A Bipartisan Group of Senators Request Delay In Financial Value Transparency & Gainful Employment Reporting, House Education Committee Set To Markup Yet Another HEA Proposal, and Congress Considers Path Forward On Annual Appropriations
Overview
This week finds CSPEN and the rest of the higher education community focused heavily on Congressional activity important to students and institutions of higher education.
Yesterday (Sept. 10th), a group of twenty (20) Senators, led by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), sent a letter (www.kaine.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/091024lettertoedregefvtextension.pdf) to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona requesting a delay in the institutional reporting deadline for the new Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency regulations till July 1, 2025. Citing continued issues with the rollout of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA), the letter asserts that, “institutions need to devote every available resource to processing financial aid and assisting students in preparing for the upcoming semester, rather than implementing an entirely new reporting framework by October 1.” Going on to state that, “Based on the final rule, the GE/FVT regulations will not be fully implemented until July 1, 2026. Extending the reporting deadline to July 2025 will still give the Department a full year to implement their part of
the rule.”
Today, the House Education & the Workforce Committee has scheduled a markup of several bills. As noted in a press release, House Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) stated that the markup. “will examine legislation to prevent child abuse, protect students in the classroom, deter hazing on college campuses, and strengthen employers’ ability to offer generous health care benefits,” CSPEN’s focus will be on deliberation related to H.R. 5646 – The Stop Campus Hazing Act.
As summarized by the Congressional Research Service. H.R. 5646 – Stop Campus Hazing Act would:
“Require institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student aid programs to report hazing incidents.
Specifically, the bill requires each IHE to disclose hazing incidents that were reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies in its annual security report. The bill defines the term hazing to mean any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person against a student (regardless of that student’s willingness to participate), that (1) is connected with an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in, an organization (e.g., a club, athletic team, fraternity, or sorority); and (2) causes or is likely to contribute to a substantial risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the IHE or the organization, of physical injury, mental harm, or degradation.
In addition, each IHE must develop and distribute as part of its annual security report a statement of policy regarding the following: (1) a comprehensive program to prevent hazing, which must include information on hazing awareness and hazing prevention; and (2) the IHE’s current campus policies on hazing, which must include procedures that comply with specified collection and reporting requirements.”
And finally, on fiscal front, Congress is looking to pass stop-gap legislation, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which will fund the federal government for some period of time beyond the end of the current fiscal year which ends on Monday, September 30th. As you might imagine there are competing interests and proposals on both what should and shouldn’t be contained in the bridge proposal (pun intended as one of the issues being hotly contested is funding to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed following an accident back in March), the timeline for the CR (i.e. two-months (Dec. 1), three-months (Jan. 1) or six-months (April 1)), and whether or not there are enough votes to pass the proposals put before each chamber. Right now, House Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to sure up the votes necessary to pass a six-month proposal he hopes will be voted on today. However, the whip count suggests that he may not have enough backing within his own party to secure passage. We
will continue to monitor and report on the political maneuvering and any key issues related to higher education.
What’s Next
Join us tomorrow for our regularly scheduled CSPEN Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar where we will provide more details on the Senate letter, the latest information on the outcome of the House Republican’s efforts to pass the stop-gap funding bill, and summary of discussions as part of the House Education & the Workforce Committee’s mark-up as it relates to campus hazing. Oh yeah, and we will also share the latest on all of the pressing and pending regulatory issues and status of key litigation as well.
