Cases & Developments - National Association of College and University Attorneys

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Latest Cases & Developments

Date:
9/3/2025
Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration Issue Brief on In-State Tuition and Scholarships for Undocumented Students (Sep. 3, 2025)
The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration published an issue brief titled: In-State Tuition and Scholarships for Undocumented Students: What Institutions Should Know. The brief explores the legal and policy foundations that allow states to offer in-state tuition rates to undocumented students and certain scholarship opportunities. The brief also provides an overview of federal efforts to restrict access to in-state tuition rates, the federal statutory framework, federal investigations into scholarships for undocumented students, the civil rights framework, and distinctions between citizenship and national origin, and concludes with the best practices for structuring scholarships for undocumented students.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Immigration | International Students | Students
Date:
8/28/2025
ACE Letter Offering Comments on the Department of Education’s Pending Implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Aug. 28, 2025)
The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to the Department of Education (the Department) offering comments on the Department’s pending implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act. The letter urges the Department to work with Congress to delay the implementation of the OBBB until at least July 1, 2027, in order to provide sufficient time for negotiated rulemaking committees to meet, for a proposed rule to be released, for public comments to be reviewed, and for a final rule promulgated with time for campuses to make system and other necessary changes before the start of a new award year. The letter requests (i) clear and direct communication to understand new annual and aggregate loan limits and student loan repayment plans; (ii) a comprehensive list of professional degree programs; (iii) proper staffing to implement the full scope of the OBBB; (iv) making the data used to determine median earnings for each program publicly available; (v) further guidance on the requirement for institutions to package non-federal grant aid before the Pell Grant; (vi) further guidance on institutional accountability reporting; and (vii) add additional constituency groups to the negotiated rulemaking committee.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
Date:
8/27/2025
Department of Education Comment Request on the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act State Plan Guide (Aug. 27, 2025)
The Department of Education (the Department) has proposed a revision to the currently approved information collection request (ICR) on the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act State Plan Guide. The Department is proposing to reinstate the previously approved version of the collection, which will eliminate the requirement that eligible agencies and eligible recipients use numerator and denominator specifications recently established by the Department to set State determined performance levels for the indicators of performance under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins V). Comments are due on or before September 26, 2025.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
Date:
8/27/2025
Dudley v. Boise State University (9th Cir. Aug. 27th, 2025)
Opinion Reversing in Part and Affirming in Part. Plaintiff, a graduate of Boise State University, brought due process claims against the university after her degree was revoked for misconduct during a required internship. The District Court found in favor of the university, determining that plaintiff was afforded sufficient notice and opportunity to be heard and that she failed to allege a property interest in her university education. On appeal, the Circuit Court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s substantive due process claim, reasoning that the university’s decision to revoke the degree was “not substantively arbitrary [or] lacking a rational basis.” However, the court reversed its dismissal of her procedural due process claim, calling the revocation “procedurally infirm.” The court held that because plaintiff had an ascertainable monetary value in her degree and further had “a legitimate claim of entitlement” to her degree under Idaho law, the university improperly denied her procedural due process rights when it revoked her degree without any notice or hearing.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Constitutional Issues | Due Process | Internships, Externships, & Clinical Work | Students
Date:
8/26/2025
Department of Education Confirms On-Time Launch of the 2026-27 FAFSA Form (Aug. 26, 2025)
The Department of Education (the Department) sent a letter to Congress certifying that the 2026-27 FAFSA form will be available on time this fall with a scheduled launch date of October 1. The Department conducted beta testing in early August with over 1,000 applications successfully submitted.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
Date:
8/25/2025
Department of Education Revised Information Collection Request for Application for Approval to Participate in Federal Student Aid Programs (Aug. 25, 2025)
The Department of Education (the Department) is collecting comments on the revised information collection request, “Application for Approval to Participate in the Federal Student Aid Programs.” An institution must use this Application to apply for approval to be determined eligible and if the institution wishes, to participate; to expand its eligibility; or to continue to participate in the Title IV programs. An institution must also use the Application to report certain required data as part of its recordkeeping requirements. Comments are due by October 24, 2025.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
Date:
8/19/2025
Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter on Updated Requirements for Distribution of Voter Registration Forms and Federal Work Study Allowable Uses of Funds (Aug. 19, 2025)
