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**Please note: WINK will not publish the week of Christmas. WINK will resume on January 2, 2020.
Applications are now being accepted for volunteers and speakers for 2020 AACS conferences. Volunteers for the CEA & AMP Convention and the AACS Annual Convention are key to the events' success. Join us as a volunteer event committee member. The AACS 2020 theme is: "It's Time To Engage: Advocate. Ignite. Rise." We want compelling programming that will leave attendees wanting more. We want your ideas for topics and credentials as a speaker to share your knowledge and expertise. Submit your application to volunteer here. Submit your application for speaker here. More than 400 letters have been sent to lawmakers so far in the #IncludeBeauty campaign. Join the fight to protect our schools, students and employees from the College Affordability Act, a House bill recently approved in Committee on October 31 by the Democrat leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee. The bill is the most comprehensive legislative attack we have seen on the cosmetology sector due to multiple damaging provisions directed at for-profit colleges. You can help by communicating directly with Members of Congress to oppose the House College Affordability Act, and ask your employees and students to do so too. Letter templates and instructions are available here.
To accommodate the updates to House calendar, we are changing the dates to ensure legislators will be in session during our time in Washington, D.C. 2020 Government Relations Summit & Hill Day
Your First Goal: Setting an appointment that shows Today’s world is different. We are now dealing with Generations X, Y and Z. Never before have previous generations been exposed to so much technology and information and, in return, CHOICES! This means we must build a strong connection so the prospect ‘feels’ that we are the one, now is the time and, most importantly, that we CARE! Remember, nothing happens until an appointment SHOWS! In this webinar you will learn to:
Date: January 23, 2020
School Members As an appreciation of your early renewal, all renewals received prior to December 31, 2019 will receive 50% off of your first registration to AACS’ 2020 Annual Convention & Expo on October 23-26th at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston, Texas. Partner Members As AACS restructures our association to prepare for the future, we are also adjusting our membership rates to reflect the cost of economic inflation to operate in this new landscape. We are offering a special one-time offer to all of our current AACS partners. If you renew and pay your 2020 membership of $900 by December 31, 2019. This represents a $300 savings in 2020. This special one-time membership renewal offer is also good news if you also have a sponsorship agreement. If you renew your $900 partner membership rate prior to December 31, 2019, this rate will be credited back in your overall final sponsorship agreement. Note for both memberships Rates for both memberships increase after December 31, 2019. Support the beauty industry and the work AACS does every day to advocate for our students, educators and professionals. For more information, email Cristina@beautyschools.org.
OfficeMax member benefit
 Your gift giving problems are solved! Pick up one of these clever t-shirts for you and your fashionable friends. They not only look spiffy – they’re supportive! of the AACS Government Relations Committee. Contact AACS at info@beautyschools.org to request an order form. 
WEBINAR You are invited to join a webinar about the hyper-targeted campaign launching in 2020. The campaign is national in scope but as personal as each student’s life story. Make Your Mark connects today’s Gen Z with tomorrow’s employers who will need 1.3M professionals in the next decade. As a Make Your Mark school, you'll receive a complimentary listing on our micro site launching January 2020 in the school locator...and a chance to join a campaign that redefines beauty education. Are you in? Are you ready to Make Your Mark? The webinar will be on Monday, December 23 at noon MST. Click here to register. For questions or a copy of the webinar recording after the event please contact: info@beautychangeslives.org Want to start 2020 with new leads to drive enrollment? AACS member schools can sign up for free to become a Make Your Mark partner school and receive free leads for an entire year. This national recruitment campaign targets the NextGen and shares why the beauty industry is projected to grow 36% over the next decade. As Google reports the top 10 online beauty searches in 2019 were for “how-to” information, consumers are clearly going online to find out for DIY advice. The Make Your Mark campaign shows there’s a better way to do beauty. There is no fee and no obligation to continue once your school signs up. Is your school ready to Make Your Mark in 2020? Click here to claim your free partner school listing on the Make Your Mark website.
