Cardona Called To Testify Before House Education As Department Generates New FAFSA Reprocessing & Financial Value Transparency/Gainful Employment Information

Overview
This afternoon the House Committee on Education & the Workforce announced that it intends to host a hearing entitled “Examining the Education Department’s Policies, Priorities, and FY 2023 Financial Audit Failure” a week from today (Tuesday, May 7, 2024) at 10:15 AM ET. The sole witness slated to testify at the Full Committee hearing is Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

In the email announcement, House Education & the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) is quoted as stating:

“I’m greatly disappointed by Secretary Cardona’s leadership of the Department of Education and his willingness to toe the line for the Biden administration’s disdain for the Constitution. We’ve watched as the Department has advanced the President’s illegal ‘free’ college agenda, botched the FAFSA rollout and return to repayment, implemented radical changes to Title IX, and failed to combat antisemitism and foreign influence in any significant way,”

The quote continues…

“Yet, with this abysmal track record, including the Department failing its financial audits for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, Secretary Cardona has requested billions more in taxpayer dollars. Taxpayers have reached their limit, Mr. Secretary. This hearing gives the Committee an opportunity to hold Secretary Cardona accountable for his partisan agenda and regulatory overreach.”

Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

What’s Next
CSPEN will of course monitor the proceedings and provide a summary on next week’s regularly scheduled CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar. For those of you who are interested in watching the proceedings live, you can do so by tuning in to the Committee’s YouTube channel here (www.youtube.com/@EdWorkforceCmte/streams).

What Can You Do Now
This Thursday, CSPEN will be hosting our regularly scheduled webinar from Ft. Lauderdale as we present at the FAME Financial Aid & School Management Conference. Please join us as we will be sharing the latest information on today’s two Department of Education releases on A) the reprocessing 2024–25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) forms (www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-completes-processing-fafsa-forms-impacted-known-issues-outlines-push-expand-application-submissions) impacted by known issues with IRS data FASFA determinations and B) partial release their new NSLDS Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) User Guide (fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/nslds-user-resources/2024-04-30/nslds-financial-value-transparency-and-gainful-employment-fvt/ge-user-guide). In addition, we will also provide an overview of the 1395-page new Title IX Final Rule, the latest on our review of the Student Loan Debt Relief
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (comments due by May 17, 2024), and more!