US Student Loan Policy Threatens Arts Education

The US Department of Education has introduced a policy that evaluates eligibility for college student loan programs based on the average earnings of graduates, which poses a risk to arts programs at prestigious institutions such as Juilliard, Yale, and Harvard. This earnings assessment will apply to nearly all fields of education, building on the 'gainful employment' regulations from the Obama administration. Critics contend that this approach values education solely through its economic benefits, neglecting the social and civic contributions of the arts. Concurrently, the administration is seeking to eliminate federal funding for social-science research and ocean monitoring buoys. In a separate development, Colorado has become the first state to establish an 'A Corp' LLC for artists, safeguarding their creative rights and intellectual property. Additionally, the AI music generator Suno has seen its valuation soar to $5.4 billion, as AI-generated content increasingly populates streaming services and literary submissions.