Following “AHEAD Committee Listening Session” Tomorrow Morning CSPEN Anticipates Release of Important Information In Advance of Next Week’s Workforce Pell and Institutional Accountability Neg Reg
Overview
Tomorrow morning the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Postsecondary Education will be hosting an hour-long stakeholder listening session to discuss the upcoming Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD) Committee negotiated rulemaking session. The listening session will take place at 11:00 a.m. ET this Thursday, December 4, 2025, and is limited only to an invited group of participants.
As noted in information regarding the listening session the call “will focus solely on the accountability provisions to implement the changes contained in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3).”
Given the list of stakeholders invited to participate in the call, CSPEN believes that this will be a precursor to the official publication of the list of AHEAD Committee members who will be participating in next week’s first of two meetings seeking to implement the Workforce Pell and Institutional Accountability provisions enacted as part of OB3.
Furthermore, as CSPEN has previously reported, we anticipate that either as part of, or following the conclusion of the listening session, the AHEAD Committee negotiators are likely to receive their first look at the Workforce Pell discussion draft documents. Keep in mind, as previously reported by CSPEN, it is our understanding that the AHEAD Committee will spend next week’s session (Dec. 8-12) seeking only to develop regulations implementing the Pell grant revisions and additions from OB3. The second session to be held in January of 2026 (Jan. 5-9) will focus on the Low Earnings Outcomes provisions of OB3.
For institutions and individuals interested in viewing next week’s negotiations, you may register on the Department’s Negotiated Rulemaking for Higher Education 2025 landing page (www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/higher-education-policy/negotiated-rulemaking-for-higher-education-2025-2026) , under the AHEAD Committee tab, and clicking on the registration tab (web.cvent.com/event/d4cfda92-8a65-45d6-8bb3-3f0e9d7b3458/regProcessStep1) .
What’s Next
Join CSPEN on tomorrow’s key Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar to hear a summary of the “AHEAD Listening Session” presentation and more details on the AHEAD Committee preparations heading into next week’s meeting. We will also provide a summary of the latest information on the efforts on Capitol Hill to move the Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies FY26 Appropriations bill toward a single compromise bill and enactment prior to the current CR deadline of January 30, 2026, and also summarize a key House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing which took place this week.
