The U.S. Department of Education released its third and final set of proposed regulations under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” for public comment, including a new degree-level accountability metric. The measure is designed to assess whether undergraduate and graduate programs deliver ROI by comparing graduate earnings to benchmarks tied to working-age peers with a high-school or bachelor’s degree. If finalized, programs would lose access to federal student loans after failing the metric in two of three consecutive years, and in some situations could later lose access to Pell Grant eligibility. ED says the rules are intended to address student-debt concerns and workforce needs. The metric is scheduled to take effect July 1, but only after 30 days of public comment and responses to submissions—highlighting the scope for institution-specific compliance planning and advocacy during the finalization window.