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Latest Cases & Developments
Date:
ACE Issue Brief on Military Education Partnerships Under Review (Mar. 19, 2026)
The American Council on Education (ACE) published an issue brief outlining recent Pentagon actions that affect military education partnerships with colleges and universities and examining the potential implications for institutions and service members. The issue brief details the three programs affected so far: (1) selected senior service college fellowships; (2) some graduate-level military education placements; and (3) certain certificate and fellowship programs.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | StudentsDate:
Department of Education and Department of the Treasury Federal Student Assistance Partnership (Mar. 19, 2026)
The Department of Education (ED) and the Department of the Treasury announced that they have entered into a new joint agency agreement that will shift responsibilities for defaulted student loans from ED’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) office to the Treasury and outlined plans to outsource additional FSA responsibilities in future phases. According to the press release, the Federal Student Assistance Partnership will “enhance the administration of Federal student aid programs . . . and facilitate the return of defaulted borrowers to repayment.” Treasury will now assume operational responsibility for collecting defaulted federal student loan debt and provide operational support to ED’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment. A fact sheet on the new interagency partnership can be found here.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | StudentsDate:
Education and Workforce Committee Release Report on Antisemitism in Higher Education (Mar. 17, 2026)
The Education and Workforce Committee published a report on antisemitism in higher education, the result of ongoing committee investigations and hearings on the topic which began in late 2023. The report calls on university leaders to do more to combat antisemitism on their campuses including adopting a robust definition of antisemitism, strengthening policies governing campus protests and ensuring consistent enforcement of those policies, and ensuring that university governing boards are engaged and intellectually diverse. The report also recommends that Congress pass the Civil Rights Protection Act, the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rouge Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions Act (DETERRENT) and legislation requiring U.S. universities to make their syllabi at their overseas and satellite campuses publicly available.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Race and National Origin Discrimination | Religious Discrimination & Accommodation | Student Speech & Campus Unrest | StudentsDate:
Massachusetts, et al. v. Department of Education, et al. (D. Mass. Mar. 11, 2026)
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. Plaintiffs, a coalition of states, sued the Department of Education challenging the new Admissions Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey, alleging that the survey’s reporting requirements are contrary to law, exceed the Department’s statutory authority, and violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The complaint asserts that this new survey is the largest expansion in the history of Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) survey and, because the reporting requirements were adopted without notice-and-comment rulemaking, the Department’s actions are arbitrary and capricious. The complaint contends that the Department’s intentions with ACTS is to “fundamentally change IPEDS, converting it from a reliable tool for methodical statistical reporting to a mechanism for law enforcement and the furthering of partisan policy aims.” Plaintiffs further allege that (1) the Department is violating the Paperwork Reduction Act by imposing a large-scale data collection requirement without required approval, and (2) the request for years of admissions data places substantial administrative burdens on institutions while risking the disclosure of sensitive student information. On March 13, plaintiffs’ request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was granted, extending the deadline to complete the ACTS survey “through March 25, 2026 . . . without prejudice to a further extension of the deadline or other preliminary relief as justice may require.”
Topics:
Admissions | StudentsDate:
ACE Summary of Proposed Regulations on Workforce Pell Grant Program (Mar. 9, 2026)
The American Council on Education (ACE) published a summary of the Department of Education’s March 9, 2026 proposed regulations implementing provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act related to the new Workforce Pell program and updating regulations governing the administration of the Pell Grant program.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | StudentsDate:
Department of Education Issues Proposed Rulemaking to Implement New Workforce Pell Grant Program (Mar. 6, 2026)
The Department of Education announced that it has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement the new Workforce Pell Grant program included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Among its provisions, the NPRM would (1) allow students to receive Pell Grants for eligible workforce programs that consist of 150-599 hours of instruction and take 8-14 weeks to complete; (2) set additional eligibility requirements for the approval of a workforce program, including approval by a Governor; and (3) establish certain accountability benchmarks such as job placement rates and a value-added earnings measure. Comments are due by April 8, 2026.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | StudentsDate:
Bd. of Trs. of the Cal. State Univ. v. Dep’t of Educ. (N.D. Cal. Mar. 6, 2026)
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. Plaintiff, the California State University System, sued the Department of Education challenging its January 2026 determination that San Jose State University (SJSU) violated Title IX when it allowed a transgender athlete to compete on the women’s volleyball team from 2022-24. The complaint alleges that SJSU could not lawfully exclude a transgender athlete under Ninth Circuit precedent, NCAA rules, and federal guidance, and maintains that the Department’s findings improperly attempt to retroactively impose Title IX obligations based on a later policy shift. The complaint further alleges that the proposed resolution agreement violates both the Spending Clause and the First Amendment by conditioning federal funding on the university sending personal apologies to female athletes and agreeing to amend its policies. Plaintiff has asked the court to vacate the Department’s findings and enjoin it from (1) terminating, freezing, blocking, or refusing federal funding to SJSU; and (2) enforcing the proposed resolution agreement.
Topics:
Athletics & Sports | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Gender Equity in Athletics | Sex Discrimination | Sexual Misconduct | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual MisconductDate:
AIR Announces ACTS Reporting Deadline Update from the Department of Education (Mar. 6, 2026)
The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) announced that the Department of Education has offered institutions of higher education a conditional extension for submitting data for the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey. Institutions may request an extension until April 8, 2026 conditioned on the institution providing by the original March 18 deadline (1) completion of all ACTS screening questions for all seven ACTS years, and (2) at least three years of ACTS data files. In response to press inquiries, the Department has stated that it will only grant “limited extensions to the reporting deadline where institutions have shown a good faith effort to comply and extraordinary circumstances warranting extension.”
Topics:
Admissions | StudentsDate:
Department of Education Issues Proposed Rulemaking to Implement New Workforce Pell Grant Program (Mar. 6, 2026)
The Department of Education announced that it has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement the new Workforce Pell Grant program included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Among its provisions, the NPRM would (1) allow students to receive Pell Grants for eligible workforce programs that consist of 150-599 hours of instruction and take 8-14 weeks to complete; (2) set additional eligibility requirements for the approval of a workforce program, including approval by a Governor; and (3) establish certain accountability benchmarks such as job placement rates and a value-added earnings measure. Comments are due by April 8, 2026.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | StudentsDate:
Doe v. Northwestern University (N.D. Ill. Mar. 3, 2026)
Opinion Granting in Part Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiffs, a group of Jewish students who attend Northwestern University, sued the university for Title VI violations and breach of contract based on the university’s response to on-campus demonstrations related to the Israel-Hamas conflict and alleged acts of antisemitism. The court dismissed plaintiffs’ Title VI claims, finding plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege that (1) the university had actual knowledge of the alleged antisemitic incidents or (2) its response to the on-campus encampment was “clearly unreasonable,” given it issued warnings, involved campus police, and negotiated the encampment’s removal in less than a week. In light of the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ Title VI claims, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ state contract claims.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Race and National Origin Discrimination | Student Speech & Campus Unrest | Students
NACUA Annual Conference
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