Overview
For the second time this month a sitting Republican Senator has been defeated in the party primary to a candidate supported by President Trump. Last night, Senator John Cornyn was soundly defeated by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a runoff election heading into the 2026 mid-term elections. Back in March Senator Cornyn and Ken Paxton outpaced a field of eight G.O.P. candidates, with Cornyn obtaining 42.5% of the vote (665,169 votes) and Paxton receiving 40.8% of the vote (638,481 votes). Since neither individual achieved 50% of the vote a runoff was required.

Yesterday’s outcome was no where near as close with challenger Paxton receiving 63.5% of the vote (586,953 votes) to Cornyn’s 36.5% of the vote (337,476 votes). Republican candidate Paxton will go on to face Democratic Senatorial candidate James Talarico in the November 3, 2026 general election.

What’s Next
Political pundits and the media are focusing heavily on the fact that two sitting Senators who were not supportive of the President will not be returning to Washington. Like Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict President Trump in his second impeachment, failed to gain enough votes to be eligible for a runoff election in Louisiana, Senator Cornyn has been critical of President Trump’s agenda.

Tomorrow, in addition to key updates and summaries on the outcome of the AIM Negotiated Rulemaking and the Earnings Accountability NPRM responses, we will also provide an overview of how these two recent primary results could impact the Republicans 22 seats up for re-election out of the 35 seats – including the special elections in Florida and Ohio – that will take place in November.

The post Another Incumbent Republican Senator Loses Bid for Re-Election appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

Overview
What a week for the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Over the course of this week the Department not only obtained support for yet another sweeping set of regulatory proposals on accreditation, but also moved closer to the promulgation of a final rule on the broadest set of institutional outcomes and accountability regulations, and provided new guidance and tools related to key final rules as well.

Here is a very brief summary of what took place this week, with many more details to be provided on next Thursday’s CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar.

2026 Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Negotiated Rulemaking
Yesterday, one day ahead of schedule, the Department of Education and a group of Non-Federal negotiators voted 12-0, with two abstentions, in favor of a comprehensive set of additions, revisions, and repeals to the existing regulations implementing Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.

Over the course of two, week-long sessions, the AIM Committee was able to review over one-hundred and seventy pages of draft proposals which included a number of politically charged issues, not the leas to which were discussions related to the definition of academic freedom, intellectual diversity, the relationships between accrediting agencies and trade associations prohibited under the HEA, outcomes metrics, and transfer of credit policy oversight to name only a few.

Ultimately the Committee was able to accept regulatory language developed by the Department with amendments which was suitable enough that none of the Committee members would oppose the entire package. However, the Non-Federal negotiators representing the “Students, student loan borrowers, or groups representing them” and “Veterans and U.S. military service members, or groups representing them” constituencies

Jeffrey Bodimer the lead negotiator representing the “Proprietary Institutions of Higher Education, as defined in 34 CFR 600.5” constituencies shared with CSPEN “I’m happy for the sector and the playing field being leveled on transfer credit and student outcomes.” This view was shared by other Non-Federal negotiators as one of many significant changes.

CSPEN will provide a written summary of the regulatory revisions next week and will highlight many of the key issues during next week’s webinar.

Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell: Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and Earnings Accountability
Wednesday, May 20^th was the deadline for public comment on the last of the three packages of regulatory proposals developed in order to implement the statutory provisions enacted into law as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill law (a.k.a. Working Families Tax Cuts Act).

As the community is well aware, this proposal seeks to “revise the existing FVT/GE regulations to align with the OBBB requirements and to provide a simplified transparency and accountability framework” as summarized by the Department.

In response to the proposal the Department received just over 10,000 comments, of which 8,558 are posted on regulations.gov (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=cf5d5233f2&e=05bce952ad) .

CSPEN will attempt to provide more details on key submissions, including our own, during next week’s webinar.

(GENERAL-26-30) Assistance in Implementation of Final Regulations for the Working Families Tax Cuts Act
What also occurred on Wednesday, May 20th which many might have missed, is the Department’s release of new information, tools and a schedule of webinars to assist the higher education community with the implementation of the new final rules.

The post The Week Ends With A Regulatory TRIFECTA for the Department of Education appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

Overview
Today’s Federal Register includes the unofficial posting of the Final Rule on the Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-Driven Workforce Pell: Pell Grant Exclusion Relating to Other Grant Aid and Workforce Pell Grants regulations. A copy of the 431 page regulation can be downloaded here (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=2f3ed42614&e=05bce952ad) .

