Three Quick Updates From Last Week We Wanted To Make Sure You Didn’t Miss

Overview
Following yesterday’s completion of its review of all 750+ written comments related to the Department’s request for feedback in advance of the 2025-2026 Federal Negotiated Rulemaking (email update sent on Monday), we caught up on a few another important events that took place late last week that we wanted to briefly share with you. Here, in no order, are brief summaries for your consideration. As always, more details on these topics and new activities that occur today and tomorrow will be shared on tomorrow’s CSPEN Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar.

Department of Education Focus On Student Loan Collections
On Monday, May 5th, in continuation of announcements made by the White House and Department of Education beginning on April 21st and continuing through the end of the month, the Department released a “Dear Colleague Letter (fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2025-05-05/request-institutions-provide-repayment-information-former-students-prevent-defaults) ” to institutions “reminding them of their shared responsibility under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to support student loan borrowers. The Department issued guidance on the same day it is resuming involuntary collections on student loans, which have been paused since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The DCL makes it clear that the Department remains vitally concerned with the level of student loan repayment default and delinquency in the Federal Direct Student Loan Program and are taking immediate steps to bring the 62% of loans not in repayment back into current repayment as soon as possible. To achieve this, the Trump Administration has restored the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury to use its Treasury Offset Program to collect on defaulted loans now and will be using the Treasury’s Administrative Wage Garnishment capabilities in furtherance of repayment collections beginning in the summer.

The DCL goes on to emphasize the role of the institutions in the administration of federal student loans, the roles and outreach they are directing institutions to undertake now to assist in reversing the astronomical number of loans not currently in repayment, and how they plan to monitor and report the latest information to the public prior to the end of the month.

Review of the latest on this will be a major focus on tomorrow’s CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar.

President Trump Nominates David Barker to Become Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary
Last Friday, President Trump announced the nomination of Mr. David Barker as the selected candidate to fill the role of Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. As noted in the press release posted by the Department of Education:

“David Barker is a sixth-generation Iowan with deep experience in higher education policy and governance. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago and has taught economics at both the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa. For the past six years, he has served on the Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public universities. During his tenure, he has played a key role in advancing cost control measures, promoting academic freedom, and ending discriminatory DEI programs.”

Nominee Barker joins a list of other Department of Education nominees awaiting Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearings. The key nominees CSPEN is tracking, inclusive of Mr. Barker, include:

* Nicholas Kent – Under Secretary of Education
* David Barker — Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education (OPE)
* Kevin O’Farrell – Assistant Secretary for Career and Technical Education (CVTA)
* Mary Christina Riley – Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs

CSPEN is also closely monitoring the continued placement of influential individuals within the Department such as the Chief Operating Officer within the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), the Deputy Assistant Secretary positions within the Office of the Under Secretary, FSA, OPE, and CVTA, and more.

President Trump’s Executive Order on Deregulation of “Criminalization” Stuck A Chord With Us
In one of President Trump’s most recent EOs, “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations (www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/fighting-overcriminalization-in-federal-regulations/) ,” the purpose and directives include language and requests for revisions with regard to the adjudication of individuals within the criminal justice system that could just as easily apply to the overregulation and scrutinization of institutions of higher education and their staff trying to comply with the Title IV regulations. The “Purpose” of the EO states:

“The United States is drastically overregulated. The Code of Federal Regulations contains over 48,000 sections, stretching over 175,000 pages — far more than any citizen can possibly read, let alone fully understand. Worse, many carry potential criminal penalties for violations. The situation has become so dire that no one -– likely including those charged with enforcing our criminal laws at the Department of Justice — knows how many separate criminal offenses are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, with at least one source estimating hundreds of thousands of such crimes. Many of these regulatory crimes are “strict liability” offenses, meaning that citizens need not have a guilty mental state to be convicted of a crime.

This status quo is absurd and unjust. It allows the executive branch to write the law, in addition to executing it. That situation can lend itself to abuse and weaponization by providing Government officials tools to target unwitting individuals. It privileges large corporations, which can afford to hire expensive legal teams to navigate complex regulatory schemes and fence out new market entrants, over average Americans.

The purpose of this order is to ease the regulatory burden on everyday Americans and ensure no American is transformed into a criminal for violating a regulation they have no reason to know exists.”

The EO then goes on to detail that the Trump Administration “disfavors” criminal enforcement of criminal regulatory offenses, calls for the assessment by each agency and the Attorney General on the criminal regulatory offense regulations and their application, and calls for strict agency guidance on conduct subject to criminal enforcement. The deadline for assessment and submission of the report is one year from May 9, 2025.

What’s Next
These topics, along with the latest efforts in Congress regarding the development of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation bill, will be presented tomorrow afternoon. Join us for all the latest information!