Dear Colleagues:

The most potentially impactful higher education news out of Washington this week is the guidance issued yesterday by the Department of Education that could hold leaders of private, nonprofit colleges and universities liable for financial losses related to federal student aid programs. 

While the guidance is intended to crack down on large for-profit institutions – and the Department has assured us that its goal is to have the tools necessary to go after institutions that practice widescale abuse, such as we have seen in the for-profit sector, and not to entangle private, nonprofit colleges and universities – the move is a drastic overreach and very concerning.

NAICU was in communication with the Department throughout the day yesterday to learn more details about the agency’s plans and next steps.  To that end, we have:

• Reported on the issue in our lede story below in this week’s Washington Update;
• Provided additional detail in my email alert from yesterday; and
• Scheduled a webinar with Deputy Under Secretary Ben Miller next Friday, March 10, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EST (Register). This webinar will offer the opportunity to hear directly from the Department about its objectives and priorities for this guidance. This webinar is for NAICU members-only.

We have also dug deeper into the guidance the Department issued that could subject a vast array of your institution’s vendors to regulations governing third party servicers (TPSs). The new guidance greatly expands the Department’s interpretation regarding the types of entities that are considered to be TPSs and could have a dramatic impact on your institution.
 
I am hoping that you will review the guidance (see our story below and the email alert I sent earlier this week) and send us feedback on how your campus will be affected by this guidance.  Your input will help us communicate the implications of the guidance to the Department. We are looking for feedback by March 23 so we can meet the Department’s March 30 deadline for comments.

 
“ … the time has come to double the maximum Pell Grant to $13,000. (Doubling the Pell Grant) will greatly reduce our nation’s crippling financial aid debt while also enabling many more low- and middle-income students to qualify for the program.”

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D., president, Virginia Wesleyan University in an op-ed published this week in the Virginian-Pilot.