THOMPSON, Circuit Judge.
The United States Department of Education ("DOE") Secretary decided through an administrative proceeding that International Junior College of Business and Technology, Inc. ("International") could not participate in certain federal student
We disagree, and so for the reasons discussed below, we affirm the court's summary judgment dismissal of International's claims.
These facts are not disputed by the parties, unless otherwise noted. From 2005 to 2008, the relevant timeframe for this case, Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. § 1070, et seq. ("Title IV"), authorized the federal post-secondary student aid loan and grant programs.
Under Title IV, for-profit, post-secondary educational institutions ("proprietary institutions of higher education") were permitted to participate in the Title IV aid programs if they met certain requirements. One such requirement was that they had to earn "at least 10 percent of [their] revenues from sources that are not derived from funds provided under [Title IV]." 20 U.S.C. § 1002(b)(1)(F)(2003). This requirement was known as the "90/10 rule", and according to the DOE, was enacted "to require proprietary institutions to attract students based upon the quality of their programs, not solely because the institutions offer Federal student financial assistance."
While the Title IV statute set out some of the requirements for the 90/10 rule, it also charged the DOE Secretary with implementing regulations to address (among many other things) the standards for proprietary institutions' compliance with the 90/10 rule (and the DOE's enforcement of same). See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1002(b)(1)(F), 1094(c)(1999). So, the DOE Secretary promulgated numerous regulations to ensure proprietary institutions' adherence to the 90/10 rule and to ensure the institutions were appropriate fiduciaries for disbursing
Failure to comply with the 90/10 rule meant a school would lose its Title IV eligibility, but the loss of eligibility only became effective the fiscal year following the non-compliant fiscal year (we note that the fiscal year ran from July 1 to June 30). See 34 C.F.R. § 600.40(a)(2)(1998). A non-complying school also could not become eligible to participate in Title IV again until it "demonstrate[d] compliance with all eligibility requirements for at least the fiscal year following the [noncompliant] fiscal year...."
Naturally, the DOE reviewed the audit reports the institutions submitted, after which the DOE prepared its own "final audit determination," or "FAD." In a FAD, the DOE would notify an institution if it concluded that a school had violated any Title IV expenditure laws, and, if so, whether the school would be required to refund any Title IV funds it should not have received during a non-compliant year. The institutions could appeal these final audit determinations to the agency by requesting an administrative hearing before an agency hearing officer. If an institution was dissatisfied with the hearing officer's decision, it could then appeal to the DOE Secretary.
International was a for-profit community college based in Puerto Rico.
In early May 2006, International submitted to the DOE its independent auditor's report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, wherein the auditor certified that the school had received exactly 90 percent of its revenues from Title IV programs. But shortly after the audit was submitted, the DOE noticed in a footnote in the auditor's report that International had actually received 90.26 percent of its revenues from Title IV funds, and that the auditor had rounded the figure down to 90 percent. According to the DOE, this rounding practice was not permitted, and the DOE informed International of same in a letter dated May 8, 2006.
The letter also informed International that because it had exceeded the 90 percent threshold, it would be placed on "Heightened Cash Monitoring 2" funding, or "reimbursement funding," effective immediately, until the DOE could complete its full review of International's financials.
Sometime in the next few months, the DOE completed its full review of International's Title IV eligibility, and in a letter dated November 8, 2006, notified International that because the school had not complied with the 90/10 rule during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005 (i.e., fiscal 2005), and did not timely submit audits for either that year or the year prior, the DOE was denying the school's application to renew its Title IV participation for fiscal 2006. Thus, according to the letter, International's Title IV eligibility lapsed on July 1, 2005 (the first day of fiscal 2006). The letter also informed International that it could dispute the DOE's decision by demonstrating that the DOE's reasons for rejecting the recertification application were flawed.
