Government Affairs

UPCEA helps provide colleges and universities in the online and professional continuing education field with advocacy and information on regulation and legislation. UPCEA builds greater awareness of the vital link between contemporary learners and public policy issues.

Department of Education Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Reaches Consensus

April 3, 2019

As part of the Department of Education’s recent and wide-ranging negotiated rulemaking, negotiators reached consensus on all of the topics discussed during their sessions. With only three minutes remaining in the time allotted for negotiators to do their work, before the entire process would have been for naught, all negotiators agreed on changes to regulatory…

President Trump Signs Campus Free Speech Executive Order

March 21, 2019

On March 21st, President Trump signed an executive order on “Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability on Campus” that directs federal agencies which provide funding for university research to be sure that they are funding colleges that support free speech on their campuses. This was an “historic action to defend American students and American values…

White House Releases Vision for Higher Education Act Reform

March 18, 2019

The White House released their vision of what reforms should be made to the Higher Education Act (HEA) during the reauthorization of it in Congress.  It’s proposals within mirror the budget it also proposed just one week prior. Some of the major retooling includes: changing accreditation process to focus on outcomes; a significant cut for…

Trump Administration Releases Budget Cutting Approximately 10% of ED Funding

March 11, 2019

On Monday March 11th, the Trump administration released their budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year. Included in the proposal is a $7.1 billion cut to the Department of Education, approximately equal to 10% of its total current operational budget. These proposals follow similar attempts in past budgets the administration has put forward. The cuts…