The Summary states,

The Secretary of Education (Secretary) amends the regulations governing institutional eligibility, general provisions, and the Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) Program under title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended (the title IV, HEA programs). The final regulations implement statutory changes to the title IV, HEA programs included in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (WFTCA), signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025. In the NPRM, we referenced the WFTCA as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”; however, for clarity and consistency this final rule, we will instead use WFTCA. The WFTCA made numerous changes to the HEA, including changes to student eligibility requirements for the Pell Grant Program and the establishment of Workforce Pell Grants for students who enroll in a new type of eligible program called an “eligible workforce program,” intended to be a high quality, performance-based, short-term program that
supports America’s workforce needs.

The post CSPEN BREAKING NEWS: Final Rule on Pell Grant Issues Unofficial Released appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

Overview
This morning at 10:15 AM ET, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is scheduled to testify before the House Education & Workforce Committee at a hearing entitled ” Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education.”

The hearing is intended to focus on President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request and the Administration’s Education Agenda – which has already met with considerable scrutiny and

Based upon prior testimony and media speculation, it is anticipated that Secretary McMahon will defend plans to cut 2.9% of the department’s discretionary funding, prioritize school choice, and continue to outline steps being taken to at a minimum diffuse the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Education and other agencies whenever possible and return authority to states.

She will also likely discuss and respond to questions on key higher education policy issues such as
* Dismantling the Department: “We’re not ending federal support for education. We are ending federal micromanagement and paving the way for education renewal,”.
* Budget Cuts & Priorities: The proposed budget cuts to programs like TRIO and Gear Up represent “smart spending” that reduces bureaucracy, focusing on “restoring the right priorities in higher education” and strengthening school choice.
* Accountability & Local Control: She will likely emphasize the need to “fix the broken higher education industry” by linking federal support to “degrees that pay off” and focusing on student performance over federal overreach.
* Student Loans: She will outline efforts to correct “unprecedented confusion” in the student loan system and return integrity to federal student aid.

A new line of questioning is also likely to be the recent announcement that the Department is hiring staff following the prior layoffs of half of the Department’s employees and what appears to be in direct contradiction to eliminating the Department.

CSPEN will be watching the hearing right up until the start of our Board meeting and will catch up on the rest this weekend in preparation for our CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar next Monday.

The post Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Testifies Today Before House Education Committee appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

Overview
In preparation for the second, and final, session of the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization Federal Negotiated Rulemaking the Department of Education distributed a revised, 173 pages. document entitled “AIM Draft Regulations 2.0 Updated (us.list-manage.com/ObK8JciVTof?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) ” to the Non-Federal negotiators for review.

The new version of the extensive revisions to all facets of accreditation does include several changes based upon the first week of negotiations, but many key observations and recommendations presented by members of the AIM Committee which could prevent the representatives from supporting consensus remain.

CSPEN is in the process of thoroughly reviewing the updated proposal and sharing our comments with a number of the non-federal negotiators as they prepare for next week’s meeting.

What’s Next
CSPEN will be in attendance at all of next week’s negotiations to monitor the deliberations in real time. We will attempt to provide summaries of each day’s proceedings, but please keep in mind – as we have witnessed in prior negotiations – the process is very fluid during these negotiations and things change quickly (e.g. the major shift in the Earnings Accountability proposals overnight).

If you are interested in watching the negotiations, you can register to attend the meetings virtually here (us.list-manage.com/Yh_a91r0Is8?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) .

In Other News
Yesterday, CSPEN was made aware of a new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report, published April 14, 2026, and release to the public on Monday, May 11, 2026, providing new information on the increase in Pell Grant recipients following the Department’s completion of FAFSA revisions mandated under the FAFSA Simplification law.

The report (GAO-26-107928), entitled “Pell Grants: Overall Student Eligibility Increased After Free Application for Federal Student Aid Simplification,” is now available on the GAO website (us.list-manage.com/aaL3wkSt6gZ?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) and includes links to Highlights, the full report, and GAO contact.

The Fast Facts, as provided by the GAO indicate,

The Pell Grant program is the largest source of federal grant aid supporting student access to higher education. Student eligibility for Pell Grants increased for school year 2024–25, after the Department of Education simplified the student aid application and updated eligibility criteria.
We found that 9.9 million students were eligible for a Pell Grant in 2024-25. Compared to the prior year:
* 6% more students were eligible for Pell Grants
* 31% more students were eligible for the maximum award
* Much of the increase in eligibility was among students with household incomes of $60,001-$125,000.

