PRESS RELEASE: DFI Urges Education Department to Protect Religious Higher Education in STATS Rule

WASHINGTON—The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI) submitted a public comment today urging the U.S. Department of Education to revise its proposed higher education accountability rule to avoid imposing serious harm on religious ministry and rabbinical programs.

The Student Tuition and Transparency System and Earnings Accountability Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (STATS NPRM), published April 20, 2026, would establish a new accountability regime for postsecondary education programs eligible for federal Direct Loans under Title IV of the Higher Education Act. DFI supports strong, well-designed accountability in higher education and agrees that students and taxpayers deserve better transparency and value for money. But as written, the NPRM would have a devastating and unintended impact on religious institutions and programs.

The Department’s own data highlights the problem. Under the proposed earnings metric, 53.3 percent of “Religion/Religious Studies” bachelor’s programs would fail the earnings threshold—meaning that these programs would be cut off from federal Direct Loans. At the master’s level, the impact is even more severe: 89.4 percent of religious studies programs would fail.  

DFI argues that the proposed rule relies too heavily on short-term earnings and fails to account for the mission and structure of religious and rabbinical education. Many graduates of these programs intentionally pursue ministry, rabbinical service, missions, counseling, or other service-oriented vocations. Their compensation may include delayed earnings growth, housing allowances, parsonages, stipends, community-provided benefits, or other forms of non-salary support that are not reflected in federal earnings data.

The comment also explains that the STATS NPRM raises serious constitutional and statutory concerns under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). RFRA prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening religious exercise unless it can show the burden furthers a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of doing so. DFI argues that the Department has less restrictive options available and should not adopt a rule that disproportionately burdens religious programs because their graduates choose religious vocations.

DFI recommends several ways the Department can revise the NPRM while preserving its higher education accountability goals, including:

1. Exempting religious, rabbinical, and ministry-oriented programs from the earnings metric on constitutional grounds;
2. Creating mission-based adjustments for religious institutions and programs; and
3. Incorporating long-term and non-income-based metrics that better reflect the value of religious education.

“Higher education accountability is long overdue, and the Department is right to focus on whether students and taxpayers are getting value for money,” said Bob Eitel, President and Co-Founder of DFI. “But accountability cannot come at the expense of religious liberty. A rule that treats ministry, rabbinical service, and other religious vocations as failures because they do not produce high short-term wages is badly misaligned with the First Amendment, federal religious freedom protections, and the intrinsic value of faith-based education to society. The Department should fix this rule.”

DFI urges the Department to revise the NPRM so that religious and rabbinical programs are not unfairly disadvantaged by a narrow earnings-based framework that fails to capture their educational, civic, and spiritual value.

To read the full comment, click here.