In The Chronicle of Higher Education's August 10th issue, "Education Department Issues Final Rules on Student-Aid Changes" [http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/08/2006081002n.htm, subscription required]:

"The department did put some limits on the programs that it will exempt from a regulation known as the 50-percent rule, which has prevented institutions that enroll more than half their students through distance education from participating in federal financial-aid programs.

In the deficit-reduction bill, Congress made an exception to the 50-percent rule for institutions that provide instruction through telecommunications, such as online education. In its final rules, the Education Department made clear that the technology used for telecommunications must involve a significant amount of interactivity. That is to prevent correspondence programs from skirting the rule by including minor e-mail exchanges between students and professors, or putting a syllabus on a Web site.

The department estimated that the change in the 50-percent rule could increase the number of students eligible for federal student aid by 30,000 in 2006 and 2007, and that 17,000 of those students would be eligible for Pell Grants each year. Those additional grant recipients would receive an estimated $196-million in Pell Grant aid over the next five years, the department projected. "