Dear Colleagues,

Well, today is the day we have been expecting since the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking sessions began in the fall of 2021. Today, the Department officially released its massive new regulatory package in the Federal Register and is only providing a 30-day comment period. 

As we report in our lede story below, these proposed rules will impact every program at every institution of higher education in America. The ground these rules cover include Gainful Employment, consumer information on the financial value of programs, financial aid information, teach out plans, financial responsibility standards, and much more.

Given the short comment period, we will be working double time to read and analyze the proposed rules and asses their impact on private, nonprofit higher education. We will also be coordinating with the broader higher education community to formulate comments to submit. There will be lots more to come on this in the days ahead!

On another important regulatory front, I sent a second letter to Secretary Cardona this week on the deep concerns our sector has with the Department’s proposed guidance on holding leaders and trustees of private, nonprofit colleges and universities liable for federal losses on student loans. As you’ll see in the Soundbite below, nearly 70 associations and organizations joined us in signing on to the letter, which urges the Department to re-think its guidance. I am deeply appreciative of all who lent their names to this important communication. 

This effort to push back on the Department’s guidance and highlight its unintended consequences continues to demonstrate that we are stronger when we are together. We will need to carry forward this togetherness as we respond to the proposed regulations released today. 

Soundbites

• NAICU sent a letter this week to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona reiterating its concerns about the guidance issued by the Department that could hold leaders and trustees of private, nonprofit colleges personally liable for Title IV debt owed to the Department. Specifically, the letter urges the Department “to revise the guidance to exclude leaders and trustees of private, nonprofit institutions from coverage, consistent with the authority placed in the Secretary of Education by the HEA and underlying congressional intent, and to provide parity with its treatment of leaders of public institutions.” The letter was signed by 67 organizations, including nearly all the NAICU state associations and Secretariat members, as well as the Association of Governing Boards and several faith-related organizations.

• The Department of Education posted two forms for public comment that are required to implement the new Borrower Defense to Repayment (comment information) and Prison Education (comment information) regulations that go into effect on July 1. Both forms were published on May 17, and comments are due by June 16. 

• The Department of Education is reaching out to students who may be eligible for benefits through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and encouraging them to apply for an extension of those benefits before the pandemic expansion closes on June 9. This is a follow up to materials sent to colleges in March raising awareness about the issue.

• Attention Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi: These states have 2023 gubernatorial elections. To comply with the Higher Education Act, colleges and universities are required to provide students with voter registration information for all federal and gubernatorial elections, as well as special elections to these positions. NAICU will soon distribute more detailed information to member institutions in these three states.

Today’s Washington Update also reports on Cardona testifying before the House Education and Workforce Committee in support of the president’s FY 2024 budget request and to answer oversight questions, and an update to the third-party servicer guidance, which the Department has now officially withdrawn.