Join CSPEN Thursday For Summary of Student Loan Debt Relief NPRM Response
Overview
This Friday, May 17, 2024 is the deadline for public comment on the U.S. Department of Education’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Student Debt Relief for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the Federal Perkins Loan Program, and the Health Education Assistance Loan Program” (Docket ID: ED-2023-OPE-0123-26398). The NPRM is the culmination of the first of two 2023-2024 Federal Negotiated Rulemaking proceedings undertaken by the Biden-Harris Administration to make revisions in the regulations related to 1) student loan debt relief and 2) program integrity and institutional quality.
Following the conclusion of three two day meetings over the course of three months in 2023, the Student Loan Debt Relief Committee (Committee) failed to reach consensus on a comprehensive set of revisions promoted by the Department on behalf of the Administration to amend the regulations related to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) to provide for the waiver of certain student loan debts.
Throughout the first quarter of 2024 the Department and the White House reviewed the negotiations of the Committee, adopting as part of the process several specific revisions to the regulations where consensus was obtained during the negotiation process, incorporating them into a broader set of revisions that comprise the NPRM announced in mid-April and published in the Federal Register on April 17, 2024.
In this NPRM, the Department proposes regulations, in accordance with the Secretary’s authority to waive repayment of a loan provided by the HEA, to provide targeted debt relief as part of efforts to address the burden of student loan debt. The proposed regulations would modify the Department’s existing debt collection regulations to provide greater specificity regarding certain non-exhaustive situations in which the Secretary may exercise discretion to waive all or part of any debts owed to the Department.
Community Developed Response
Since the publication of the NPRM CSPEN has been working collaboratively with various facets of the higher education community and supported the efforts of third parties with the expertise in student loan issues on the development of a response to the NPRM. Under the leadership of Marylyn Hammer, President & CEO, Champion Companies, a comprehensive draft response has been developed which will express concerns and recommendations regarding the Secretary’s authority to waive repayment of a loan provided by section 432(a) of the HEA, to provide debt relief targeted to address certain specific circumstances as part of a comprehensive effort to address the burden of Federal student loan debt.
In advance of the final submission, CSPEN will use this Thursday’s regularly scheduled Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar as an opportunity to provide the community with a summary of the response, seeking final community reaction and comment before submission of the final response by Friday’s deadline.
