Introduction by Barbara K. Mistick
Dear Colleagues,
Like your students returning to campus, policy makers are back in Washington on Capitol Hill preparing for the final push of the 117th Congress. Two key items on their to-do list include working on the FY 2023 budget, and avoiding a government shutdown, and preparing for the November mid-term elections. In the Administration, we are preparing for a robust regulatory agenda that will also have an impact on higher education.
Additionally, President Biden’s executive order on student debt relief will be on the front-burner of the political and policy debates. As you’ve no doubt seen in the media coverage of President Biden’s plan, the debt relief proposal is both politically divisive and very complicated to implement.
This week’s Washington Update includes new details on how the Administration plans to implement this one-time student loan debt forgiveness and a deeper dive into the House and Senate plans for getting to a FY 2023 budget agreement.
Soundbites- In an effort to address college costs, the Department of Education announced that it will discharge all remaining federal student loans for borrowers who enrolled in any location of Westwood College between January 1, 2002 and November 17, 2015, when it stopped enrolling new borrowers in advance of its 2016 closure. This action will result in $1.5 billion in discharges for 79,000 borrowers, regardless of whether they have applied for a borrower defense discharge. Relief will be granted without any additional actions by the borrowers.
- The Accrediting Council for Independent College and Schools (ACICS), the embattled for-profit accreditor, has announced that it will permanently shut down. The closure comes in the wake of the Department of Education’s decision to terminate federal recognition of the accreditor.
- The Department of Education will be hosting a webinar “Partners in Prevention: Engaging the Campus Community to Prevent Gender-Based Violence” on Wednesday, September 14 from 3:00 – 4:15 pm EDT (Register). Featuring NAICU member Williams College and several other institutions of higher education, the event will provide practical, ready-to-use strategies for preventing sexual violence and other gender-based violence on college and university campuses.
“The Pell Grant program is one of America’s most effective financial aid programs—but its value has been eroded over time. Pell Grant recipients are more than 60% of the borrower population. The President championed the largest increase to Pell Grants in over a decade and one of the largest one-time influxes to colleges and universities. To further reduce the cost of college, the President will continue to fight to double the maximum Pell Grant….”
Excerpted from the White House Fact Sheet on student loan relief.
For more information, please contact:
Barbara K. Mistick