Dear Colleagues:

Happy New Year!  I hope you and your campus community experienced a happy and restful break.  It was terrific to see so many NAICU members and other friends in Florida during CIC’s annual Presidents Institute.  I hope you were able to find some time to rest and relax because the Biden Administration and Congress are both coming in hot for the start of 2024.

In major news yesterday, House Committee on Education & the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced the College Cost Reduction Act (H.R.6951) (fact sheet / summary). The bill would make significant and systematic changes to the federal student aid programs and the relationship between the federal government and institutions of higher education. 

Among the issues included in the proposals are:

• The elimination of the SEOG, Parent and Grad PLUS programs;
• Requirements for institutional cost sharing on unpaid interest and principal from prior students’ federal loans;
• The elimination of many recent regulatory requirements, including Financial Value Transparency;
• Limitations on federal student aid based on “the median cost of college of the program the student is enrolled in;” and
• Substantial restrictions on accreditors’ policies and actions.

NAICU staff will be reading the bill and reporting back to members on the bill’s most significant proposals.

In other news, the Department of Education kicked off its new program integrity and institutional quality negotiated rulemaking this week as well.  These sessions touch on and will impact issues such as state authorization, accreditation, cash management, and others.  NAICU’s Director of Accountability and Regulatory Affairs, Jody Feder, made prepared comments on state authorization during the session.

We are also closely following the negotiations around FY 2024 funding and the pending deadlines to keep the government open – the first being January 19.

Perhaps the most visible issue since our last edition has been the soft launch of the new FAFSA.  At CIC and everywhere else I’ve been lately, FAFSA has been among the first things I am asked to address.  The Department is making progress, but delays persist.

You can read about these stories as well as reporting on a House committee markup on the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s annual report to Congress on college banking and credit card agreements in this week’s Washington Update.

All of these issues point to the importance of ensuring that the voice and perspective of independent higher education is heard in Washington.  If you haven’t already, I hope you can join us next month for our Annual Meeting and Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill to meet with your elected officials.

Soundbites

• The Department of State is inviting U.S. colleges and universities to apply to host EducationUSA advisers on campus.  The initiative is part of the EducationUSA Forum and the department’s  EducationUSA Program, a network that promotes U.S. higher education to students around the world by offering information about opportunities to study at accredited postsecondary institutions. EducationUSA also provides free services to the U.S. higher education community to help institutional leaders meet their recruitment and campus internationalization goals.
   
• The Department of Education is hosting two live question and answer sessions on the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The first webinar is on January 18, at 1:00 p.m. EST and the second is on February 22, at 1:00 p.m. EST. The webinars do not require registration, but spots are limited to the first 20,000 attendees.  Recordings of the webinars will be available for those unable to attend.
   
• NAICU joined others in the higher education community in sending comments to the Department of Homeland Security regarding its proposed rule to update H-1B visa requirements, provide flexibility in the F-1 visa program, and to make additional program changes affecting other non-immigrant workers.  While much of the comments focused on the parts of the proposal the community supports, the community did raise concerns about a problematic proposed change that could limit the ability of some students to access H-1B visas.
   
• The Department of Education announced another 758,000 student loan borrowers experienced billing errors from three loan servicers, Aidvantage, EdFinancial, and Nelnet. The Department indicated that it would suspend interest on the accounts of affected borrowers and not require payments until the issues are resolved. The agency will also withhold compensation from the three loan servicers because of the errors.

NAICU’s office will be closed on Monday, January 15, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Though this is a busy period, I hope you can find time to honor and remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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