If you are considering going into an ACAHM program, please do not take out a private loan on top of the maximum federal loans. Futures will be ruined by private loans; look at the earnings data and map out what it would take to repay them with the median earnings of the degree you are thinking about pursuing.
I’m looking for a couple of students who would like to interview on Needling to Get to the Point podcast about the experience you are having right now.
If you’re interested please DM me.
You can check out the podcast here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/needlingtogettothepoint
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/needling-to-get-to-the-point-podcast/id1876282624
https://open.spotify.com/show/6nu6DVyIzVgateT5qcq9bK?si=uScC7PwqQbirt3iKpC08jQ&utm\_source=copy-link
I’m supposed to start at pacific college Chicago in a month and these posts on debt and school closures are making me nervous. I live in Chicago suburbs and the acupuncturists I know are successful and satisfied with their schooling & career choice.id love some feedback on the school or your career in general. I currently run a successful massage business and this is my secondary schooling. TIA
Jason Wright of ACAHM has written a White paper with guidance for students during school closure. Find it here: https://www.acahm.org/resources/position-paper-school-closure-guidance/
The document says students who "immediately transfer and continue enrollment at a teach-out institution may be able to continue their federal aid as normal." Does this mean they can still access capped Direct Loans at the new school (the $20,500/year) or are they meaning that the legacy provision will hold? The RISE rule itself says under “Transferring Between Schools Within Same Program of Study” that if a student transfers to a different institution (even within the same program of study) that counts as a new program of study, and the student is not eligible for the interim exception (legacy Grad PLUS/loan-limit protection).
The document says a teach-out institution should offer "ACAHM-accredited/pre-accredited program(s) of the same program type." Oikos doesn't currently hold either status because their accreditation visit isn't until September. Does ACAHM consider Oikos a valid teach-out partner under its own criteria right now, or only contingent on a future accreditation decision that hasn't happened?
The 25%-residency transfer-credit rule (5.03) can be waived for teach-out students, but only the receiving institution can request that waiver (not students) and it's not guaranteed. Have ACCHS/5B/East-West/Oikos have requested it?
I’m including the email from PCHS and you’ll find my responses below.
Email:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Malcolm Youngren <myoungren@pacificcollege.edu>
Subject: Regulatory Changes Affecting Acupuncture Programs
Date: August 6, 2026 at 1:34:39 PM PDT
Dear San Diego Students,
Over the past few weeks, I have received questions from several of you about the implications of the new federal accountability guidelines that took effect on July 1, 2026. At PCHS, we understand the seriousness of the issue and have been working with the Department of Education and our accrediting bodies to understand the implications of the rules as written. In addition, PCHS has engaged our legal team to obtain guidance on how best we can support our students moving forward.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with these guidelines, I will provide a few key highlights. The new rules include “Gainful Employment” or “GE/FVT” provisions that establish metrics for determining whether graduates of a particular educational program at a school earn enough income in their profession as compared to the costs for the degree program. If a program fails the earnings metric in July 2027, the college must remove students’ access to federal funds for the program or teach out the program. If the school takes neither of these paths, they risk losing federal funding for all programs at the school.
As you probably know, the acupuncture industry is dominated by self-employed and part-time earners. This is great for flexibility in lifestyle, but a part-time earner will earn less than a full-time bachelor’s degree graduate and the reported income of self-employed is offset by various expenses. Therefore, PCHS feels the earnings premium is inaccurate as a measure of quality.
We believe that there are various possible paths forward for acupuncture. To that end, PCHS is currently engaged in the following:
Working with Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (ACAHM) and Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (CCAHM) and other advocacy groups to try and change the metric used to determine earnings premium
Engaging a US representative to push the Acupuncture for Seniors Bill
Collaborating with ACAHM and others to reimagine acupuncture education; possibly creating a bachelor’s\master’s degree that meets the earnings premium. However, any proposed changes to degree programs and graduation requirements would only affect new incoming students.
I will keep you apprised of any developments regarding the acupuncture educational programs at PCHS. In addition, I will visit each of the campuses in September to provide updates on our strategies mentioned above.