The post AIM Initial Draft Regulations 2.0 Distributed to Negotiators appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

**
Overview
As first noted last Thursday during CSPEN’s regularly scheduled Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar, this coming Thursday the House Education & Workforce Committee has requested Secretary of Education Linda McMahon provide testimony highlighting the Administration’s Education Agenda. The hearing, entitled “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education”, will begin at 10:15 AM ET and presented live via the Committee’s YouTube channel here (us.list-manage.com/xPJODg_9ffQ?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) .

Later that afternoon, the House Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee is scheduled to hold a “roundtable” entitled ““Reducing America’s National Debt: Rooting Out Federal Waste, Fraud, and Overregulation” beginning at 2PM ET and presented live via the Committee’s YouTube channel here (us.list-manage.com/16Hl9vRoIkC?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) .

Below is a brief attempt to predict some of what we anticipate will occur during each hearing.

Education Committee Hearing – Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education
CSPEN anticipates that Secretary McMahon will be similar to portions of the testimony which she shared with the Seante Appropriations Committee on April 28^th. That hearing focused on Secretary McMahon providing details on President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request. However, both the Secretary’s testimony and the Q&A with the Senators dug deep into issues related to the Administration’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education, key policy directives, and what the priorities were moving forward. And, like the prior Senate hearing, we anticipate that Secretary McMahon will once again face similar, but even more direct questions.

As CSPEN has shared with the higher education community most recently, we anticipate that the entangled issues related to the federal student loan program will be on full display.

Oversight Committee Roundtable – Reducing America’s National Debt: Rooting Out Federal Waste, Fraud, and Overregulation
In his press release announcing the roundtable, the vision for the meeting were described as an opportunity for members to:
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* Survey how America’s historically high and continuously growing national debt threatens the country’s economic future, national security, and the affordability of daily life; and
* Explore actions the House Oversight Committee can add to measures it already has taken this term to help shrink the national debt through the reduction of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs and excessive federal regulation.

In his own comments, Subcommittee Chairman Burlison stated,
“A key step towards shrinking the national debt is to put a stop to the waste, fraud, and abuse that plague federal government programs. I look forward to hearing from participants the unique ways in which the House Oversight Committee can tackle government waste and overregulation to help shrink the national debt and spur economic growth”.

The Roundtable will include testimony from three panelists:
* Dr. William W. Beach – Executive Director, The Fiscal Lab on Capitol Hill
* Dr. Joshua D. Rauh – Chairman, Fiscal Policy Initiative, Hoover Institution
* Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin – President, American Action Forum, and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office

**
What’s Next
CSPEN will provide a summary of these two hearings as part of a SPECIAL Monday edition of our regularly scheduled Thursday afternoon CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinars. This Thursday and Friday the CSPEN Board will be holding one of two annual in-person meetings. During the SPECIAL Monday edition of our webinar we will be not only sharing summaries of the hearings noted in this email, but will also be providing a comprehensive presentation of CSPEN’s public comment submission related to the Accountability in Higher Education and Access Through Demand-Driven Workforce Pell: Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and Earnings Accountability Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

The post CSPEN BREAKING NEWS: House & Senate Democrats Taking Drastic Step To Stop Student Loan Changes appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

**
Overview
As we committed to on yesterday’s CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Update webinar, below we have gathered together some initial resources to assist the higher education community in our collective efforts to very quickly assimilate the statutory and regulatory changes to federal student loans which go into effect on July 1st.

Just six days removed from the Department of Education’s publication of a final rule implementing provisions contained in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act/One Big Beautiful Bill all of the higher education community are attempting to review, interpret, and integrate these significant changes into their administration of the federal student loan programs.

Below we provide links from the Department on the rule itself and related information they have provided, a select set of external resources providing summaries of the final rule, separate resources specifically focused on the new provisions related to calculation of reductions in student loan eligibility for less than full-time students, and some media posts as well.

In addition, we are also providing additional information on the update CSPEN was first to provide to the community regarding Congressional Democrats introduction of a Joint Resolution seeking to prevent the July 1, 2026 “entry into force” – the legal term for taking effect.

