The Outome of This Week’s Negotiated Rulemaking Will Definitely Be Part of the Discussions at Next Week’s CSPEN Higher Education Policy Meeting
Overview The week ahead will be a critical period in the 2024 Federal Negotiations by the Program Integrity and Institutional Quality negotiators.
As shared last week in both CSPEN email updates and emphasized in our summary of the Session 2 Issue Papers released by the Department last week, the Department of Education’s initial proposal and revisions and additions adopted based upon non-Federal Negotiator recommendations are trending in a direction that will pose challenges for all sectors of the higher education community.
Key revisions to the Cash Management regulations would significantly impact how institutional charges are handled, what can – and cannot – be included in those charges, how institutions would be expected to administer charges, etc. Key revisions to the State Authorization and Distance Education regulations would prohibit clock hour distance educational offering from being delivered asynchronously, appear to require all distance educational offerings to take attendance, mandate major oversight responsibilities upon the States, and perhaps most disconcertingly completely undermine the NC-SARA State reciprocity agreement regime – despite ED’s, legal aide, and other groups comments to the contrary, and more. And while all of these issues are highly problematic, probably the most harmful of the proposals, come in the form of a COMPREHENSIVE re-write of the Accreditation regulations, making changes to both the Department’s oversight of recognition requirements of accrediting agencies by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and the roles and responsibilities of the agencies themselves in their oversight of institutions of higher education.
The Week Ahead On last Thursday’s Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update, we share with the community links to the Department’s Session 2 – Issue Papers and urged community review of the five proposals four noted above and a fifth on Federal Rutrn of Title IV Funds proposals, which also include noteworthy revisions of their own. You can pull up each of the PDFs for the five Issue Papers here (www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html). CSPEN highly recommends that your entire leadership team, including individuals responsible in admissions and recruitment and academia, as well as your FSA team, review the relevant Issue Papers in advance and plan to monitor the negotiations by registering to virtually attend the applicable days here (web.cvent.com/event/3ef8c1f8-ecf1-4034-9783-b28a843f4acd/regProcessStep1?locale=en). As noted, the Session 2 Agenda is as follows:
Day 1 Monday, February 5, 2024 • Announcements/Updates (Facilitator) • Cash Management (Issue Paper 1) • Lunch Break • Cash Management (Issue Paper 1) • Public Comment
Day 2 Tuesday, February 6, 2024 • Facilitator Remarks • State Authorization (Issue Paper 2) • Lunch Break • State Authorization (Issue Paper 2) • Distance Education (Issue Paper 3) • Public Comment
Day 3 Wednesday, February 7, 2024 • Facilitator Remarks • R2T4 (Issue Paper 4) • Lunch Break • R2T4 (Issue Paper 4) • Accreditation Issues (Issue Paper 5) • Public Comment
Day 4 Thursday, February 8, 2024 • Facilitator Remarks • Accreditation Issues (Issue Paper 5) • Lunch Break • Accreditation Issues (Issue Paper 5) • Public Comment • Facilitator Closing Remarks
What’s Next Next week, both key representatives from the Department of Education and the non-Federal negotiators representing the proprietary, for-profit sector of higher education, as well as key non-federal negotiators will be participating in CSPEN’s 6th Annual Higher Education Policy Meeting. If you have not already registered there is still LIMITED availability to register to attend a full agenda covering all the latest intel and key insights on higher education policy development and tracking.
Take a look at CSPEN’s February 13-15 Agenda below, and please join us if you can!
CSPEN’s 6th Annual Higher Education Policy Meeting: Protecting and Supporting Career, Technical and Trades Education
(Yes, This Is THE One Everyone Raves About)
February 13-15 2024 Intercontinental DC Wharf Current Availability: 5 seats, 1 hotel room, 1 sponsorship
We’re Very Excited About This Year’s Vitally Important Agenda, And Hope You Can Join Us!
We at CSPEN have worked very hard and pulled from many resources, to put together what we believe to be an extremely timely and most relevant agenda for our schools and those who work with them. In the next week or so, we will share with you all the confirmed speakers, but wanted to get this agenda in your hands before we sellout (as of right now, we only have 48 tickets remaining and a handful of hotel rooms). Please note that this agenda may change slightly due to speakers schedules and possible additions. See below, and as always we look forward to your feedback!
