Welcome to Higher Ed on the Hill, presented by CASE. We break down the top issues that are driving higher education policy on the Hill.
Last month, we broke down the return of Biden’s Gainful Employment rule, and now it’s time to talk about ramifications.
- The sprawling rule does not apply to traditional public or private 4-year universities – often where students come out with the most debt.
- In a time of historic inflation, this rule targets schools that offer occupational licensing programs that most public schools don’t offer.
- Beyond that, the non-traditional learners, veterans, working parents, and full-time employees with be hit hardest as these schools face undue scrutiny.
From our perspective, Biden’s Education Department hates schools they cannot control. Introducing a thousand-page rule – and barring their favored schools – is a clear attempt to pursue a political agenda without any regard for the consequences.
Read more on American Action Forum.
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What’s New? Supreme Court to Hear GI Bill Case: The Supreme Court will consider a long-running lawsuit over whether the Department of Veterans Affairs is shortchanging veterans on their education benefits.
Biden doubles down on ‘accountability’ that could wipe out career pathways: The GE rule could have an outsized, direct impact on the national economy. The reason is that these institutions are dominant in preparing students for certain industries where state occupation licensure barriers are high, and public schools are unable or unwilling to serve these students well.
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Foxx Sighting: Biden DoE is ‘ill prepared’ to resume student-loan payments: Rep. Virginia Foxx and Sen. Bill Cassidy sent a letter to Secretary Cardona on Tuesday requesting “tangible proof” on how, exactly, he plans to ensure a smooth transition to repayment for millions of borrowers after an over three-year pause.
Kvaal Again Under Fire: In the aftermath of Under Secretary James Kvaal’s testimony before the Subcommittee on Education and Workforce Development in May, Chairwoman Foxx sent a letter to Kvaal asserting that he had deliberately mislead the committee, while also reminding him that providing “materially false” information to a committee is a crime.
Foxx stated, “You unequivocally stated three times that the Department had provided an unredacted final copy of the final valuation report prepared by FI Consulting, in spite of my repeated insistence that your statements were inaccurate. Let me be crystal clear: I have never received the final unredacted copy of the report and its accompanying documents, contrary to your assertions on May 24.” Foxx has given Kvaal and the DOE two weeks to deliver on her information requests or else face “further action.”
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Top-Ed: How Employers Can Help Free Employees from Student Debt: The Secure 2.0 Act will allow employers to match student loan payments made by their employees with tax-advantaged contributions into their retirement accounts starting in 2024.
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Eye On: Biden Begins Shadow Loan Forgiveness Plan: Not the sort to let a little thing such as a Supreme Court ruling stand in their way, the White House is stepping-up their existing loan forgiveness plans with the SAVE Plan. Under its guidelines, all income up to 225% of the federal poverty rate cannot be touched for loan repayment purposes. As with all income-driven-repayment (IDR) plans, the formulas on repayment can get complicated, but the opportunities for a borrower’s loan forgiveness can far exceed the $10,000 giveaway SCOTUS found unconstitutional.
