- House Committee approves budget reconciliation legislation, the “Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan”
- Department of Education kicks off 2025-26 Negotiated Rulemaking
- Office of Federal Student Aid issues new Dear Colleague Letter on changing accreditors
House Committee approves budget reconciliation legislation, the “Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan”
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved their section of sweeping budget reconciliation legislation, called the “Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan.” The massive piece of legislation cuts more than $350 billion from mandatory higher education spending. The legislation was approved on a party-line vote. It now heads to the Budget Committee before going to the House floor.
The bill contains sweeping and dramatic changes to student financial aid policy. It alters Pell Grant eligibility and eligibility for student loans, overhauls repayment options for borrowers, implements risk-sharing for colleges, and creates significant new limitations on the Department of Education’s ability to pursue policy change through regulation.
While the bill does include some positive measures, such as shoring up the Pell Grant program and enacting Workforce Pell, community colleges must mobilize in opposition to the bill’s more problematic changes. Specifically, AACC urges its members to voice opposition to the elimination of Pell Grant eligibility for less than half-time students and the bill’s new risk-sharing scheme that would require colleges to make payments to the federal government based on their students’ borrowing outcomes.
AACC’s David Baime has more information on this legislation and its implications for community colleges in the Community College Daily.
Department of Education kicks off 2025-26 Negotiated Rulemaking
On Tuesday, the Department of Education (ED) kicked off the first step in the 2025-26 negotiated rulemaking process by hosting public comments on topics to be considered. Speakers were asked to comment on ways to improve and streamline Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), income-based repayment programs, and Title IV compliance processes. AACC’s Kathryn Gimborys provided comments on behalf of the Association and urged the Trump Administration to simplify processes around Return of Title IV Funds, program participation agreements, recertification procedures, and program reviews. She also asked the panel to provide technical and material support to colleges dealing with fraudulent students and to consider the needs of low-balance community college borrowers when pursuing changes to repayment options.
AACC will submit more detailed written comments later next week.
Office of Federal Student Aid issues new Dear Colleague Letter on changing accreditors
On Thursday, the Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) issued a new Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) announcing a new process that colleges must undergo to change institutional accreditors. This guidance comes a week after President Trump signed a long-awaited Executive Order (EO) on reforming higher education accreditation.
As AACC’s David Baime covered in the Community College Daily, the EO instructed 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. The DCL is the Department’s first step to comply with the EO. The AACC team will have a more detailed analysis of the new guidance soon.