U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid New and Updated Financial Value Transparence (FVT) and Gainful Employment (GE) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The Updated FVT/GE FAQs feature new guidance on the general topic of qualifying graduate programs and multiple issues related to specific reporting requirements.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Students
American Council on Education (ACE) Summary of Key Provisions of the U.S. Department of Education’s Proposed Regulations on Distance Education, Return of Title IV Funds, and the Federal Trio Programs. This summary reviews the background of negotiated rulemaking leading up to the Department’s recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Distance Education, Return of Title IV Funds, and the Federal TRIO Programs. It also outlines the Department’s proposed changes to its regulations in each of these areas.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA)
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from July 16-22, 2024. This summary highlights the announcement from the Department of Education of upcoming rulemaking; release by the IRS of a video explaining how to use the Inflation Reduction Act Pre-filing Registration Tool; and federal judicial injunctions blocking enforcement of the Title IX final rule in several states and at institutions attended by members of three advocacy organizations.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
U.S. Department of Education Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Program Integrity and Institutional Quality: Distance Education, Return of Title IV (R2T4), HEA Funds, and Federal TRIO Programs. The proposed regulations on distance education would add virtual locations for distance education to as a new category of additional locations for institutions, add a definition of “distance education course,” and add reporting requirements related to enrollment in distance education courses. The proposed regulations related to R2T4 would update definitions and processes related to withdrawn students and “clarify that distance education programs are attendance taking.” The proposed regulations for TRIO programs would extend eligibility to participate to include “students in the pre-postsecondary education context … who are already receiving or seek to receive public educational services from middle and high schools” regardless of their immigration status.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA)
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from July 9-15, 2024. This summary highlights the publication of the Biden Administration’s biannual update to its regulatory agenda; NACUBO’s opposition to measures passed by the House Ways and Means Committee modifying the endowment tax; and NACUBO’s advocacy through the Student Aid Alliance expressing concerns about a proposal for FY25 before the House Committee on Appropriations that would cut the Federal Work-Study and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant programs.
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Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Memorandum Opinion & Order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Plaintiffs, “a coalition of vocational schools with a member-program in Arlington, Texas,” challenged the Department of Education’s new maximum program length regulation, which provides that vocational programs may require no more than the minimum number of hours a state requires for licensure in a given field, alleging that (1) the Department exceeded its authority under the HEA and that the Rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it is arbitrary and capricious and was not a “logical outgrowth” of the Department’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The Rule would replace the Department’s “150% Rule,” which provides access to federal student aid up to 150% of the state’s required hours and does not entirely deny eligibility to programs exceeding this threshold. The court held plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their APA claims, finding that (1) the Department had not sufficiently explained either the grounds for “converting a program intended to be a safe-harbor into a strict-liability trap” or for altering the 150% rule after 30 years and (2) the NPRM did not signal that the Department “was considering removing one leg from the triad, accreditors, from the process entirely” by “imposing an absolute condition precedent to federal funds.” The court found, however, that plaintiffs failed to show that the proposed regulation “usurp[ed] authority traditionally reserved for states,” noting that courts have long recognized the federal government’s power to “regulate-by-incentivization.”
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Students
U.S. Department of Education Unified Regulatory Agenda for Spring 2024. Among its filings with the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the Department indicates plans for proposed rules (NPRMs) or Final Actions on the following timeline: for July 2024, NPRMs on Documentation of Foreign Source Gift and Contracts (Section117), Return to Title IV, Cash Management, and Distance Education; for September 2024, an NPRM on Student Debt Relief Hardship; for October 2024, Final Action on Student Debt Relief and NPRMs on Cybersecurity Standards for Institutions of Higher Education and FERPA; for November 2024, NPRMs on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act), Accreditation and Related Issues, and State Authorization; for December 2024 NPRMs on Discrimination Based on Shared Ancestry or Ethnicity and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex and Disability (Vocational Program Guidelines); for May 2025, Final Action on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (Employer Eligibility), and for June 2025, an NPRM on Third-Party Servicers and Related Issues. The Department moved its anticipated Final Action on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex re: Sex-Related Eligibility Criteria for Male and Female Athletic Teams to the Long-Term Actions listing with an anticipated date of “To Be Determined.”
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA)
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid Announcement re: Temporary Injunction on Program Length Regulations. Noting the preliminary injunction from the Northern District of Texas on the July 1, 2024, on implementation of the maximum length of gainful employment (GE) programs, the Department announced that “until further notice” institutions must continue to comply with the existing regulations, which “limit the maximum program length of GE programs to 150 percent of a state’s minimum educational requirements for licensure, or 100 percent of the requirements of an adjacent state, whichever is greater.”
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Students
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education List of Approved Classification of Instruction Program (CIP) Codes for Qualifying Graduate Programs. Under its Financial Value Transparency (FVT) and Gainful Employment (GE) final regulations “the Department recognized that certain graduate programs, mostly concentrated in medical and clinical fields, are associated with an initial period of depressed graduate earning while graduates complete a required period of postgraduate clinical or residency work necessary to obtain a professional licensure.” This notice provides the CIP codes for programs for which the department will measure income for completers from “the sixth and seventh award year prior to the year of the earnings data, meaning that income is measured three years farther out after graduation for completers of such programs.”
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Students
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from June 25-July1, 2024. This summary highlights an announcement from the IRS that representatives will be available to answer questions for institutions seeking to make an elective payment for clean energy tax credits; the Biden Administration’s announcement that it will appeal injunctions on its Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan and Title IX rules; a letter from the Secretaries of Education and State highlighting efforts of higher education leaders to support displaced students, scholars, and families on the occasion of World Refugee Day; the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Chevron Doctrine; an injunction from a federal court blocking the Department of Labor’s overtime rule for Texas state employees, including those at public universities; research from the Federal Reserve Board System identifying financial benefits of higher education for economic well-being of U.S. households; NACUBO’s advocacy in favor of tax-free assistance employers can offer employees under Section 127 to assist with education and training expenses; and new resources from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) to encourage lawmakers to delay the reporting requirements under the new gainful employment and financial value transparency regulations until July 2025.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
