The Labor Law Insider - Recent U.S. Supreme Court, NLRB Decisions Highlight Labor Issues in Higher Education, Part II
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) recently surprised the higher education community with a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL GEN-23-03) that sets forth new guidance on third-party servicers with whom institutions of...more
On Thursday, the Department of Education announced that, in certain circumstances, it will require leaders of institutions to assume personal liability as a condition of Title IV Federal Student Aid participation....more
On March 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) for the first time asserted regulatory authority over income share agreements (ISAs) as private education loans. FSA issued an...more
On October 4, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) commenced the first of five negotiated rulemaking sessions. The five sessions are focused on the federal student financial aid programs authorized under Title IV of...more
On August 8, 2020, President Trump signed four executive orders that are designed to provide additional COVID-19 relief as talks on Capitol Hill collapsed on August 7 between White House negotiators and Democratic leaders...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled last week in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Navient Corp. that the PA Attorney General could bring a parallel enforcement action against Navient, a servicer of federal...more
As we’ve been tracking for over a year now, courts across the country have addressed the significant question of whether the federal laws governing federally owned or guaranteed student loans preempt state laws placing...more
The New York Department of Financial Services ("DFS") has finalized the last piece of the Empire State's student loan servicer puzzle. On October 1st, the DFS issued a Student Loan Servicers Regulation (the "Regulation") that...more
The Higher Education Act (HEA) governs federal higher education programs, authorizing federal student-aid programs for postsecondary education and setting regulations for higher education institutions. First passed in 1965,...more
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals struck a blow to student loan servicers’ arguments that certain state law claims brought by borrowers are preempted under the Higher Education Act (HEA). In a lengthy opinion issued on...more
A Federal Register entry published last week details a proposed data-sharing arrangement between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Education (DoE) designed to reduce the amount of interest that certain...more
In courts across the country, servicers are facing off against states and borrowers over the extent to which federal laws preempt state regulation of federal student loan servicers. Numerous states have stepped up their...more
Under U.S. federal law, known as the Higher Education Act (HEA), eligible U.S. students may receive federal student aid to help pay for education expenses incurred to attend approved higher education institutions, including...more
As we reported, the Department of Education announced earlier this month that it would begin implementing its “borrower defense” final rule which was issued in November 2016 by providing discharges of federal student loans...more
The “borrower defense” final rule (Final Rule) issued by the Dept. of Education in November 2016 took effect at noon Wednesday, after Judge Randolph D. Moss of the D.C. federal district court refused to grant the renewed...more
Earlier this week, Judge Randolph D. Moss of the D.C. federal district court heard oral argument on the renewed motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS)...more
On August 14, 2018, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to rescind the Obama-era Gainful Employment (GE) regulations applicable to for-profit educational...more
The Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a trade group representing student loan servicers, has sued the District of Columbia to enjoin the operation of Law 21-214, the Student Loan Ombudsman Establishment and Servicing...more
A bipartisan coalition of 30 state attorneys general led by New York AG Eric Schneiderman and Colorado AG Cynthia Coffman have sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to reject a proposed amendment to the Higher...more
In response to the wave of new state student loan servicing laws and enforcement activity, the U.S. Department of Education has published an interpretation emphasizing that the Higher Education Act (HEA) preempts state...more
Instructor. Regular. Substantive. Those three words, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”), resulted in OIG’s recent recommendation that Western Governors University (“WGU”)...more
On October 24, the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) published an interim final rule to delay until July 1, 2018 the effective date of selected provisions of what have become known as the borrower defense to repayment...more
The District of Columbia Student Loan Ombudsman Establishment and Servicing Regulation Act of 2016 (Servicing Act) became effective February 18, 2017. The Servicing Act set an October 1 deadline for the Student Loan...more
The National Council of Higher Education Resources (NCHER), a national trade association representing higher education finance organizations, has written to the Department of Education urging the ED to issue preemption...more
The California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) has filed a complaint in D.C. federal district court against the Dept. of Education and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to overturn the “borrower defense”...more