NAICU - Department Acts on Higher Education Opportunity Act

New College Affordability Measures

Initiatives being launched in 2012-13 to help keep students' and families' out-of-pocket costs as low as possible. Tuition cuts and freezes, three-year degree programs, and more. Complete list.

NAICU Statement on President Obama's Higher Ed Proposals

NAICU President David Warren commends the president's commitment to student assistance, and calls for avoiding unintended consequences for students. More

Net Tuition Price Falls 4.1% at Private Colleges

Inflation-adjusted net tuition and fees at private colleges actually dropped 4.1 percent in the last five years, according to a recent College Board report. More

News Search of the Week

Here's what the media are saying about:

Student Loans

. . . or visit either our short list of hot topics or our full search-by-topic list to browse news and commentary on any of 100+ higher ed topics.

Banner images provided by Schreiner University.

Home

News Room

Department Acts on Higher Education Opportunity Act

NAICU Washington Update

January 16, 2009

On December 31 the Department of Education released the much-anticipated "Dear Colleague Letter" and the announcement of the structure and planned schedule for negotiated rule-making of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) passed last August. The 220-page document is essentially a "common English" summary of the law itself. It also provides a detailed table of contents which is helpful in locating the many new provisions. Additionally, it coordinates the section references in HEOA with the Higher Education Act (HEA) which the HEOA modified. The department's notice on negotiating rule-making asked for nominations for five teams that will cover loans, grants, accreditation, and other more general areas. NAICU has nominated negotiators and alternates for three of the teams - School-based Loan Issues (II), Accreditation (III), and General and Non-Loan Programmatic Issues (V). Nominations must be received by January 23.

The teams are expected to begin meeting as early as February, depending on the wishes of the new administration, and meet for three sessions of approximately three days at roughly monthly intervals. Each team will cover a number of sub-topics, and may need expert input on some unique issues. The department's goal is to complete the negotiations by the end of spring, in order to publish the final regulations by November 1, 2009 - the statutory deadline for publishing student financial assistance final regulations.

Links to the actual notices are on NAICU's HEA 101 Web site.

Contact

Maureen Budetti
maureen@naicu.edu