• New COVID Relief Bill Passes with $23B Emergency Support for Higher Education; Includes Broadband Support, FAFSA Simplification and Federal Aid Eligibility for Incarcerated Students
  Following months of inaction, Congress has passed a massive COVID relief package, attached to the spending bill which averted a government shutdown. While UPCEA and others have argued that the amounts allocated for pandemic relief might be insufficient to meet the moment, there are a number of important non-COVID provisions included in the final legislation that are positive reforms for federal higher ed policy. Overall, the bill will distribute approximately $23 billion in aid to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, $9 billion more than was first allocated in the CARES Act in March. Yet that figure is far short of the $120 billion that UPCEA and other organizations have said higher ed may need to weather the pandemic. The recent bill provides a new funding and distribution formula which is more inclusive of distance education students. However the calculation for aid only distributes 2% of the total funding to institutions based on their distance education students, which will likely fall short of reflecting their true representation. The bill does explicitly authorize the use of emergency aid grants for distance education students, which the CARES Act did not. The use of the funds will be similar to the guidelines set under the CARES Act, stating that half must go to students in the form of emergency grants, and the other half be used for institutional uses. Those institutional uses have been more generalized in the recent bill, and can be used to “defray expenses associated with coronavirus (including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, and payroll).”The deal includes a number of other non-pandemic changes to higher education policy, all of them quite positive. The FAFSA Simplification Bill of 2019 was added into the final language, which would shorten the 108 question financial aid eligibility form to just 36, making the process easier for prospective students. Passing FAFSA simplification was one of the final pushes of retiring Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who often indicated he wanted to see it passed before leaving office. Other tweaks included increased Pell grant eligibility calculations and a $150 increase in the maximum Pell award amount. These changes, some estimates show, will allow an additional 555,000 students qualify for Pell grants each year, and enable an additional 1.7 million students to qualify to receive the maximum Pell grant award each year. The bill also removes the 26-year-long restriction on allowing incarcerated individuals access to federal financial aid, and repeals a law that restricts federal financial aid for college students who are convicted of a drug crime. It also provides $7 billion for important broadband connectivity support for rural and low-income students, minority serving institutions, and others.

  Link to Full Bill Text
  In-Depth Analysis of Federal Methodology/Student Aid Calculation Changes (NAFSAA)

   

• Joe Biden Selects Miguel Cardona For Secretary of Education
  Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s first Latino commissioner of education whose career spans from former public school teacher and principal, to later being assistant superintendent and adjunct professor at University of Connecticut, has been chosen as the incoming administration’s Secretary of Education. The pick met what Joe Biden promised for one of his main requirements for the role, someone who is or was a teacher. Cardona will face a number of new initiatives, as well as challenges, on top of the COVID pandemic: student loan forgiveness, a free college push, and changing regulations such as Title IX that were implemented by the Trump Administration.Read more 
• Federal Financial Aid COVID Relief Period Extended One Month, Potentially Causing Confusion
  The U.S. Department of Education has extended the deadline one month for the COVID-related pause on federal student loan repayment and interest accrual to January 31, 2021. The incoming Biden administration is expected to extend that deadline shortly after assuming office, but it is unclear for how long. The short reprieve has provided some confusion and angst for those figuring out when and how they will repay their loans. It has also caused a unique situation for loan servicers, who have laid off staff due to a reduction in funds from the Department of Education, but are expected to be inundated with requests once the provision has sunsetted. However, more confusion may occur due to the short term extension when servicers will send bills to millions of individuals expecting the deadline to expire, only to reverse course if the Biden Administration acts to extend the date.Read more 
• U.S. Department of Education Announces Framework for Cybersecurity Governance on Students’ Personal Information
  In an effort to protect students’ information deemed sensitive by the federal government, a framework of the Department’s efforts was introduced in December that governs “Controlled Unclassified Information” (including items like taxpayer information, financial records, personnel records, student records, etc). The effort was announced during the Department’s Federal Student Aid virtual conference.The Department has indicated that it will be requiring all universities to increase efforts around cybersecurity systems to ensure that these institutions are meeting the robust set of requirements defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in their publication, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations. The Department has indicated while they will utilize this framework to guide them, they know that universities may have alternative security protocols. Your institution should be reviewing these protocols to ensure your cybersecurity strategy meets these requirements and fills the spots where they may not.

Other News

• Colleges Object to Expanded Foreign Gift Reporting Enforcement (Inside Higher Ed)
• DeVos urges career staff to ‘be the resistance’ as Biden takes over (Politico)