Education Department cuts loan eligibility for college degree programs yielding 'low-earning' jobs

The Education Department has approved a plan to cut federal loans to college programs that result in low-earning jobs – a move the Trump administration sees as an opportunity to rein in runaway borrowing, while critics argue it is a blow to students seeking degrees in such fields as music, public service and religious studies.

The department announced the so-called "rule" Monday for its new Student Tuition and Transparency System and Earnings Accountability initiative – after saying in April, when the rule-drafting process started, that the federal student loan portfolio was approaching $1.7 trillion as "more students are left financially worse off than if they had never attended college."...