International responded to the letter, but did not challenge the DOE's findings. In fact, International conceded that "its 2004 and 2005 audits were filed late, and that its fiscal 2005 Title IV revenue exceeded 90% of all of its relevant tuition revenue." Still, International asked the DOE to reconsider the decision not to renew the school's Title IV certification, and to adopt one of the several repayment plans International proposed; without Title IV aid, the school would have to close, International asserted.
The DOE declined, and in December 2006, informed International in another letter that it would not reconsider at that time its decision to deny the recertification application. The letter also stated that International would have to repay an estimated $1.4 million the school received during fiscal 2005 (the year it was Title IV-ineligible), and could not participate in Title IV again unless (and until) it not only repaid the liability, but also demonstrated that it "met the 90/10 Rule in a subsequent year." The letter reminded International that the DOE still had to "establish the exact amount of International's liability," so International was required to engage an auditor to conduct a "closeout" audit of all
Apparently out of cash, the school closed in December 2006 (and, according to the DOE, without ever submitting a closeout audit). After a deal to sell the school fell through,
International appealed the FAD, and after a hearing, an administrative law judge affirmed the decision that International violated the 90/10 rule. The hearing officer concluded that 90.34 percent of International's fiscal 2005 revenues derived from Title IV sources. Relying on 34 C.F.R. § 600.5(d), the hearing officer determined that the school could not include as "revenue" in its 90/10 calculation the cash payments made by students "who take only one course at a time on a Saturday," as those students were not enrolled in a half-or full-time academic program.
International appealed the hearing officer's decision to the DOE Secretary, arguing that the officer's "interpretation of [34 C.F.R. § 600.5(d)(1)] is overly restrictive" because the regulation "permits an institution to include revenue from students taking courses in Title IV-eligible programs on a less than a[sic] half-time basis." The Secretary concluded that whether or not a student was enrolled in a Saturday course was irrelevant; rather, what mattered was whether the student was also enrolled in a Title-IV eligible program. The Secretary therefore remanded the case back to the hearing officer to conduct additional fact-finding as to how many students at International were actually enrolled in a Title-IV eligible program.
On remand, the administrative judge affirmed again, finding that International presented "no convincing evidence" that the "Saturday-only students [were] enrolled in any Title IV-eligible programs."
International appealed (again) to the Secretary, and on this second appeal, raised an additional argument — that even if the Secretary were to agree with the hearing officer that International violated the 90/10 rule, the Secretary should allow International to remedy the violation (and also forgive the $1.3 million liability), as he did in his recent decision concerning another school in a similar circumstance.
This go-round, though, the Secretary affirmed, rendering the final audit determination a final agency action. While the Secretary questioned the adequacy of the hearing officer's factfinding, he nonetheless affirmed the 90/10 determination because International did not "straightforwardly challenge [the hearing officer's] fact-finding." The Secretary also declined to forgive International's liability, concluding that International's case was too distinguishable from the case it was relying on to request that remedy.
Still dissatisfied, International brought an APA action in the Puerto Rico district court,
The case ensued, and International moved to compel the DOE to produce documentation of the policies and procedures leading to its decision, but a magistrate judge denied that request. Relying on the administrative record, the DOE then moved for summary judgment, asking the court to dismiss International's complaint. International also moved for summary judgment in its favor. The magistrate judge granted the DOE's motion and denied International's, thus dismissing the action. Specifically, the magistrate judge found that the Secretary's definition of "revenues" was reasonable; that the Secretary's affirmance of the FAD was not an abuse of discretion; and that the Secretary did not err in rejecting International's attempts to cure its 90/10 violation.
This timely appeal followed.
We review a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Morón-Barradas v. Dep't of Educ., 488 F.3d 472, 478 (1st Cir.2007). But when reviewing an agency decision, "[b]ecause both the district court and this court are bound by the same standard of review, ... our review... is ... in effect, direct review of the [agency's] decision." Atieh v. Riordan, No. 14-1947, 797 F.3d 135, 138, 2015 WL 4855786, at *2 (1st Cir. Aug. 14, 2015).
