U.S. Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on Regulatory Requirements for Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment. The DCL outlines the (1) information regarding programs and individual students that institutions will be required to report; (2) calculations the Department will make based on that data and earnings information it anticipates receiving from the IRS; and (3) range of consequences, by program type, for programs that do not achieve the minimum specified outcomes on the Department’s metrics. In both the DCL and a related Electronic Announcement (GE-20-01), the Department extended the deadline for FVT/GE reporting to October 1, 2024. The announcement also notes that ED plans to publish the first FVT/GE metrics and notify institutions of failing GE programs in early 2025.
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 March 12-18, 2024. This summary highlights a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office on physical and digital infrastructure needs of Hispanic-Serving Institutions, as well as their funding sources for capital projects; the Department of Education’s request for comments on the information reporting requirements under its new Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency regulations; the Department of Labor’s final regulations on factors distinguishing employees and independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act taking effect on March 11; and ED’s announcement of technical corrections to the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to allow contributors without Social Security numbers to start or access a student’s online FAFSA form.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Letter from the American Council on Education (ACE) and five other higher education associations to Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce opposing H.R. 7683, the Respecting the First Amendment on Campus Act. The letter notes multiple concerns with the proposed legislation, including the difficulty and cost associated with developing required standards for allocation of funds to student organizations; the harshness of the proposed sanction of automatic loss of Title IV funding for all students for one year in response to a single instance of noncompliance, as well as the dangerous precedent of government intrusion into matters of academic freedom and institutional autonomy; and that provisions mandating public forum status for all publicly accessible areas of campus would limit administrators’ ability to provide learning environments free from discrimination and potentially make campuses less safe.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Constitutional Issues | First Amendment & Free Speech | Higher Education Act (HEA)
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from March 5-11, 2024. This summary highlights the follow-up from the White House to the President’s State of the Union address highlighting the administration’s goals related to higher education; flat or decreased funding for science budgets in the spending package enacted last week by Congress; the Department of Education’s announcement last week that it would begin sending completed FAFSA information to institutions; new rules from the IRS implementing provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act to certain clean energy credits refundable as direct payments; advocacy from the Charitable Giving Coalition to restore a charitable deduction for non-itemizers; and concerns raised by NACUBO and other higher education associations during the Department of Education’s negotiations on Title IV regulations regarding the ability of institutions to provide books and other materials to students as a part of affordable access programs.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Letter from the American Council on Education (ACE) and 21 other higher education associations to the U.S. Department of Education requesting a delay in all reporting requirements related to Financial Value Transparency (FVT) and Gainful Employment (GE). Citing the challenges institutions are currently facing related to implementation delays with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the letter urges that the Department delay all reporting requirements related to its new FVT and GE regulations beyond the current deadline of July 31, 2024. Drawing on a survey sent to member institutions conducted in collaboration with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), the letter also lists a number of areas of institutional challenge for the Department to consider as it develops sub-regulatory guidance.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from February 27-March 4, 2024. This summary highlights Congress’s passage of a “laddered” continuing resolution funding some parts of the government through March 8 and others, including the Department of Education, through March 22; the Department of Education’s voter toolkit reminding universities and students about activities they can take to increase voter turnout, including through the use of Campus Work-Study funds for nonpartisan election purposes; Congress’s postponment of a vote on legislation to impose new risk-sharing requirements on institutions subject to the endowment excise tax; and NACUBO’s participation, along with other Amici, in a brief submitted to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Zhang v. Emory University, a case concerning a student suicide in which plaintiffs seek to hold the school liable for student self-harm, absent adequate allegations that show the school had particularized knowledge of the student’s consideration of self-harm.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on Use of Federal Work-Study (FWS) Funds for Voter Registration. In this DCL, the Department clarifies that FWS funds may be used to support “civic engagement work that is not associated with a particular interest or group.” It specifies that “[t]his work can include supporting broad-based get-out-the-vote activities, voter registration, providing voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker,” explaining that this work is consistent with the meaning of 34 CFR §675.22(b)(5), to promote student employment “in the public interest while ensuring that such work is neither associated with any faction in election for public or party office, nor constitutes political activity.” The Department also released a related Toolkit for Promotion of Voter Participation for Students, which highlights multiple recommendations for institutions to meet their obligation under the Higher Education Act to make a good faith effort to distribute voter registration forms and otherwise make resources available to every eligible student.
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 February 13-26, 2024. This summary highlights the Department of Education’s new resources to inform students with disabilities of their rights under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act related to the common medical conditions of asthma, diabetes, food allergies, and gastroesophageal reflux disease; ED’s new FAFSA Workaround for contributors, such as parents, who do not have a Social Security number; new research from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) showing that philanthropic giving to higher education institutions exceeded $58 billion for 2023; and NACUBO’s comments along with the American Council on Education (ACE) and other higher education associations to the Department of Labor (DOL) on its Request for Information on including new occupations, particularly in STEM areas, to Schedule A of the permanent labor certification process.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
U.S. Department of Education Notice of New Information Collection on Foreign Institution Reporting Requirements Under the CARES Act. The CARES Act permitted foreign institutions to provide part of eligible programs via distance education and to enter into written agreements with institutions of higher education in the United States to take courses from that institution. It required participating foreign institutions to report to the Secretary their use of either activity no later than 30 days after the start of the courses. That information collection was discontinued at the end of the formal COVID-19 national emergency. “However, due to other global situations [ED is] now requesting a new information collection to allow for the on-going use of the CARES Act waiver.” Comments are due on or before March 21, 2024.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA)
