Higher Ed Policy Roundup: Vol. 7 - Issue 30

On Thursday, the Education Department published a notice establishing a negotiated rulemaking committee for the purpose of drafting regulations relating to the modification, waiver, or compromise of Federal student loans. Recall that, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Biden-Harris Administration’s debt relief plan that would have cancelled up to $20,000 of student debt for Federal student loan borrowers, President Biden said that his Administration would pursue an alternative path using the Higher Education Act to provide borrowers with debt relief. The notice also requests nominations for negotiators who represent the stakeholders of the issues being negotiated and sets the following schedule for the virtual committee meetings:

• Session 1: October 10-11, 2023
• Session 2: November 6-7, 2023
• Session 3: December 11-12, 2023

The virtual committee meetings will take place from 10:00 am ET to 12:00 pm ET and 1:00 pm ET to 4:00 pm ET, including a public comment period from 3:30 pm ET to 4:00 pm ET, and nominations for negotiators will be accepted until September 14, 2023. 

Amidst payment resumption, there is an increase in employers offering student loan benefits to debt-burdened graduates, primarily in the fields of health care services, nonprofits, government, law, and politics.
 
The farm bill, a spending package that serves as a federal funding source for land-grant universities, could improve underfunding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities if reauthorized in September.
 
A working paper published by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute revealed that almost one in four prospective students began at least one college application but did not submit any during the 2018-19 application cycle.

There were no relevant student-aid related bills recently introduced for consideration by the 118th Congress (2023-2024).