Federal Updates

U.S. Congress

July 16, 2019 – The House Education and Labor Committee, Subcommittee on Higher Education will hold a hearing on "Scaling Up Apprenticeships: Building on the Success of International Apprenticeship Models.” The AACS lobbying team will be covering the hearing for AACS and will report to the AACS Governmental Relations Committee.

July 17, 2019 – The House Veterans Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on several pending veterans-related bills. AACS’s lobby team has been assisting with preparing comment on several of the pending bills. The AACS lobbying team will be covering the hearing for AACS and will report to the AACS Governmental Relations Committee.

U.S. Department of Education

Immediate – Pursuant to a June 28, 2019 Electronic Announcement, Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #122 and the July 1, 2019 Final Rule rescinding the GE Rule, schools are permitted to immediately elect early implementation of the GE Rule rescission so long as the institution documents its early implementation decision internally. Institutions should document their decision, ensure that their staff is aware of the decision and its impact on GE Rule obligations and maintain documentation evidencing such decision to be able to provide to ED (or an auditor) upon request. Institutions that early implement the rescission of the GE rule will not be required to report GE data for the 2018-2019 award year to NSLDS, which will otherwise be due October 1, 2019. Additionally, institutions that early implement will not be required to comply with the current requirements in 34 CFR 668.412 (d) and (e) that require institutions to include the disclosure template, or a link thereto, in their GE program promotional materials and directly distribute the disclosure template to prospective students, which will be required starting on July 1, 2019.  Institutions that early implement will no longer be required to post the GE Disclosure Template and may remove the template and any other GE disclosures that are required under 34 CFR 668.412 from their web pages. Finally, an institution that early implements will not be required to comply with the certification requirements for GE programs under 34 CFR 668.414.

If you have any additional questions about this requirement, please contact your legal counsel or Ed Cramp at Duane Morris LLP (emcramp@duanemorris.com).

July 24, 2019 – Deadline for schools to submit an expression of interest to ED to participate in a new Payment Vehicle Account (PVA) Program pilot as a no-cost alternative for delivering credit balance refunds.

July 31, 2019 – Deadline for schools to submit closeout data for 2017-18 Direct Loan Program.

August 2, 2019 – Deadline for schools to comment on draft updated 2020-21 FAFSA form.

Other – ED has circulated a report by the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC), Best Practices for Financial Literacy and Education at Institutions of Higher Education, which provides recommendations for schools to teach financial literacy skills and provide useful information to assist students making decisions related to student borrowing.

The report provides general best practices for financial education programs. Specifically, the report makes recommendations in the following areas: 

• Providing clear, timely and customized information to inform student borrowing.
• Effectively engaging students in financial literacy and education.
• Targeting different student populations by use of national, institutional and individual data.
• Communicating the importance of graduation and major on repayment of student loans.
• Preparing students to meet financial obligations upon graduation.

Looking Ahead – 2019 FSA Training Conference. The Federal Student Aid Office has opened registration for the 2019 FSA Training Conference scheduled for December 3 to 6 in Reno, Nevada. The FSA Training Conference is training provided for financial aid professionals by the government for those institutions receiving Title IV funds and is the largest training program in the United States serving the financial aid community. In 2018, more than 2,000 unique schools registered for the conference. Registration is free.

 

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