Some religious colleges received a reprieve from the final earnings test outcomes tied to federal student aid accountability, according to reporting on the Department’s final earnings test implementation. The change is intended to reduce risk of penalties for institutions that do not meet the earnings measure but do not accept federal student loans. The reported update centers on how severe penalties will be applied when institutions fail the accountability measure. Under the approach described, programs that do not clear the earnings standard will not face additional consequences if they do not participate in federal student loan eligibility. Accreditation and compliance teams are likely to treat this as a procedural risk adjustment rather than a full policy rollback, since institutions still face strong incentives around transparency, student outcomes, and continued eligibility strategies.