The Earnings Accountability Test: Will It Put Your Major At Risk?

Last year, tucked inside the Big Beautiful Bill, a new law quietly passed with major implications for American higher education and our entire society. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education issued the final regulations, which will take effect on July 1, 2027.

It’s called the Earnings Accountability Test, and it operates with deceptive simplicity: if graduates of a specific academic program – not the university overall, but a single major – do not earn more on average than same-aged peers with only a high school diploma, future students in that program will lose access to federal student loans.

Beginning next January, the Department of Education will start collecting an enormous data set to calculate the average income of every graduate of every degree program at every college and university in the United States.

This is not hypothetical. It is happening — and almost no one is talking about it.

How the Earnings Accountability Test Actually Works

Here’s how it works. Imagine an English department at a specific college where graduates earn an average of $60,000 a year, but high school graduates in that particular state earn $65,000. Under this law, future English majors at that institution would lose access to federal loans. With private loans practically non-existent, studying English at this college would become a luxury reserved for those who can pay out of pocket. The department shrinks, and eventually it is forced to close.

The Hidden Impact on Entire Academic Fields

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