Dear Colleagues,

This week, the Congressional Independent Colleges Caucus (CICC) hosted the first in-person NAICU panel discussion between our member presidents and Capitol Hill staff since the beginning of the pandemic. The session, “What COVID Taught Us: Lessons from College Presidents,” attracted over 40 congressional staff, many of whom work for members of the House Committee Education and the Workforce.

I’d like to thank Susquehanna University President Jonathan Green and Wayland Baptist University President Bobby Hall for taking time out of their end-of-year schedule to travel to Washington, DC to provide their unique perspectives on the many challenges facing our campuses and students directly to important Hill staff. Jonathan Green summed it up aptly when he observed that “higher education is suffering from long COVID” as institutions continue to grapple with ongoing challenges such as lower enrollment, a financial cliff created by the expiration of HEERF funding, and persistent and growing demand from students for mental health services. Highlighting the reach that COVID has had, roughly half of the attendees indicated that at least part of their college experience intersected with the pandemic.

Both Jonathan Green and Bobby Hall also let congressional staff know how important the HEERF funding, which NAICU members had to vigorously advocate to be included in, was to our sector and their students. The level of interest and engagement at the CICC seminar underscores how important it is to tell our story to policy makers and the need to remain connected as a resource.

As a reminder, the CICC is co-chaired by Reps. David Joyce (R-OH) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and includes nearly 80 members of Congress (CICC roster). If you do not see your representative on the roster, I urge you to consider inviting them to join. We have created a sample invite letter and have a copy of the Dear Colleague Letter from the Reps. Kilmer and Joyce. Our team is available to assist and help follow up if needed. Just email our team via suzanne@naicu.edu.

Soundbites

• As the Department of Education works to implement the FAFSA Simplification Act, it is seeking input from stakeholders via an Information Collection Request on how to collect wage information for Federal-Work Study (FWS) recipients. As part of FAFSA simplification, FWS wages will no longer be a question on the FAFSA, but the data will still needed to determine student aid eligibility. The Department has detailed the options for gathering the data it would like feedback on, requesting that comments be submitted by July 12.

• The House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing that explored innovation in higher education and how to prepare students for the opportunities of tomorrow. Although the hearing did not break new ground, it did examine the pros and cons of various new approaches and proposals, including technological advances that allow for better targeted interventions, distance education and competency-based education, and dual enrollment programs, among other issues.

• NAICU joined the higher education community in a formal request to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to provide institutions with a more comprehensive analysis of the likely impact of the coming changes to both the federal need analysis system and the FAFSA. The Department has promised institutions it will help them with more detailed data but colleges and universities are still lacking the information needed to fully prepare for the changes coming this December when the new FAFSA is released.

• The Biden Administration has made more adjustments to its regulatory calendar. First up is the next round of negotiated rulemaking which is now likely to start in July. In those sessions, the Department hopes to address such wide-ranging issues as accreditation, state authorization, and third-party servicers in a process that is likely to stretch through the fall. The Department of Labor is now expected to release its proposed overtime rule in August. Also in August, the proposed regulations on Section 504 disability discrimination are expected to be announced. Finally, proposed FERPA regulations have been pushed to November. 

• The House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved legislation that would prohibit colleges and universities from providing emergency shelter for “aliens who have not been admitted into the U.S.” The Schools Not Shelters Act would prohibit schools that provide emergency shelter to undocumented immigrants from receiving federal financial funding. The bill would not affect students attending the institution. 

Today’s Washington Update covers the significant education funding cuts proposed by House appropriators; a new package of bills introduced on Wednesday by Senate republicans aimed at tackling college costs and providing an alternative to President Biden’s student loan forgiveness proposals; and an announcement from the IRS that it will no longer allow Name, Image and Likeness collectives to be organized as charities and not be subject to taxation.