The summary judgment "rubric" also "has a special twist in the administrative law context." Associated Fisheries of Me., Inc. v. Daley, 127 F.3d 104, 109 (1st Cir.1997). When, as here, the governing statute "incorporates the familiar standard of review associated with the Administrative Procedure Act," "judicial review, even at the summary judgment stage, is narrow." Id. That is because "the APA standard affords great deference to agency decisionmaking," and "the Secretary's action is presumed valid." Id. Thus, "a court may set aside an administrative action only if that action is arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise contrary to law." Id.; 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). In other words, we "focus on whether the agency examined the relevant data and articulated a satisfactory explanation for its action including a rational connection between the facts found and the
International's appellate claims fall into three camps. First, International argues that the DOE regulations, as promulgated, wrongly interpreted the 90/10 rule because their definition of "revenues" was too narrow for purposes of calculating a school's 90/10 compliance. Even if the regulations were valid, International argues, the Secretary arbitrarily and capriciously applied them to International's case, and so the DOE's 90/10 assessment was improper. Second, International claims that even if the agency's 90/10 calculation were correct, the Secretary should have let International try to cure its default. And third, International argues that the magistrate judge erred by denying it the chance to conduct discovery.
We address each of International's arguments.
As we noted above, International first argues that in promulgating the implementing regulations, the Secretary did not correctly interpret the 90/10 statutory provision, 20 U.S.C. § 1002(b)(1)(F)(2003). We will delve into the particulars of International's claim in a little bit, but generally, International argues that the DOE regulations improperly excluded certain types of tuition revenue in the 90/10 calculus and that if the regulatory definition of "revenues" was not so narrow, International would have fallen below the 90 percent threshold.
As we mentioned above, Title IV requires that a proprietary institution ensure that "at least 10 percent of the school's revenues [come] from sources that are not derived from funds provided under [Title IV], as determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary." 20 U.S.C. § 1002(b)(1)(F)(2003). And the regulations "prescribed by the Secretary" provided that:
34 C.F.R. § 600.5(d)(1)(1999). In other words, according to the regulations, only the funds the school generated from students enrolled in Title IV programs (and not from the whole student body) could be used to calculate a school's total "revenues."
International argues that this regulation constitutes an erroneous interpretation of the term "revenues," as it was used in the Title IV statute, because "revenues," taking its ordinary meaning, "would include all non-title IV income received for tuition... regardless of its source." Specifically, International wanted the DOE to include the cash payments it received from the students enrolled in the individual Saturday courses, even if they were not necessarily enrolled in an academic program.
The Supreme Court's two-step framework, as laid out in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council,
In stating that "at least 10 percent of the school's revenues" had to come "from sources that are not derived from funds provided under [Title IV], as determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary," 20 U.S.C. § 1002(b)(1)(F)(2003) (emphasis added), we construe the statute as specifically delegating to the agency the responsibility of defining "revenues". But International simply ignores the latter part of the statute, failing to argue why we should not read the statute this way. Left to our own devices, we see no reason why we should not (particularly because we do not see what purpose the "as determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary" language would otherwise have). See Corley v. United States, 556 U.S. 303, 314, 129 S.Ct. 1558, 173 L.Ed.2d 443 (2009) (noting that statutes should be "construed so that effect is given to all provisions, so that no part will be inoperative or superfluous, void or insignificant"). Thus, the relevant question here is whether the regulation's definition was "arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute." Chevron, 467 U.S. at 844, 104 S.Ct. 2778.
International does not directly address this part of the Chevron inquiry, but does (scantly) argue that the definition of "revenues" should have been more broad because Congress intended to "put pressure on schools like International to attract students willing to pay out of pocket for education based on the quality of education that school provides," and so "cash payments from students willing to pay out of pocket for individual courses certainly ties directly to Congress' intent to identify the quality of an institution's education by requiring that some of its tuition revenues come from sources other than the Title IV programs." But International, while proffering a potential alternative definition, does nothing to address the actual legal standard — that is, whether the definition of "revenues" that the Secretary chose, and implemented via regulation, was unreasonable or otherwise contrary to Congressional intent.