Thank you for your continued dedication to Pacific College of Health and Science.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Youngren
My responses are:
—The GE/FVT metric isn’t “inaccurate,@ it’s measuring the one thing that actually matters to a borrower: can you service the debt you took on for this credential. That’s not a bias against acupuncture, it’s arithmetic.
—Framing self-employment and part-time work as an industry “flexibility” feature doesn’t change the fact that those grads can’t make loan payments. Calling the metric wrong doesn’t make the debt smaller.
—PCHS’s own explanation for low earnings (heavy self-employment, part-time practice) is itself an indictment of the placement pipeline. Programs that never built relationships with clinics, hospital systems, or integrative practices to create W-2 jobs for grads are the reason so many are stuck solo. That’s a program failure, not a flaw in the measurement.
—Continuing to enroll and graduate students into that same unchanged pipeline while lobbying to change the yardstick isn’t a strategy, it’s kicking the can down the road at students’ expense.
—The debt-to-earnings framework isn’t a partisan fluke — it was pushed under Obama and continued under Biden precisely because it’s a durable, bipartisan accountability tool. There’s no real path to unwinding it.
—Even in the best case where the specific formula shifts, acupuncture programs are still going to sit near the bottom of graduate program earnings-to-debt rankings nationally. Changing the metric doesn’t fix the underlying economics.
—RE: Acupuncture for Seniors bill: This has nothing to do with GE/FVT compliance. It’s a Medicare coverage bill that’s been stalled in Congress for roughly a decade with no forward motion, pointing to it as a “path forward” for accreditation/earnings risk is misleading to students who are trying to understand real, near-term consequences.
—Oregon has already proposed a 1,800-hour bachelor’s-level competency pathway; Washington already licenses at ~1,700 hours and doesn’t require ACAHM accreditation at all. Both show a state-approved route is viable right now.
—ACAHM’s structure keeps padding programs with years of unrelated prerequisites (regardless of relevance) adding tens of thousands of dollars in cost for prestige-driven degree length, not for anything tied to entry-level competency or scope of practice.
**—**The real fix isn’t lobbying to redefine “earnings premium,” it’s states taking licensure standards back into their own hands, decoupling from ACAHM’s cost structure, and building actual employment pathways into the healthcare system so grads have W-2 options in the first place.
Acupuncture schools hold 6 of the top 10 worst performing positions for debt to income ratio of 6300 graduate schools across the country.
This is the Higher Education Act group data published in September 2023 and sorted by debt to income ratio column.
Find the sorted data here.
Find the original HEA group post here:
My acupuncture school is preemptively canceling federal student loan access, effective next spring (Spring 2027). It's a school in the Five Element lineage, which means our credits don't transfer most other places. For many students, this means they are now $10,000-$50,000 in debt with no prospects of graduating.
Is there any recourse students can take? A class action lawsuit? All of us with federal student loans were given spreadsheets from the start showing that federal loans would cover most, or all, of our training.
Or, in the old-fashioned organizing sense, maybe we need a political campaign for tuition refunds? After all, the school's Board made this decision voluntarily, and with not so much as an Emergency Fund for the students it affects.
Hi! So there are no schools with “shortened hours.” The ACAHM hour requirement for the MAc is 1905 hours and that’s all you need to sit for boards and get licensed UNLESS you are in California, which uses a different standard, or a few other states like New Mexico, Florida….which have different hours. Or Texas or other states where you are required to take herbs.
I have made a spreadsheet here where you can see the hour requirements for each state. Many defer to ACAHM, some are higher and some are lower. I will post the link below.
It is important to understand that while the ACAHM/NCBAHM narrative has been that there is a national standard, THERE IS NO NATIONAL STANDARD.
The state where you want to practice sets the standard. Many use NCBAHM as the test for licensure. Many accept the CALE. So it’s really up to the specific state and their rules.
There is no “shorter program,” that is “not accredited.” ORCCA and Middle Way are accredited through ACAHM, you can sit for NCBAHM boards and you can be licensed in most states from that program but you have to check specifically about the state you want to practice in.
Here is the spreadsheet I made but check my work! Always.