GRC News
Federal Updates December 13, 2019 – The Department published its Christmas and New Year’s Day Holiday Processing and Customer Service Hours. December 13, 2019 – The Department published information regarding Next Gen Website Consolidation happening December 21-22, 2019 which will consolidate some aspects of NSLDS, studentaid.gov, studentloans.gov and FSAid.ed.gov as the Department begins to implement its Next Gen modernization plan. December 16, 2019 – The Department published information regarding FSA website and system outages planned for December 21, 2019. December 10, 2019 – The Department published the new Financial Administrator’s Tool Kit, available on the Federal Student Aid E-Training website, offering quick access to Federal Student Aid resources, reference guides, and training material designed to assist financial aid professionals in administering the federal student aid programs in compliance with federal regulations. In addition to providing links to key Federal Student Aid resources, the Tool Kit also includes short videos to assist with navigating several Federal Student Aid products. Congressional Activity of Note On December 16, the House and Senate reached agreement on the Fiscal Year 2020 Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill and a final vote is expected today. HR 1865 reflecting the agreed upon bill includes a Pell Grant maximum increase of $150 from $6,195 to $6,345 for the 2020-21 school year. The bill also includes language that would provide new accountability measures for federal loan servicers. Our review of the rest of the bill does not indicate any punitive or otherwise harmful provisions for AACS schools or the proprietary sector as a whole. The Joint Explanatory Statement released accompanying the bill includes language of interest in the form of congressional directives to the Department of Education on various issues. This language will likely be reflected in a final conference report to the final bill. Conference report language does not have the force of law (statute), but it does reflect congressional intent and is meant to urge the agency to act according to the intent of Congress in these areas. “Ability to Benefit.– The Department shall issue guidance that serves as a simple and clear resource for implementing Ability to Benefit at IHEs, which should restate the updated definition of a career pathway program and contain answers to frequently asked questions about program eligibility.” "Return of Title IV Funds.– The Department is encouraged to pursue efforts to simplify and streamline the return of title IV funds process for IHEs and students” “Student Aid Enforcement – The Department shall include information in its fiscal year 2021 Congressional Justification on staffing levels of the Student Aid Enforcement Unit and actions taken by the unit, including the number and type of actions opened, pending, and closed annually.” “Student Loan Cancellations and Discharges Reporting.– The Department should continue to bolster transparency through the Federal Student Aid Data Center by supplementing current reporting with, at a minimum, semiannual reports beginning no later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, on each of the Federal student loan cancellation and discharge programs. Each report should include the total number of unique borrowers who have applied for a program or have been identified under an applicable data match ("borrowers"), unique borrowers in each applicable status (received, pending, approved, and denied), total loan balance in each applicable status (received, pending, approved, and denied), median amount discharged for each program, and percentage of unique borrowers subject to any partial discharge. The Department should publish disaggregated information by State, as possible, and make such information available publicly on the Department's website.” House Committee on Education and Labor, Hearing Examining the Education Department’s Implementation of Borrower Defense On December 12, 2019, Secretary Betsy DeVos testified before the House Education and Labor Committee to address the implementation of the Borrower Defense to Repayment rule and the status of current student claims. The Secretary focused her testimony on the timeline of student claims, the lack of process under the prior administration, the court delays, and the recently adopted framework for processing claims. DeVos also provided context for the implementation of the 2019 Rule and the application of the 2016 and pre-2016 rule. The borrower defense provisions of the 2019 Rule will apply only to loans first disbursed after July 1, 2020. The Department will enforce the 2016 Rule for all loans disbursed between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2020. For loans first disbursed before July 1, 2017, the pre-2016 standards apply. That means BDR claims on pre-2017 loans will be adjudicated based using the applicable state standard. Chairman Scott and Democrats on the Committee focused on the delay in processing claims, the harm caused to students awaiting decisions, and the concept of partial relief. DeVos was sharply criticized for the backlog of borrower defense claims at Federal Student Aid and the “human errors” that led to loans inadvertently taken out of forbearance or stopped collection status. From a numbers perspective, DeVos revealed that there are now over 300,000 claims on file. The Department is poised to release and process claims under the new framework, including approximately 18,000 claims which will be denied. One major change in the framework involves using a sliding scale based on a borrower’s wages to determine loan forgiveness. Many predict this will result in lower relief to students. Process
Opening statements from Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Foxx, and Secretary DeVos can be found here.
