As you may recall, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register back on September 3, 2014, announcing their intent to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to allow more student borrowers of Federal

Direct Loans to use a ‘‘Pay as You Earn’’ repayment plan in accordance with the Presidential Memorandum issued on June 9, 2014 (available at www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/09/presidential-memorandum-federal-student-loan-repayments). 

Included with the announcement was notice of two public hearings at which interested parties could comment on the topic suggested by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) and suggest additional topics for consideration for action by the negotiated rulemaking committee. Those hearings were held on October 23, 2014, in Washington, D.C., and on November 4, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif.

AACS attended both hearings and reported back to the membership that the overwhelming majority of the witnesses who testified were groups and organization seeking additional reforms within the for-profit community in general and calling upon the Department to take specific actions to provide student loan debt relief for students who had either previously attended or were currently attending institutions under the ownership of Corinthian Colleges, Inc. AACS at that time noted that the Department seemed unwilling and/or unable to respond to many of the proposed additions to the upcoming negotiations because such proposals would require statutory authority (e.g. removal of all for-profit institutions from Title IV eligibility).

Recognizing the continued negativity towards the sector, AACS informed you, our membership, that we would be watching closely for any additions or revisions to the agenda once the Department published its recommended agenda and request for negotiators at the end of the year.

Right on cue, on December 19, 204, the Department put out another publication stating that their proposed agenda had been expanded to include development of regulations implementing the "Pay As You Earn" loan repayment program and establish procedures for Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan holders to use to identify U.S. military servicemembers who may be eligible for a lower interest rate on their FFEL Program loans under section 527 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).  Notifying the community of their intent to hold three, three-day sessions on February 24-26, March 31-April 2, and April 28-30.  And, seeking nominations for negotiators on or before January 20, 2015.

Your AACS GRC noted that while the two agenda items were not necessarily of the highest priority, that our concerns with the potential additions that could be added at the start of the negotiations warranted nominations for Secretary consideration.  Polling the GRC and our membership, it was determined that Chris DeLuca — former CPA, attorney, and school representative and now head of DeLuca Law — would be a strong nominee to directly represent our school interests. Also, Mary Lyn Hammer, President and CEO of Champion College Services, Inc., would also be a strong candidate as a representative of third-party loan servicers to put forward given her lengthy background and expertise with the FFEL and FDSL programs, default management and prevention, and the twelve current loan repayment plans. Unfortunately, none of AACS' nominations were selected for this round of negotiations.

Nevertheless, AACS will actively participate in each of the three meetings, providing you with daily updates on the activities of the negotiators and the proposals they are considering.  By now you should have already received a summary of Day One, which covered the establishment of the Protocols for the meetings, efforts among various groups seeking a seat at the negotiating table, and consideration by the seated group of negotiators on potential additions to the agenda. Later today we will find out whether or not these efforts to add additional proposals for consideration were successful...stay tuned!