Ed Dept pilot opens aid to alternative credentialing - Roger Riddell, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday unveiled the Educational Quality Through Innovation Partnerships (EQUIP) program, an experimental pathway to Title IV funding for partnerships between higher ed institutions and nontraditional programs. The program has been brewing for some time under the experimental sites initiative, though it will remain limited to about 10 applications from applicable partnerships. Likely candidates for participation in the pilot include coding bootcamps, MOOC providers, and various short-term certificate and corporate training programs, and according to Inside Higher Ed, inclusion will also give institutions freedom from a federal aid ban on colleges that outsource over half of their content or instruction to an unaccredited third party. http://www.educationdive.com/news/ed-dept-pilot-opens-aid-to-alternative-credentialing/407333/