Recently Introduced Federal Legislation S.3058 – A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish fair and consistent eligibility requirements for graduate medical schools operating outside the United States and Canada. Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (Introduced 12/16/2019) Cosponsors: (0) Committees: Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions S.3055 – A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to permit a Federal student loan borrower to elect to terminate repayment pursuant to income-based repayment and repay such loan under any other repayment plan for which the borrower is otherwise eligible. Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (Introduced 12/16/2019) Cosponsors: (1) Committees: Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions S.3054 – A bill to establish that a State-based education loan program is excluded from certain requirements relating to a preferred lender arrangement. Sponsor: Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (Introduced 12/16/2019) Cosponsors: (2) Committees: Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions S.3043 – A bill to modernize training programs at aviation maintenance technician schools, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK] (Introduced 12/12/2019) Cosponsors: (3) Committees: Senate - Commerce, Science, and Transportation H.R.5397 – To amend title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 with respect to partnership grants for the establishment of rural teaching residency programs, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep. Bost, Mike [R-IL-12] (Introduced 12/11/2019) Cosponsors: (13) Committees: House - Education and Labor S.3028 – A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to strengthen Federal-State partnerships in postsecondary education. Sponsor: Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI] (Introduced 12/11/2019) Cosponsors: (1) Committees: Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions H.R.5388 – To provide that the Secretary of provide that the Secretary of Education may not issue or enforce certain rules that weaken the enforcement of the prohibition of sex discrimination applicable under title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Sponsor: Rep. Slotkin, Elissa [D-MI-8] (Introduced 12/10/2019) Cosponsors: (3) Committee: House Education and Labor H.R.5368 – Faster Access to Federal Student Aid Act of 2019. Sponsor: Rep. DelBene, Suzan K. [D-WA-1] (Introduced 12/09/2019) Cosponsors: (0) Committees: House - Education and Labor; Ways and Means
State Updates In what is expected to be the final week of 2019 state legislative activity, there are four state legislatures – including New Jersey – actively meeting. Therefore, this will be the last State Update for 2019. In 2020, 46 state legislatures will commence legislative sessions between January 1st and March 9th. Four states – Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas – do not have a regular legislative session scheduled in 2020. In order to make sure you are apprised of the most current information of interest and impact to your school, AACS will be publishing weekly state updates starting the week of January 6th through Memorial Day. Earlier this week, New Jersey’s Senate voted 40 to 0 to send A3160 to Governor Phil Murphy (D) for signature into law. The measure will permit cosmetology and hairstyling school clinics to charge the public fees for services that are greater than the cost of materials. As previously reported, A3160 “also provides that fees charged by licensed school clinics must be clearly posted and that consumers must be notified that the cosmetology and hairstyling services provided in the clinic are performed by registered senior students under the supervision of licensed instructors.” The bill was passed by the Assembly in November and did not receive a single dissenting vote during committee and floor consideration in either legislative chamber. An Illinois bill – HB 3996 – was filed this week to eliminate continuing education requirements for cosmetologist licensees 70 years of age or older and who have been licensed for at least 25 years. The measure has not yet been referred to a legislative committee. The text of the bills listed in this report can be found in AACS’ Bill Tracking Portal. Best wishes to all for a very prosperous 2020! Please do not hesitate to contact Brian Newman at bnewman@abingdonstrategies.com or by phone at 202-491-5254 with comments or questions. Member Events
Motivation can be the difference between success and failure. In this course, the idea of how motivation impacts people will be discussed. Activities will focus on improving motivation in students, and other people you interact with, as well as yourself. The goal of this course is to help develop a better understanding of the topic, and produce tangible resources to help implement plans, strategies, and ideas at your institution. In addition to lecture videos, resource links, and assessments, you will be able to utilize Learning Activities, which will continue to be useful after successful completion of the course. Members in the News
AACS is working members to achieve our legislative and regulatory objectives at the federal level, ensuring lawmakers don’t pass misguided legislation that could severely harm our industry. We need your help to tell the industry’s compelling story and save our industry from the negative consequences of harmful legislation. You can help by donating to help us fund this important public relations campaign, and by sharing stories and testimonials. To submit a donation, please click here. To submit a story, please click here. 
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