Banks (S. 4348) and Representative Mark Harris (H.R. 9580), would repeal the Higher Education Act’s 90/10 rule, which applies only to proprietary schools and requires them to draw at least 10 percent of their revenue from non-federal sources.
The letter argues that the rule is an arbitrary measure of program performance that puts schools serving low-income, minority and non-traditional students at a disadvantage against larger, better-endowed universities. It points to one study that found 80 percent of public two-year colleges and 40 percent of public four-year colleges would fail the rule if it applied to every school. The letter adds that the Department of Education, under the Biden administration, revised the rule so that schools could no longer count veterans’ education benefits toward the 10 percent. Now that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act requires consistent performance standards for every postsecondary institution, including an earnings premium test, the letter calls the rule outdated. SPPI joined the coalition, which Consumer Action for a Strong Economy led.