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 institutions of higher education in the United States to take courses from that institution. It required those foreign institutions to report to the Secretary the use of either activity no later than 30 days after the start of those courses. That information collection was discontinued at the end of the COVID-19 national emergency. “However, due to other global situations [ED is] no requesting a new information collection to allow for the on-going use of the CARES Act waiver.” Comments are due on or before February 12, 2024.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA)
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Notice of Negotiated Rulemaking. The Department announced its intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee on Program Integrity and Institutional Quality. The committee will propose new regulations on recognition of accrediting agencies; institutional eligibility, including State authorization; requirements for distance education, including for clock hour programs; return of Title IV funds; cash management; and eligibility requirements for Federal TRIO program participants. Nominations for negotiators to serve on the committee are due on or before December 13, 2023. In a related Press Release, the Department noted that the committee’s topics do not include Third Party Services (TPS), but that the Department intends to issue updated guidance on TPS in early 2024.
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 November 21-27, 2023. This summary highlights the upcoming reporting deadline of December 15 for institutions participating in the Perkins Loan Program to report their amount of cash on hand to the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA); a reminder about the FSA Training Conference that started on November 28; a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) from the IRS on issues related to the energy investment credit; the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear Indiana Municipal Power Agency v. United States, a case about the federal government’s obligation to refund interest payments on Build America Bonds; and a report from the Institute of International Education showing a 12 percent increase in international student enrollments in 2022-23 from the prior year.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred from November 14-20, 2023. This summary highlights the passage of a continuing resolution (CR) extending funding of some federal agencies until January 19, 2024, and of others until February 2, 2024; hearings in the House Committee on Ways and Means on the increase in antisemitism on campuses stemming from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas; proposed regulations from the IRS setting a 20 percent excise tax on taxable distributions from donor-advised funds and liability for fund managers who knowingly agree to make a taxable distribution; the implementation timeline from the Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) for the 2024-25 FAFSA; and an updated complaint form from ED’s Office for Civil Rights specifying that Title VI protections extent to students who “are or are perceived to be Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh, or based on other shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.”
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred between November 6-13, 2023. This summary highlights the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter on institutions’ obligations under Title VI to address discrimination, including harassment, on campus; NACUBO’s advocacy though comment letters on the Department of Labor’s proposed overtime rules; and NACUBO’s letter with the American Council on Education (ACE) to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce concerning the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transaction (DETERRENT) Act that would enhance reporting obligations under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid Guidance on Borrower Defense School Notification Process Under the 2016 Regulation. The electronic announcement concerns the notices of borrower defense applications from June 23, 2022, to November 15, 2022, ED is sending to schools under the settlement reached in the Sweet v. Cardona litigation, which required that the applications be processed under the 2016 Regulation. The guidance clarifies that under the 2016 Regulation, ED must notify schools of the applications prior to any substantive review. It also notes that if ED decides after its review to approve applications and if it decides to seek recoupment, schools will have the opportunity to contest any recoupment before a hearing officer. The guidance also notes that “ED is attempting to batch applications so schools receive all claims from the June 23 to Nov. 15 period in a single notification.”
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 between October 31-November 6, 2023. This summary highlights IRS guidance that under the CARES Act Section 127 tuition assistance plans may be used to help employees pay principal and interest on student loans between March 27, 2020, and December 31, 2025; President Biden’s Executive Order on governing the development and use of AI; a new NACUBO accounting tutorial on financial accounting and reporting related to the expiration of the Perkins Loan Program; comments from the Coalition for Energy Efficient Jobs & Investment to the IRS on proposed prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA); NACUBO’s next Washington Update; and an advocacy tool from the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity to assist in contacting legislators and regulators regarding the Department of Labor’s proposed expansion of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s salary-level threshold for overtime pay.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
Summary from the National Association of College & University Business Officers on legislative and regulatory actions that occurred between October 24-30, 2023. This summary highlights the selection of a new Speaker of the House of Representatives; a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on undergraduate enrollments after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; a revised checklist from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) to help institutions plan for implementation of the new FAFSA form; advocacy by NACUBO and 87 other organizations with members of Congress regarding the Department of Labor’s proposed changes to the salary-level threshold for overtime pay; and a request from NACUBO seeking information from institutions regarding the number of debt notices they are receiving from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requesting funds from schools following changes in student veterans’ enrollment.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Final Regulations on Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, and Ability to Benefit (ATB). Among key provisions, the new regulations require that institutions provide adequate financial aid counseling and information, including cost of attendance information; new mandatory and discretionary triggers to give the Department with notice when an institution might not be able to be able to meet its financial responsibilities; a requirement that institutions certify that in each State where they enroll students, including through distance programs, that they meet applicable accreditation and licensure requirements and comply with State laws related to closures; a requirement that institutions provide, upon a student’s request, an official transcript reflecting all credit or clock hours for periods in which a student received Title IV funds; and a requirement that institutions provide adequate career services and clinical or externship opportunities. The Department also released a Fact Sheet on the new regulations, which become effective on July 1, 2024. Update: The Department of Education published the final regulations in the Federal Register on October 31, 2023.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education Final Regulations on Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, and Ability to Benefit (ATB). Among key provisions, the new regulations impose new mandatory and discretionary triggers to allow the Department notice when an institution might not be able to be able to meet its financial responsibilities, and also require that institutions (1) provide adequate financial aid counseling and information, including cost of attendance information; (2) certify that they meet applicable accreditation and licensure requirements and comply with State laws related to closures for each State where they enroll students, including through distance programs; (3) provide an official transcript reflecting all credit or clock hours for periods in which the student received Title IV funds, when requested by a student; and (4) provide adequate career services and clinical or externship opportunities. The Department also released a Fact Sheet on the new regulations. The new regulations become effective on July 1, 2024.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
