Issue Brief from the American Council on Education (ACE) on Student Voting and College Political Campaign-Related Activities in 2024. The Issue Brief notes the obligation under the Higher Education Act (HEA) to make good faith efforts to help students to register to vote in federal and gubernatorial election cycles and discusses resources related to voter registration, as well as barriers to student voting. It also considers challenges associated with the Internal Revenue Code’s prohibition on 501(c)(3) organizations from participating in political campaign-related activity. Finally, it presents illustrative examples of permissible and prohibited political activities on campus.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Tax Implication of Campus Political Activity | Taxes & Finances
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from June 18-24, 2024. This summary highlights publication by the IRS of regulations on prevailing wage and apprenticeship
requirements to qualify for increased clean energy tax credits; implementation guidance from the Department of Education related to gainful employment programs under the new administrative capability and financial responsibility regulations; new injunctions
from federal courts on enforcement of the Department of Education’s new Title IX final rule; and an Inside Higher Ed study that found high levels of favorable ratings by students of their higher education institutions.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from June 4-17, 2024. This summary highlights the hearing in the House Committee on Ways and Means on the tax-exempt status of universities and their responses to antisemitism; guidance from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers on the Department of Education’s new regulations on transcript withholding that will take effect on July 1; an issue brief from the American Council on Education (ACE) on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime exemption rule and a letter from the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity calling on DOL to delay its implementation; the removal of amendments from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have included the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act and the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act in the NDAA; and a request to the IRS from the Coalition for Energy Efficient Jobs & Investment that it provide guidance on how tax-exempt or governmental organizations may comply with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for receiving the Section 179D deduction for energy efficient commercial construction.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from May 21-June 3, 2024. This summary highlights the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) report that it saw a record number of complaints in 2023; ED’s announcement of steps to “modernize” the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA); FSA’s reprocessing of FAFSA Forms affected by recent processing issues; the announcement by the NCAA and five athletics conferences of a settlement, which must still be approved by a federal judge and the full details of which have yet to be announced, that would allow colleges to compensate student-athletes for name, image, and likeness; NACUBO’s advocacy with the American Council on Education (ACE) for Congress to improve the FAFSA; and calls from the Student Aid Alliance (SAA) for increased funding in Fiscal Year 2025.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Letter from the American Council on Education and 22 other higher education associations to House leaders opposing inclusion of the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act and the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act as amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The letter highlights multiple potential consequences of the Pell Grant extension legislation’s proposal to require some institutions to make risk-sharing payments to the Department of Education and to impose other new conditions on their participation in the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program. The letter also highlights multiple concerns with the proposed expansion of Section 117 in DETERRENT Act, including its impact on the privacy of faculty and staff, potentially threatening international collaborations, and tasking the Department of Education with regulatory functions it is not well equipped to implement.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | International Activities | Students
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from May 14-20, 2024. This summary highlights examination in multiple House committees of federal funding and tax exemption for organizations with connection to antisemitic activities; research from the Hope Center at Temple University analyzing state policies affecting student eligibility for benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); and NACUBO’s advocacy through the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO) to encourage Congress to call for a delay in the effective date of the Department of Labor’s increase in the salary threshold for overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Memorandum Opinion reversing summary judgment in favor of the University and remanding. Appellants, four former students in the physician assistant program at Heritage University, brought consumer protection, contract, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment claims against the University after the program lost accreditation five months into their two-year program, alleging that they had enrolled in the program in reliance on false statements that loss of accreditation would not adversely affect their education. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the University. In reversing and remanding on their Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA) claim, the Ninth Circuit found the consistency with which the University communicated that loss of accreditation would not interrupt their education or force them to transfer to a new program sufficient to show conduct affecting the public interest within the meaning of the CPA. Although appellants were aware of the program’s probationary status, the court also reversed and remanded on their contract and related claims, finding a genuine dispute as to whether it was reasonable for them to rely on the University’s statements regarding the potential consequences of a loss of accreditation.
Topics:
Accreditation | Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Contracts
U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on the Implementation of Regulations Related to Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, and Ability to Benefit (ATB). The DCL provides a summary of the regulatory changes that the Department announced in its final rule on October 31, 2023, which will become effective on July 1, 2024.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from May 7-13, 2024. This summary highlights the Dear Colleague Letter from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on ensuring nondiscrimination under Title VI; research from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) finding increased appropriations in fiscal year 2023 but decreased enrollment at public institutions; NACUBO’s advocacy with House and Senate committees to expand the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Matching Program in the Internal Revenue Code; and NACUBO’s advocacy as a part of the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) requesting an extension to the implementation date for the new final rule raising the salary threshold for the overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from April 30-May 6, 2024. This summary highlights the House’s passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090), which would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act; the Department of Education’s announcement of fixes for certain FAFSA technical problems and information about affected applications; updated instructions from the IRS on how institutions making an elective payment for clean energy tax credits should file a Form 990-T; a final rule from the IRS on clean vehicle tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act; multiple lawsuits challenging provisions of the new Title IX final regulations; and NACUBO’s letter along with other higher education associations to ED raising concerns with proposed changes to state authorization regulations discussed in recent negotiated rulemaking on program integrity.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