Department of Education Resources
General Information
One Big Beautiful Bill Landing Page (us.list-manage.com/HRfUar3X0Ml?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)

Federal Negotiated Rulemaking: Student Loan Committee
Federal Negotiated Rulemaking – Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee (us.list-manage.com/2_4omu08D86?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)
RISE Negotiated Rulemaking Fact Sheet: Trump Administration Implements Student Loan Provisions of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (us.list-manage.com/jEW7rwZHmTS?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)

Final Rule & Department Announcement
Final: Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations (us.list-manage.com/VrVfioVHLZy?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)
U.S. Department of Education Finalizes Landmark Rule to Lower College Costs and Simplify Student Loan Repayment (us.list-manage.com/nxVu8LIyuSa?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)

Key Electronic Announcements
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* One Big Beautiful Bill Act NSLDS Eligibility Processing Updates (EA ID: LOANS-26-05) (us.list-manage.com/OUjafV_pe3y?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) (April 24, 2026)
* One Big Beautiful Bill Act FAFSA Processing Updates (EA ID: APP-26-02) (us.list-manage.com/LKgk6MVr_iv?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) (March 9, 2026)

**
Key Update (us.list-manage.com/KUQ0bHWpoMY?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) -OBBB Updates

Less-than-full-time Loan Eligibility Calculation
NAICU Summary – Changes to All Lending Programs (us.list-manage.com/2Ip601LMDby?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)
JMU Summary (us.list-manage.com/oCaWiM5UlkV?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812)

Joint Resolution Preventing The Rules From Taking Effect or Being Enforced

Using the authority provided to Congress under the Congressional Review Act, a group of Democrats have filed a Joint Resolution which reads as follow:

Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to ‘‘Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations’’

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to ‘‘Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations’’ (91 Fed. Reg. 23768 (May 1, 2026)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.

Under the unique terms of the Congressional Review Act an expedited legislative process enables Congress to seek of repeal federal regulations by a simple majority vote. The joint resolution of disapproval must be passed in both chambers and signed by the President within sixty days.

The post CSPEN BREAKING NEWS: House & Senate Democrats Taking Drastic Step To Stop Student Loan Changes appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

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** Overview
While CSPEN was hosting our weekly Federal Legislative and Regulatory Update, ironically focused on implementation of the new statutory and regulatory Federal Student Loan changes and transition of the defaulted student loan portfolio over to Treasury as the first phase of the Administration’s efforts to move all of FSA over to the agency, a group of Congressional Democrats (Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), John Mannion (D-N.Y.) and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), and Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.)) announced the introduction of a joint resolution seeking to prevent implementation of the recently published Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations.

The Legislation
The proposal states that the joint resolution provides for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to ‘‘Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations’’.

The Plan
The Democrats are attempting to use The Congressional Review Act (CRA), enacted in 1996, to stop the regulations from going into effect. It is a unique law offering the opportunity for Congress to overturn new federal agency regulations using a joint resolution of disapproval passed by a simple majority, bypassing Senate filibusters. It forces agencies to submit rules to Congress and provides a 60-day “lookback” window to repeal regulations, often used during presidential transitions.

More Details to Follow
CSPEN will provide more information tomorrow, along with follow-up we committed to on today’s webinar, but wanted the community to be aware immediately of this most recent development.

The post CSPEN BREAKING NEWS: House & Senate Democrats Taking Drastic Step To Stop Student Loan Changes appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.

**
Overview
Yesterday the U.S. Department of Education (Department) issued a press release entitled “Fact Sheet: The Trump Administration is Making College More Affordable.” (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=404a1d85e7&e=05bce952ad)

The announcement summarizes the Administration’s perspective on the current state of higher education, stating that higher education has been one of the fastest-growing expenses for American families over the past four decades.

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** It asserts that—
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* Uncapped access to federal student loans, combined with few constraints on both institutions ability to raise tuition and fees and students ability to borrow have resulted in a tripling of the student loan portfolio and escalating defaults the summary states; and
* The academic offerings of too many programs provided by institutions of higher education leave students and taxpayers with little to no return on their investment even as the endowments of institutions of higher education approach $1 trillion in assets.
Forutnately, the press release goes on to say,

** “Thanks to President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act (the Act), new loan limits taking effect this summer will curb excessive borrowing and force institutions to evaluate their costs. These reasonable caps will help prevent borrowers from taking on debt they may struggle to repay while putting downward pressure on institutions to lower costs, making higher education more affordable for America’s students.”

The press release then goes on to pose and answer a series of seven questions. This afternoon, CSPEN will review the seven specific FAQs detailed provided in the press release on our weekly CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar.

The post Department of Education Highlights Impact of New Student Loan Changes appeared first on Career Schools Private Education Network.