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Category: Administration

Higher Education Community Crafts Tax Proposals for Phase 4

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On top of the proposals aimed at direct institutional and student needs as well as needs in the research arena, the higher education community has also pulled together a set of tax proposals that seeks to address additional challenges.

One of the top priorities in the package is the request that public entities, including public universities, become eligible to take advantage of the tax credits available to employers that provide paid sick and emergency family and medical leave for employees who are facing COVID-19-related issues.  “Phase 2” required all public employers as well as private employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid sick and emergency family and medical leave.  At the same time, the bill created tax credits for the same set of private sector employers but explicitly prohibited public employers from being eligible for the credits.

 

Dept of Education Releases New Distance Learning Regulations

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The US Department of Education has revealed new rules impacting distance learning; the Distance Learning and Innovation regulation is available in the Federal Register and is now open for a 30 day public comment period. The Department plans to publish a final regulation prior to November 1st, 2020.

The new regulation would implement:

  • Emphasize demonstrated learning over seat time.
  • Remove confusion over whether a course is eligible for Title IV aid by defining “regular and substantive” interaction between students and instructors.
  • Clarify and simplify the requirements for direct assessment programs, including how to determine equivalent credit hours.
  • Add a definition of “juvenile justice facility” to ensure that incarcerated students remain Pell eligible.
  • Allow students enrolled in Title IV, Higher Education Act (HEA)-eligible foreign institutions to complete up to 25% of their programs at an eligible institution in the United States. This provision is particularly important for students temporarily unable to attend courses abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Encourage employer participation in developing educational programs.
  • Create a new, student-centric system for disbursing Title IV, HEA assistance to students in subscription-based programs.
  • Require prompt action by the Department on applications to participate, or continue to participate, as an eligible institution in the HEA, Title IV program. In the past, these applications have been stalled for months or even years.

The Department emphasized that this regulation has been in the works for over a year, although it is now extremely relevant as colleges shift to online learning due to COVID-19.

Department of Education Announces New Relief Measures

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Today, US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the following new measures intended to relieve federal student loan borrowers amidst the COVID-19 national emergency.

  • The Department will halt collection actions and wage garnishments related to federal student loans for a 60 day period beginning March 13th, 2020. Private collection agencies have been requested to stop proactive collection efforts.
  • The Department will not request Treasury to withhold money from federal tax returns and social security payments.
  • The Department will refund $1.3 billion in offsets to more than 800,000 borrowers. This represents offsets which were in the process of being withheld as of March 13th, 2020.

These measures are in addition to previously announced steps; federal loan interest rates have been adjusted to 0%, as well as all borrowers have the option to halt payments for 60 days from March 13th, 2020 by contacting their loan servicer.