(a) General. Except as provided under paragraph (b) of this section, this subpart applies to a GE program or eligible non-GE program offered by an eligible institution, and establishes the rules and procedures under which—

(1) An institution reports information about the program to the Secretary; and

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the Secretary assesses the program's debt and earnings outcomes.

(b) Applicability. (1) This subpart does not apply to institutions located in U.S. Territories or freely associated states, except that such institutions are subject to the reporting requirements in § 668.408 and the Secretary will follow the procedures in §§ 668.403(b) and (d) and 668.405(b) and (c) to calculate median debt and obtain earnings information for their GE programs and eligible non-GE programs.

(2) For each award year that the Secretary calculates D/E rates or the earnings premium measure under § 668.402, this subpart does not apply to an institution if, over the most recently completed four award years, it offered no groups of substantially similar programs, defined as all programs in the same four-digit CIP code at an institution, with 30 or more completers.