Primary Focus of the Announcement Is On Improvements to Student Loan Repayment Plans But Also Leaves Open Opportunities For Streamlining Regulations and Federal Assistance Programs
Overview
Earlier today the U.S. Department of Education announced “its intention to commence negotiated rulemaking on various programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.” Detailing the Department’s desire to seek “public feedback on ways to streamline higher education regulations and federal assistance programs to create efficiencies for students, institutions, and key stakeholders, as well as ideas to improve the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Repayment plan, and the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan.”
As detailed in a copy of the official Federal Register notice, the process will include two public hearings – an in-person meeting on Tuesday, April 29, 2025; and a virtual hearing on Thursday, May 1, 2025 – which will be followed up by a later announcement on the topics to be included in the next Federal Negotiated Rulemaking to begin later this year.
Within the official announcement the Department specifically references a bit more detail on the topics they hope to address, stating:
- Refining definitions of a qualifying employer for the purpose of determining eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
- Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Income Contingent Repayment repayment plans.
- Potential topics that would streamline current federal student financial assistance program regulations while maintaining or improving program integrity and institutional quality.
All three of the topics align with President Trump’s previous Executive Orders and clearly indicate that Secretary McMahon and the Department are now preparing to move ahead with facets of the Administration’s goals.
What’s Next
Next week, and in the weeks leading up to the two public hearings, CSPEN – along with all interested parties within the higher education community – will be working on developing, refining and amending lists of comments and recommendations that have been worked on since the election and vetted in various ways since prior to Inauguration Day and ten weeks of President Trump’s term.
CSPEN will continue to develop, share, and amend our recommendations based upon community input in advance of the hearings, while also monitoring, participation and reporting on the development and editing process of other key facets of the higher education community.
To learn the very latest on the ongoing planning, preparation and implementation of strategies related to this and other higher education legislative and regulatory policy join us next Thursday for our next CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar.