CSPEN’s 6th Annual Higher Education Policy Meeting
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
1:00 – 2:00 Welcome and Opening Session
Department of Education Cybersecurity Compliance Update
Scott Tambert, Division Chief for Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Cybersecurity, U.S. Department of Education
Davon Tyler, FSA Chief Information Security Officer and Director of the Enterprise Cybersecurity Group, U.S. Department of Education Technology Directorate, Office of Federal Student Financial Aid
2:00 – 3:00 Clery, VAWA, and Title IX Update
James Moore, Senior Advisor, Clery Act Compliance and Campus Safety Operations, Clery Group, U.S. Department of Education
3:00 – 3:15 BREAK
3:15 – 4:15 Regulatory Implementation of the 2022-2023 Final Rules
Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment Update
Expert Presenter(s) TBA
4:15 – 5:30 Federal Regulatory Update
Ben Miller, Deputy Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
5:45 – 6:45 Welcome Reception Sponsored by Conext
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
7:30-8:30 Breakfast 8:00 – 9:00 The Future of Education Workforce Infrastructure Education
Jane Oates, Senior Policy Advisor, WorkingNation
9:00 – 10:00 Higher Education Policy from the Media’s Point of View
Panel Discussion
Michael Stratford, Education Reporter, Politico PRO
Doug Lederman, Co-Founder & Editor, Inside Higher Ed
Katherine Knott, Federal Reporter, Inside Higher Ed
Eric Kelderman, Senior Writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education
10:00 – 10:15 Break Sponsored By Duane Morris
10:15 – 11:30 Higher Education Policy Analysis: The New Gainful Employment Rule
Jason D. Delisle, Senior Policy Fellow – Center on Education Data and Policy, Urban Institute
11:30 – 12:30 Higher Education Policy Analysis: Multi-Agency Focus on Marketing & LeadGen
Oversight of Both Institutions and Their Third-Party Servicers
Panel Discussion
Brandon Sherman, Counsel, Saul Ewing
Michelle Hon Donovan, Partner, Duane Morris
John Carreon, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch Sponsored by TEN Government Strategies
1:30 – 2:30 2023-2024 Federal Negotiated Rulemaking Update
Student Loan Debt Relief & Program Integrity and Institutional Quality Committees
Panel Discussion
Jillian Klein, Senior Vice President of Government and External Affairs, Strategic Education, Inc.
David Cohen, President, Five Towns College
Michale McComis, Chief Executive Officer, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges
John Ware, Director, Ohio State Board of Career Colleges and Schools
2:30 – 2:45 Break Sponsored by McClintock & Associates
2:45 – 3:45 Higher Education Policy from Top-level Higher Education Staffs’ Perspective
Panel Discussion
Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act
Marek Laco, Professional Staff Member, House Committee on Education & the Workforce
Scott Estrada, Professional Staff Member, House Committee on Education & the Workforce
Higher Education Act Reauthorization
Chance Russell, Economist and Policy Advisor, House Committee on Education & the Workforce
Mary Christina Riley, Professional Staff Member, House Committee on Education & the Workforce
Amaris Benavidez, Professional Staff Member, House Committee on Education & the Workforce
3:45 – 4:00 Break
4:00 – 5:00 The Future of Higher Education Policy
The Honorable Lisa McClain
U.S. House of Representative, Congresswoman from Michigan’s 9th District
5:15 – 6:15 Reception Sponsored by Level Becker
Thursday, February 15, 2024
8:00-8:30 Breakfast 8:30 – 9:15 The Future of Education Workforce Infrastructure Education
The Honorable Pete Stauber
U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman from Minnesota’s 8th District
Panel Discussion
Scott Shaw, CEO & President, Lincoln Educational Services Corp. Andrea Snow, Senior Vice President & In-House Counsel, Ancora Education Robert Polston, CEO, Spartan College of Aeronautics & Technology Don Lefeve, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Robotic Research Joel English, Executive Vice President, Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Centura College & Tidewater Tech
9:15 – 9:20 BREAK
9:20 – 10:00 The Current Status of Higher Education Policy and Its Future
The Honorable Tim Walberg
U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman from Michigan’s 5th District
10:00 – 10:15 BREAK
10:15 – 11:15 Higher Education Community Policy Perspectives
Panel Discussion
David Baime, Senior Vice President, Government Relations, American Association of Community Colleges
Mark Brenner, Vice President, Government Relations, Universal Technical Institute
Conwey Casillas, Vice President, Federal & Government Affairs, Apollo Group
Emmanual Guillroy, Senior Director, Government Relations, American Council on Education
11:15 – 11:30 Closing Remarks
NOON Institutions Free to Schedule Meetings with Their Elected Officials
