Cases & Developments

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.   

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.   

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.”