As campus officials are aware, the U.S. Education Department’s (ED) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter on February 14 to institutions of higher education to “clarify and reaffirm the nondiscrimination obligations…
Federal budget scorekeepers have just provided both good news and bad news for the Pell Grant program. The good news is that more students are qualifying for grants, and many are receiving larger ones. These…
President Donald Trump this week released a directive to the heads of executive departments and agencies to pause all spending on federal grants, loans and financial assistance programs to evaluate whether they are “implicated by” the…
The U.S. Education Department (ED) published a December 31 Federal Register notice that specifies the “earnings threshold” by state that gainful employment (GE) program completers must meet or exceed on average in order for the…
Just before the new year, the U.S. Education Department (ED) released final rules on program integrity and institutional quality that reflect the positions of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in key areas. In particular,…
Staffers for the House and Senate education committees have announced that months of negotiations have produced an agreement on legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Staff members for the House Committee…
In what will be a relief to many community college officials, a federal judge in the Eastern District Court of Texas on Friday ruled to strike down the Biden administration’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime final rule….
The U.S. Education Department (ED) failed to publish final rules on distance education, Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4), and TRIO eligibility by November. As a result, the regulations cannot be required to take effect…
Congress will return to Washington on November 12 for its post-election “lame-duck” session. Several “must-dos” are on its agenda, including fiscal year 2025 funding and the National Defense Authorization Act, but the lame-duck session also…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog for federal agencies, last week released two new reports on the troubled rollout of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and coordination and leadership shortcomings…