Dear Colleagues,

Even by Washington standards, this week has been unpredictable and chaotic. No matter which political prognosticator you most favor, no one knows what the long-term ramifications will be of the unprecedented removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker. 

What we do know at this point is that the political tensions under which Congress must now work to keep the government open after November 17 have grown. Key to higher education is that the Freedom Caucus’ strengthened influence is putting additional pressure on the appropriations committee to further reduce overall spending.

This elevates the importance of continuing to reach out to Members of Congress and encourage them to oppose the proposed elimination of Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) in the House bill, and the $10 million cut to each program in the Senate bill. Equally important is how the proposed $250 increase to the Pell Grant maximum in the Senate would provide critically important assistance to our students who are most in need.

If you haven’t already, please take time over these next few weeks to contact your Representative and both Senators to register your support for all three student aid programs. NAICU’s recent Action Alert includes additional details and talking points to help with your outreach.

To emphasize the importance of FWS and SEOG at your institution, we also have resources to activate your campus community. Students and others on campus can use the Contact Congress tool on the Student Aid Alliance website to send a message to policy makers. By entering minimal information and a ZIP code, anyone can send a message to their congressional delegation.

While Congress has been reeling this week, we have been hard at work analyzing the regulations unveiled by the Department of Education last week that will provide all students with the “financial value” of every academic program at every institution in the nation.

The new regulations, which go into effect on July 1, 2024, will place a significant new regulatory burden on your campus and could affect your enrollment efforts for various programs. While undergraduate programs were exempted from some of the conditions, the reporting requirements for these programs have not changed. 

To help digest the complexities of these new rules, NAICU created a summary of the regulations and our lede story below provides additional detail to help you better understand the implications and timing of the Department’s actions.

Soundbites

• The Department of Education announced an additional $9 billion in student loan forgiveness for 125,000 borrowers. This tranche of forgiveness includes three separate groups of qualifying borrowers, with $5.2 billion for 53,000 borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, $2.8 billion for nearly 51,000 borrowers with more than 20 years of qualifying payments in income-driven repayment plans, and $1.2 billion for 22,000 borrowers through total and permanent disability discharges. This brings the total approved debt cancellation to $127 billion for 3.6 million borrowers.

• The Department of Education released its list of negotiators and its first issue paper for the upcoming Student Debt Relief negotiated rulemaking. Representing private, non-profit institutions is Angelika Williams, assistant vice provost of student financial services at the University of San Francisco. Susan Teerink, associate vice provost for financial aid & enrollment services at Marquette University will serve as the alternate. On October 10, the 14 negotiators will convene for the first two-day session of rulemaking to discuss the Department’s new, more-targeted approach to student loan debt forgiveness.

• The U.S. Supreme Court will not be taking up a case challenging the expansion of a visa program that lets international students in STEM fields stay in the U.S. after graduation for up to three years to pursue employment. The decision lets stand a lower court ruling holding that the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program extension was lawful. The OPT program allows student visa holders to extend their stay by up to a year, during which time they’re expected to find sponsorship for a work visa or another long-term residency option. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security added a two-year extension for tech workers.

This week’s Washington Update also reports on a House hearing on affirmative action and the likely next steps on FY 2024 funding now that Congress has, at least temporarily, avoided a shutdown,

Thank you for your continued support of our work at NAICU and for your advocacy in support of student aid funding. It takes a steady drumbeat to ensure the messages about the needs of our lowest income students reach key decision-makers in Congress.