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Category: Higher Education

Education Department Releases FAQs on FERPA and COVID-19

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Earlier this week, with the numbers of both K-12 districts and institutions of higher education trying to deal with COVID-19 concerns growing, the federal Department of Education released an FAQs document with respect to what institutions can and cannot do in the area of sharing of students’ educational records and personally identifiable information.

In the document, ED discusses a number of situations in which student information can and cannot be shared.  The FAQs are available here.

Senator Murray Unveils Bill to Help Schools Address COVID-19

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US Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) unveiled today a $2.7 Billion package aimed to assist schools and colleges with providing for student needs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator Murray is the Ranking Member on both the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, as well as the Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

The Supporting Students in Response to Coronavirus Act would provide over $1 Billion to ensure college students have access to food, housing, child care, and other basic needs, as well as help institutions prepare for closures and pay cleaning fees. The bill would also ensure students do not have to pay back financial aid if they are forced to withdraw, and gives the Department of Education more flexibility regarding financial aid. Additionally, the proposal would help staff childcare centers and increase funds for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. The bill is cosponsored by Democratic Leader Senator Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Gillibrand (D-NY).

Read the full story at Forbes.

Department of Education Rule Change Rebuked in Bipartisan Vote

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Today the Senate voted 53-42 to block a rewrite from the Department of Education overturning the “borrower defense” rule. The rule was put in place during the Obama Administration and governs the process for wiping out student debt when the student has been defrauded by a predatory for-profit college.

Ten Republican senators broke with the Trump administration to vote in favor of the resolution, which now heads to President Trump to be signed into law. The legislation does not have a veto-proof majority, so the President can opt to veto.

The Details Are Not Pretty (Part I)

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The details of the President’s FY2021 budget requests for various agencies of interest to UW are not pretty.  Let’s start with some of the details related student aid and higher education programs at the Education Department.

Programs Slated for Elimination

  • Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)– Currently funded at $865 million
  • GEAR UP– Currently funded at $365 million
  • Title VI/ International Education Programs– Currently funded at $76 million
  • Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)– Currently funded at $23 million.

Other Education Department Proposals

  • The Pell Grant maximum would remain at $6,345.  The proposal seeks to fold the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant program into the Pell program.
  • In addition to eliminating the SEOG program, the budget proposals also seeks to cut the Federal Work-Study program from $1.18 billion to $500 million while also changing the allocation formula.
  • The president’s budget calls for turning the various TRIO programs into a single block grant program that would be administered by states.  The proposal calls for the total funds for this new block grant to be cut from $1.09 billion to $950 million.

Student Loans

  • On the loans front, all subsidized loans would be eliminated, meaning all federal student loans would become unsubsidized loans, including undergraduate loans.  The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would be eliminated as well.
  • The department proposes to consolidate five income-driven repayment (IDR) into a single IDR program, with the repayment rate set at 12.5 percent of discretionary income.  The standard repayment cap would be repealed.  For those borrowers with only undergraduate loan debt, the remaining balance would be forgiven after 180 months of repayment, while those with graduate debt would have their balances forgiven after 30 years of repayment.
  • Loan limits would change under the budget proposal as well.  It calls for Parent PLUS loan limits for undergraduate students to be set at $26,500.  Graduate students would see their annual loan limits capped at $50,000 and the aggregate limits capped at $100,000 under this proposal.
  • In addition, the Administration wants to study the idea of turning the Office of Federal Student Aid into a separate, non-governmental entity.
  • The Administration also wants to explore the concept of requiring “postsecondary institutions that accept taxpayer funds to share in the financial responsibility associated with student loans.”

Institution of Education Sciences

The Administration proposes to cut IES by $58 million below the FY2020 level to $565 million for FY2021.  Within its budget, it is calling for the elimination of both the Regional Education Laboratories and the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems.