- Trump Administration releases new set of Executive Orders on education
- Department of Education announces resumption of collections on defaulted loans
Trump Administration releases new set of Executive Orders on education
On Wednesday, President Trump signed seven new Executive Orders (EOs) relating to higher education, K-12 education, and career and technical education.
Included in this slate was the White House’s long-awaited EO on reforming higher education accreditation. The EO seeks first to prohibit federally recognized accreditors from engaging in behavior that the administration associates with diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Beyond this, the EO instructs the Secretary of Education to take steps to “realign accreditation” to promote the approval of new accreditors, streamline the process for an institution to switch accreditors, and develop an experiment for alternative accreditation procedures for innovative high-quality programs. AACC’s David Baime has more information on this action and its potential implications for community colleges in the Community College Daily.
The other EOs include one titled “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future.” The EO instructs the Secretaries of Labor, Commerce, and Education to review all workforce development programs and to submit a “Comprehensive Worker Investment and Development Strategy” to the White House. The report must include opportunities to integrate and realign resources, restructure or eliminate poor performing programs, and streamline information collection. The EO requires an additional report on opportunities to scale up registered apprenticeships. AACC’s Jim Hermes has more information on this action in the Community College Daily.
Department of Education announces resumption of collections on defaulted loans
On Monday, the Department of Education (ED) announced that it will resume the collections process for student borrowers who have defaulted on federal student loans. Starting May 5, ED will begin working with the Treasury Department to garnish federal payments, including tax refunds and Social Security benefits, for borrowers in default. This process has been on pause since March 2020. According to the Department’s press release, only 38 percent of borrowers are in active repayment and nearly 10 million borrowers are at risk of default.
Ahead of May 5, borrowers currently in default will receive emails from the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) urging them to contact the Office’s Default Resolution Group and to get back into good repayment standing by making a monthly payment, enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan, or signing up for loan rehabilitation. Wage garnishment is expected to resume later this summer.