Dear Colleagues:

This week, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and spring was taking hold in the nation’s capital. While spring breakers and families descended on the city, congress and the Biden Administration were taking no breaks from working on issues affecting higher education.

For example, campus free speech remains a front-burner issue and recent high-profile incidents have made the spotlight on the issue even brighter. Both Congress and the Department of Education are currently focused on varying aspects of the free speech issue. We have a story reporting on a congressional hearing that examined free speech on campus and a Soundbite below that includes comments NAICU and others in the higher education community sent to the Department of Education.

As an example of a smaller issue in which our work with the higher education community bore fruit, I would like to point out our story this week on the final increases in certain student and faculty visa fees. We worked with a coalition of higher education organizations on this issue for many, many months and the progress made in the final rule is substantial. While certain fees were increased, the increases were significantly lower than originally proposed.

REMINDER – FAFSA Webinar: On Tuesday, April 4 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT (Register), NAICU is hosting a webinar with Melanie Storey, Director of Policy Implementation and Oversight in the Office of Federal Student Aid, to discuss and help you prepare for the coming changes to the FAFSA and federal need analysis.

Soundbites

• NAICU joined the higher education community in submitting comments in response to the Department’s recent request for information regarding Trump-era regulations on free inquiry. The comments ask the Department to repeal potentially harmful provisions that expose private, nonprofit institutions to liability for failing to follow their stated free speech policies.

• The Department of Education issued a correction to the new Pell Grants for Prison Education Programs (PEPs) final regulation that was issued last October. The correction clarifies that PEPs must operate in the best interest of students, to be determined by the state oversight entity, before any further review by an accrediting agency. This change further emphasizes the important role of the state oversight entity that must approve all prison education programs in order for the students in the program to be eligible for Pell Grants.

Also in this week’s Washington Update are two stories related to student loan forgiveness, reporting on NAICU’s student aid funding requests for FY 2024 as part of the annual budget and appropriations process, an update on actions related to third-party servicers, and information related to grant opportunities for international education research.