The Department of Education (the Department) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) detailing updated requirements for distribution of voter registration forms and allowable uses of federal work study (FWS) funds. The DCL states that the Department’s regulations prohibit FWS funds from being used to employ students whose work involves any partisan or nonpartisan political activity. The letter explains that “jobs involving partisan or nonpartisan voter registration, voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker—whether this takes place on or off campus—involve political activity.” While past guidance from the Department expanded the allowable uses of FWS funds related to voter registration, the Department has now rescinded that guidance and encourages institutions to employ students in jobs that align with real-world work experience related to a student’s course of study. The DCL further states that institutions who distribute voter registration forms are encouraged to consider reminding students of the eligibility requirements to register to vote and cast ballots, and are encouraged to “remain mindful of their existing obligations under the law to avoid aiding and abetting voter fraud, such as actions to aid and abet a noncitizen to vote in a federal election.”
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students | Tax Implication of Campus Political Activity | Taxes & Finances
Date:
8/18/2025
Department of Education Proposed Public Service Program Rules to Protect American Taxpayers (Aug. 18, 2025)
The Department of Education Secretary proposed to amend the regulation on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to exclude employers that engage in activities that have a “substantial illegal purpose.” The proposed rule would clarify the definition of a qualifying employer, define activities that have a substantial illegal purpose, address the impact on borrower eligibility, and ensure employers are given notice and the opportunity to respond to an adverse finding. The proposed change seeks to add definitions for: aiding or abetting, chemical castration or mutilation, child or children, foreign terrorist organizations, illegal discrimination, other Federal Immigration laws, substantial illegal purpose, surgical castration or mutilation, terrorism, trafficking, violating State law, and violence for the purpose of obstructing or influencing Federal Government policy. Additionally, the proposed change seeks to clarify that a borrower may not request reconsideration of a final determination by the Secretary that the employer lost status as a qualifying employer. Finally, the proposed change seeks to establish that an employer that loses PSLF eligibility could regain qualifying employer status after (10) ten years from the date the Secretary determines the employer engaged in activities that have a substantial illegal purpose, or (2) after the Secretary approves a corrective action plan. Comments are due by September 17, 2025.
Topics:
Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students
Date:
8/18/2025
Spectrum WT v. Wendler (5th Cir. Aug. 18, 2025)
Opinion Affirming in Part, Reversing in Part, and Remanding. Plaintiffs, an LGBT+ student organization and individual members at West Texas A&M University organized a drag show to be hosted on campus, but the show was canceled by the University President. The University President “believed that drag shows discriminated against women” and sent a campus wide email announcing the cancellation and made several remarks criticizing the event. Plaintiffs subsequently sought a preliminary injunction so they could proceed with the show, alleging that their free speech rights were violated. The district court denied the injunction, determining that the venue where the show was set to take place was a limited public forum and found that “it was not clearly established that all drag shows are inherently expressive and therefore implicate the First Amendment, and President Wendler’s cancellation of the drag show was not objectively unreasonable given the show’s ‘potential lewdness.’” The district court further determined that “conduct that does not communicate a specific message must amount to a ‘work [] of fine art’ to gain First Amendment protection.” On appeal, the Fifth Circuit disagreed with the district court’s “fine art” standard, and found that the drag show was communicating a specific message of support for the LGBT+ community. The court further held that “theatrical performances plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment, and because we find the plaintiffs’ drag show is protected expression, discrimination among such shows must pass strict scrutiny.” The court determined the plaintiffs were entitled to a preliminary injunction and remanded for entry of a preliminary injunction.
Topics:
Constitutional Issues | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | First Amendment & Free Speech | Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation Discrimination | Student Organizations | Students
Date:
8/15/2025
Department of Education Comment Request on Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (Aug. 15, 2025)
The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance with the August 7th, 2025 Presidential Memorandum entitled “Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education Admissions,” is seeking to add the “Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement” (ACTS) survey component to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). ACTS is intended for four-year institutions who utilize selective college admissions and will collect data by race-sex pair on: (1) the count of institutions’ applied, admitted, and enrolled cohorts, both overall and further disaggregated by admission test score quintiles, GPA quintiles, ranges of family incomes, Pell Grant eligibility, and parental education; (2) the average high school graduate grade point average and admission test score quintiles for institutions’ applied, admitted, and enrolled cohorts; and (3) the count of students admitted via early action, early decision, or regular admissions. The Department seeks to capture data from the 2025-26 school year as well as from the five prior academic years in order to establish a baseline of admissions practices prior to SFFA v. Harvard. Finally, the Department is seeking feedback on aspects of the proposed data collection, with particular interest regarding whether there are other objective characteristics that the Department could use to identify institutions that have a low-risk or high-risk of noncompliance with Title VI, as well as whether open-enrollment institutions are at-risk of noncompliance with respect to scholarship awarding practices that provide preferential treatment based upon race, and the anticipated amount of time it will take for institutions to compile and submit the anticipated data elements in ACTS. Comments are due by October 14, 2025.
Topics:
Admissions | Students

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