The U.S. Department of Education has issued a final rule implementing the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and new programmatic earnings accountability requirements tied to graduate outcomes, replacing the current Financial Value Transparency (FVT) framework. Under the rule, programs that repeatedly fail federal earnings benchmarks may lose eligibility for Federal Direct Loans, and institutions face expanded disclosure and warning obligations for low-earning programs. STATS will create a centralized federal reporting structure for program-level details including length, costs, debt, accreditation status, and earnings outcomes. Institutions must prominently link to this information from admissions- and aid-related web pages to ensure prospective and enrolled students see comparable, standardized outcome reporting. For accountability, the measure is built around an earnings premium relative to similarly situated peers (for undergraduate programs) or relative to bachelor’s degree holders (for graduate programs). Programs that fail in two out of three consecutive years may lose Direct Loan eligibility—an enforcement lever that shifts compliance from tuition disclosures alone to demonstrated graduate earnings performance. AGB’s policy alert also notes the rule modifies existing Gainful Employment regulations and expands reporting requirements for affected programs. Institutions and accreditor partners will need to adjust program-level planning, data systems, and disclosure workflows to meet the new “earnings-based” standard and the associated consequences for eligibility.