Testimony Submitted by
Victoria Ranko
Massachusetts Association of Private Career Schools
March 20, 2014
230 CMR 12.00 – 17.00 Private Occupational Schools
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today regarding the proposed regulations -- 230 CMR 12.00 – 17.00 Private Occupational Schools.
My name is Victoria Ranko. I am the Program Coordinator for MAPCS, the Massachusetts Association of Private Career Schools.
MAPCS is a non-profit membership organization of private sector, post-secondary educational institutions that offer specific career training in a wide variety of career fields. Our schools offer diverse, flexible and critically important educational options for students who want to be nurses, chefs, computer engineers and automotive technicians among others.
We appreciate the Division of Professional Licensure’s interest in ensuring that private career schools follow proper procedures, meet high standards and have the qualifications necessary to provide a superior educational experience for students.
We also appreciate that you have been working with and willing to listen to the members of the Office of Private Occupational School Education Advisory Council. This testimony mirrors the concern voiced by school representatives that serve on the Council.
Today I will briefly discuss the issues of paramount concern and I will also submit a document that provides more detailed comments on specific segments of the regulations.
MAPCS members are concerned the proposed regulations include very broad language anddo not provide specific guidance for how schools can meet the requirements. Moreover, some sections of the regulations appear to us as overreaching and will result in having the Department of Professional Licensure micro-managing the schools.
As an example the regulations require that “instructors must be sufficient in number”. Does DPL have the expertise to determine how many instructors a school must have for a particular class?
The proposed regulations also require that all employees and principals are approved and must submit two letters of reference prior to being hired. Does DPL mean all employees including the members of the school’s Board of Directors and administrative staff such as janitor and receptionist? Must all staff undergo a criminal offender record information check?
Employees that recently joined the workforce may not have letters of reference. Also, candidates may only be able to obtain dates of hire, as previous employers may not write letters of reference as per their policy. This requirement is confusing needs clarification.
The regulations require that schools respond to a student complaint in writing within 10 days. We would ask this be limited to written complaints by a student. The 10 days needs to be identified as an initial response. Some complaints are impossible to resolve fully in 10 days and may not be in the best interest of the student if not doe in a timely fashion.
When discussing any kind of report or record keeping requirement including attendance lists, we believe the DPL regulations should reflect current electronic practices.
These are just a few examples. The side by-side analysis I have providedidentifies many more sections for which we seek clarification.
Of more importance and concern are some of the requirements specific to sales representatives and enrollment contracts and refunds.
The regulations require that all sales representativesmust be licensed. We need to know if this applies to inside or outside sales representatives? There is a difference between sales representatives and admissions representatives. Not all school admissions representatives solicit enrollments. They do respond to leads and requests for information. Would they also need to be licensed?
Schools also need clarification on what “solicits enrollments” means in order to understand who has to be licensed. Will the corporate director of admissions, who doesn’t meet with applicants, need a license? Will an instructor who does a presentation at a high school career night and hands out contact information, but never meets with applicants during the admission process need to be licensed? Will an employee that responds to inquiries and sets appointments for an interview need a license?
The Do Not Contact List provision also requires some clarification so schools know what situations are covered. For example if the student has provided a school with their contact information by clicking on and filling out a “give me more information” field on a web site, does that mean the school must put that student onthe Do Not Contact List?
MAPCS schools are particularly concerned about the provision that prohibits a school from accepting a signed enrollment contract from a prospective student until at least seventy-two hours after the school provided the student with the enrollment contract. Can DPL clarify the definition of a “signed enrollment contract”?
What happens when the student signs and submits their enrollment contract on Monday? Does this mean that the school cannot accept and countersign the contract until Thursday? This could be tremendously disruptive, given that students may need to return to schools for an extra visit. This restriction could also eliminate many students from taking a short program if they want to sign up at the last minute.
The enrollment contract calculation does not make provision for schools which have been allowed to use a pro-rata refund policy because it is more generous on all counts than the quartile system.
Allowing students to withdraw after ten days is unreasonable. There needs to be an exclusion of costs associated with these materials that the student received and used. The provision could cause harm to schools that offer short programs. Some schools offer 80-hour classes. Ten days is almost the entire class. Under this provision a student could take a course, benefit from it and then not have to pay for it. This makes no sense.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I have colleagues with me today who will be happy to answer any of your questions.