International arguably waived this argument by failing to develop it. See United States v. Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 17 (1st Cir.1990). Waiver aside, we think International's claim falters on the merits. Clearly the statutory term "school's revenues" cannot mean literally all revenues of any type (such as, for example, donations, licensing fees, grants, etc.). Given the need to draw a line, and Congress's aim to have institutions demonstrate a private market demand for the subsidized programs at proprietary institutions, the exclusion of tuition payments by persons picking and choosing only parts of the eligible Title IV programs rather than the actual program itself would seem to be within the boundaries of a non-arbitrary line that comports with the statute's intent. See Career Coll. Ass'n v. Riley, 70 F.3d 637, at *2 (D.C.Cir. 1995) (per curiam) (unpublished) ("It is reasonable to infer ... that when Congress added the 15% requirement it intended to ensure higher quality in the very programs it was subsidizing under that title, namely the eligible ones.").
Moving from the general to the specific, we next address International's claim that the DOE misapplied the 90/10 regulations in this case. Despite the fact that International admitted early on in the administrative proceedings that it violated the 90/10 rule, International now insists that the DOE should have included in its calculations of International's total income the cash tuition payments the school received from students who were enrolled in the individual Saturday courses (even if the students were not necessarily enrolled in a degree or non-degree program), and that if the DOE had considered those payments, its revenues from non-Title IV sources would have exceeded 10 percent of the school's total income.
As we explained above, the Secretary's regulation defined a school's overall "revenues," in relevant part, as those funds deriving from "tuition ... for students enrolled in eligible programs as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 668.8." 34 C.F.R. § 600.5(d)(1)(1999). And 34 C.F.R. § 668.8 defined "eligible programs" as those programs that required a certain minimum number of weeks and hours of instruction and prepared students for "gainful employment in a recognized occupation." 34 C.F.R. § 668.8(d)(1)(iii)(1987).
The precedent International relies on is a single administrative decision, Sinclair Community College, U.S. Dep't of Educ., No. 89-21-S, 75 Educ. L. Rep. 1296 (May 31, 1991) (aff'd by the Sec'y, Sept. 26, 1991), where the DOE held that even if a student had not yet declared a major, her tuition payments would still be considered revenue for Title IV purposes if she was enrolled in an eligible program. To be sure, "[d]eparture from agency precedents embodied in prior adjudicative decisions can constitute an abuse of discretion if the reasons for the failure to follow precedent are not explained." River St. Donuts, LLC v. Napolitano, 558 F.3d 111, 117 (1st Cir.2009). But even if we assume, without deciding, that Sinclair has precedential value in this case,
Next, International argues that the Secretary erred in rejecting its attempts to cure its 90/10 violation because one, the Title IV statute required the Secretary to give the school an opportunity to fix its mistake, and two, the Secretary's decision was inconsistent with his prior treatment of a similarly situated school, which he did allow to cure its 90/10 violation.
The DOE Secretary's 2009 decision in Gibson Barber & Beauty College provides the backdrop for this set of arguments. In 2005, the DOE issued a final audit determination against Mississippi-based Gibson Barber & Beauty College ("Gibson") for violating the 90/10 rule in fiscal 2002. See U.S. Dep't of Educ., No. 05-49-SA (Nov. 25, 2009). The DOE determined that the school had derived 92 percent of its revenue from Title IV sources (exceeding the 90 percent threshold by $3,850) and sought the return of about $186,000 of Title IV funds the school had received the following year, fiscal 2003. Id. at *2.
