Introduction by Barbara K. Mistick

Dear Colleagues,

We have been busy this week digesting the 700-page regulatory package the Department of Education released last week that, as with the Financial Value Transparency regulations released in September, will go into effect on July 1, 2024. Our lede story this week (see below) highlights the topics we think could most affect your campus community and includes a summary of the regulations, prepared by NAICU’s government relations team, for your campus to use.

Later today, we will also submit a comment letter to the Department of Labor (DOL) on its proposed overtime rules. I am pleased that so many of the leaders of our state associations and Secretariat organizations signed on to our letter in support of our sector. The letter details the concerns we have with the rule and requests: “If DOL will not reconsider the proposed overall salary threshold increase, it should do so for nonprofit employers - or consider phasing in the increase over time. In addition, DOL could use differing salary threshold levels for different regions of the country based on economic conditions and regional differences in costs of living. This would help reduce some of the negative consequences for our institutions, our employees, our communities, and the students we serve.”

I will include a copy of the final letter in next week’s Washington Update. As of yesterday, over 15,000 comments had been submitted to the DOL.

While this fall has been particularly active on the regulatory front, we’ve been calling it the “regulatory gauntlet” in our office, there could be more coming in the weeks ahead. As we’ve reported previously, the Department of Education was expected to release its final Title IX regulations by October 31. That deadline has come and gone and there is no word when that package could be coming. Also on the horizon are a myriad of other possible regulations, including such diverse areas as Title VI/anti-Semitism, disability, FERPA, and transgender athletics among other issues. 

We know all these changes can be overwhelming to campuses. With this in mind, we are organizing a series of webinars to help you plan and implement the forthcoming changes and navigate this regulatory gauntlet. In addition to the webinars, we are dedicating Sunday afternoon, February 4, of our Annual Meeting to helping you prepare for and manage some of the most critical regulatory changes. All of these resources are being created to help you understand the new regulations and their impact, manage the changes, and help ensure you’re prepared for compliance. 

We will send more information about these resources once the details are finalized.

Soundbites

• Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, subpoenaed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for documents and information related to borrower defense to repayment. The subpoena is in response to what the committee alleges are repeated refusals to comply with oversight requests for data on Department activities related to borrower defense. This marks the first time in history that the House Education Committee has subpoenaed the head of the Education Department.
  
  
• NAICU is working with the higher education community to draft comments in support of the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed net neutrality rules that would require Internet providers to treat all web traffic equally. The higher education community opposed the repeal of similar regulations in 2017 due to concerns about the detrimental effects on institutions’ educational and research missions. Colleges and universities that wish to submit comments on the proposal to reinstate net neutrality must do so by December 14, 2023.
  
  
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is promoting the next round of planning stipends for its SAMHSA’s Communities Talk initiative. Starting in January 2024, SAMHSA will offer funding to support campus and community prevention activities focused on alcohol and drug misuse. Stipends are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, so colleges and universities are encouraged to sign-up for stipend updates. SAMHSA has indicated that higher education awards are a top priority.
  
  
• The Department of Education announced it is withholding $7.2 million from student loan servicer MOHELA because it failed to send timely billing statements to 2.5 million borrowers. The Department claims the lag gave some borrowers as little as seven days until their payment due date and led to more than 800,000 borrowers becoming delinquent on their student loans. The Department also announced that multiple loan servicers have been incorrectly calculating payment amounts, and placing students with pending borrower defense claims incorrectly back into repayment status. All affected borrowers will be placed into forbearance, which will count toward forgiveness through Public Service Loan Forgiveness or Income Driven Repayment plans, until the issues are resolved.

This week’s Washington Update also reports on the upcoming negotiated rulemaking on student debt and efforts by the Biden Administration to address anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Regards,

Barbara

Barbara K. Mistick, D.M.
President, NAICU