GRC News

Federal Updates

U.S. Department of Education
November 20, 2019 – The Department announced that the College Scorecard has published new data metrics including 1) earnings of students one-year after graduation by field of study and 2) cumulative loan debt of borrowers by field of study. These new data metrics begin to address the March 2019 Executive Order on Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities.

The Department published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the re-establishment of a matching program between the Department of Education (Department or ED) and the Selective Service System (SSS). Under the Solomon Amendment to the Military Selective Service Act Section 12(f), young men who are required under Section 3 of the Military Selective Service Act to be registered with SSS must fulfill the registration requirement in order to be eligible for any form of assistance or benefits provided under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). This matching program enables ED to prevent improper payments to those applicants who are not eligible under the Military Selective Service Act to receive any form of assistance or benefit provided under title IV of the HEA. 

The Department announced the availability of Volume 4 – Processing Aid and Managing FSA Funds of the 2019-2020 Federal Student Aid Handbook. 

November 21, 2019 – The Department announced a change to the approved Master Promissory Note (MPN) confirmation processes. All MPN confirmation processes will now require student and parent borrowers to view how much they currently owe in federal student loans, and to acknowledge that they have seen this amount before a school can make a first disbursement of the first Direct Loan that a student or parent borrower receives for each new award year. 

November 22, 2019 – The Department published a notice in the Federal Register requesting an extension of this information collection tied to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program regulations issued under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The 2018 negotiated rulemaking made final in the rule to be published in September 2019 makes changes made to the regulations in § 685.300. The Department is asking to extend the current burden assessment until the effective date of the change and at that time a discontinuation request will be filed. 

November 25, 2019 – The Department issued an announcement to alert schools that they will soon begin to send notices required under the 2016 BDR final regulations. In particular, after the Department receives a borrower defense discharge application, they will send the school associated with the borrower’s allegations a letter and a copy of the borrower’s application and invite the school to respond and provide information relevant to the borrower’s allegations within 30 days. The letters will be sent to the school’s active Postsecondary Education Participation System (PEPS) contacts (which typically include the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Financial Aid Administrator), and will provide instructions about how to respond. 

The Department announced it is about to begin issuing Automatic Closed School Loan Discharge Liability Letters to affected schools. These letters will assess school liabilities equal to all loan funds discharged through the automatic closed school discharge process.  Schools may request reconsideration of this assessment by submitting, no later than 20 days following receipt of that letter, written evidence to show that this determination is unwarranted for one or more of the students who have received a loan discharge included in the liability. Detailed instructions about the submission of such evidence will be included in the letter schools receive.

The Department released the updated National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) Enrollment Reporting Guide, a comprehensive document containing step-by-step instructions for reporting enrollment information to NSLDS. The November 2019 update provides information on new functionality in NSLDS and reflects guidance on enrollment reporting that we posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website since the guide’s last publication (November 2018).

December 2, 2019 – The Federal Student Aid’s New Financial Aid Administrators Pre-Conference Training will take place on December 2, 2019 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.

December 13, 2019 – Deadline for every organization enrolled for a Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) account to review and validate its assigned TG numbers and Electronic Services user accounts.

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.

U.S. Congress – Newly Introduced Legislation of Note 

H.R. 5241 – To provide consumer protections for students.

a.       Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, 11/21/19
b.       Sponsor: Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) 0 Cosponsors

H.R. 5222 – To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish notification requirements for policies concerning expectant and parenting students, and for other purposes.

a.       Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, 11/21/19
b.       Sponsor: Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) 1 Cosponsor

H.R. 5206 – To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish a fund to provide support services for individuals participating in certain training activities under such Act.

a.       Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, 11/20/19
b.       Sponsor: Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) 0 Cosponsors

H.R. 5204 – To direct the Secretary of Education to study student mental health at institutions of higher education and to issue guidance on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for mental health and substance use disorder policies of institutions of higher education, and for other purposes.

a.       Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, 11/20/19
b.       Sponsor: Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) 2 Cosponsors

H.R. 5171 – To permanently authorize the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.

a.       Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, 11/19/19
b.       Sponsor: Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) 0 Cosponsors 

S. 2928 – A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reauthorize the University Sustainability Program.

a.       Status: Referred to the Senate HELP Committee, 11/21/19
b.       Sponsor: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) 3 Cosponsors

S. 2925 – A bill to provide consumer protections for students.

a.       Status: Referred to Senate HELP Committee, 11/21/19
b.       Sponsor: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) 1 Cosponsor

S. 2899 – A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support apprenticeship programs.

a.       Status: Referred to Senate HELP Committee, 11/19/19
b.       Sponsor: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) 0 Cosponsors