In appealing the FAD to a hearing officer, Gibson pointed out that because the school anticipated in 2002 that it would not comply with the 90/10 rule, that same year, the school's owner loaned the school $3,850 (which she later converted to a donation) with the purpose of making the school
Gibson appealed to the DOE Secretary. Id. The Secretary reversed the FAD, concluding that although the donation did not count as revenue, "requiring [Gibson] to repay $186,958 because [it] exceeded the 90/10 calculation by $3,850 is not in accord with [Gibson's] effort to execute corrective measures to bring the institution within compliance of the 90/10 rule." Id. at *2. The Secretary relied on 34 C.F.R. § 668.113(d),
Here, International urged the Secretary to take the same course as in Gibson, that is, to forgive the school's $1.3 million liability. But the Secretary rejected that argument, finding that International's case was too distinguishable from Gibson's, such that "[t]he scope of the equitable remedy authorized in [Gibson] does not encompass the facts of" International's case. Specifically, the Secretary found that International's case was distinguishable from Gibson's because (1) International exceeded the 90 percent threshold by more than double the amount Gibson had, such that International's deficit was not "conspicuously small" like Gibson's was; (2) the DOE had already questioned International's ability to serve as a responsible fiduciary to the Title IV funds, illustrated by the fact that International had already been placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring; and (3) unlike Gibson, International did not establish that it had anticipated the 90/10 shortfall and then "corrected or cured the error that resulted in liability," in the same year that the violation occurred, and "in a manner that eliminates the basis of liability."
International argues that the Secretary's decision was erroneous in two respects. First, International claims that a statutory provision, 20 U.S.C. § 1099c-1(b)(3), on its face required the Secretary to allow the school to "cure its error absent a pattern of error and absent fraud or misconduct related to the error." And second, International argues that it did cure its 90/10 error by infusing cash into the school with the $1.5 million loan from the owner, similar to the tack Gibson took, such that its 90/10 violation also should have been forgiven.
Next, International argues that even if the decision to permit the school to cure its 90/10 problem was solely the Secretary's discretionary call, he arbitrarily and capriciously applied 34 C.F.R. § 668.113(d) in a manner inconsistent with the standard set forth in his decision in Gibson. International claims that the distinctions the Secretary drew between Gibson and International were "strained" and "minor" because (1) like Gibson, International did not have any prior regulatory violations when the 90/10 assessment was imposed; (2) the amount by which both schools exceeded the 90 percent threshold was "de minimis"; and (3) International took the same corrective action Gibson took by making a donation to the school.
While not explicitly so, International's claim is framed as one that the Secretary arbitrarily departed from prior precedent (i.e., the Gibson decision) in refusing to grant relief from International's 90/10 violation.
But International's claim stands on shaky footing. While an agency must "explain[]
Gibson at *2 n. 6. Thus, we do not see (and International has not shown) how Gibson reflected agency precedent, such that the Secretary was even required to explain his reasons for departing from that case in deciding this one.
Even if we assume, however, that the Secretary owed International an explanation, International's claim would still fail because the Secretary more than adequately explained why International's case was distinguishable from Gibson's.
All in all, we conclude that the magistrate judge's summary judgment affirmance of the FAD was proper.
Finally, International argues that the magistrate judge should have permitted limited discovery to supplement the administrative record, namely, for the DOE to turn over all the documents it considered in reaching its decision against International. Specifically, International claims that the agency did not provide any of its "internal guidance, policies, procedures, or memoranda."
This argument has no merit. When reviewing agency decisions, we do not allow supplementation of the administrative record without specific evidence (i.e., a "strong showing") of the agency's "bad faith or improper behavior." Town of Norfolk v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 968 F.2d 1438, 1458-59 (1st Cir.1992) ("Courts require a strong showing of bad faith or improper behavior before ordering the supplementation of the administrative record."); United States v. JG-24, Inc., 478 F.3d 28, 34 (1st Cir.2007) ("Normally, we do not allow supplementation of the administrative record unless the proponent points to specific evidence that the agency acted in bad faith."). Here, International has not even suggested that the agency acted in bad faith, let alone provided evidence of it. Therefore, the magistrate judge did not err in denying the request for discovery.
For these reasons, we