TACUSPA Readers - Here is a Washington update from the Association for Student Conduct Administration and we feel the information is important for the TACUSPA Membership.
Thanks ASCA! - TACUSPA Blog Team
Washington Update
May 13
As Congress moves into its spring work period, there are still many budget issues on the table for difficult votes slowing down progress of stand-alone bills and other issues being considered for discussion. Congress, with all the drama of a possible shutdown, voted on and passed a budget for the remainder of FY11 several weeks ago. In the budget, of interest to higher education, the Pell Grant will remain at the current funding levels but the summer Pell program will be eliminated. The battles ahead, according to staff and pundits alike, could be more difficult as the debate and looming votes on the FY12 budget. To complicate the vote on the budget, the increasing debt will require a vote on the increase of the debt ceiling no later than August 2ndwhen the Treasury can no longer hold the current status of the US bond market. The fiscal hawks of Congress are tying the passage of the FY12 budget to the debt ceiling vote stating that an increase in the debt ceiling will require major cuts in the FY12 budget.
As you recall in February, the President proposed his budget for FY12 and in March, the House Republican Budget Chair released his proposed budget – as you can imagine the numbers were very different. The current activity in Congress revolves around appropriation committee hearings as budget cuts are debated. The House leadership released budget targets on Thursday which will require the appropriations subcommittee that allocates funds for education, health and labor programs to cut more than $18 billion from the 2011 levels for those programs. The targets -- known in Washington budget parlance as 302(b) allocations -- tell the various spending subcommittees how much money they have to work with to divvy up among the various programs under their jurisdiction. The allocation to the panel that provides funds to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Departments would receive $139.2 billion, $18.2 billion less than the programs are receiving in 2011 and $41.6 billion less than President Obama proposed in February. An allocation of this sort would force lawmakers to choose among many programs that matter to colleges and universities -- student aid and institutional support from the Education Department, biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, job training programs at the Labor Department -- all of which fall under the same subcommittee.
The Pell Grant is under close scrutiny as the most popular and widely used program for students with financial need. In the coming months, Congress will be evaluating Pell and its sustainability in the current format. This program could see a complete overhaul in the coming years to meet cost containment strategies. Congressman Rehberg (R-MT), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health, Education and Labor emphasized his support for the program at a recent hearing but did note challenges with the program. “As the result of a wide array of interrelated factors – increased enrollment, expanded eligibility for recipients and broader availability of grants - Pell Grant expenses have tripled in the last five years, from $12.8 billion in award year 2006-07 to $36.7 billion this year. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that, unless Congress acts, the cost next year will be $43.9 billion.”
If you and your organization have suggested guidance that could be submitted to Congress on its structure and how it could be maintained to benefit the maximum number of students, please be in touch with your association representative for The Consortium.
Campus SaVE Act
Sen. Casey (D-PA) has introduced the Campus SaVE Act in the 112th Congress. As you may recall, it was introduced in the lame duck session in the 111th Congress and the bill had to be reintroduced in both the House and the Senate to be considered. The Consortium provided excellent feedback to Senator Casey’s staff and the final copy of the bill as introduced in the Senate is attached. Senator Murray (D-WA) has now signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill in the Senate. Senator Casey is working with the former House co-sponsors to have a member to introduce the same bill. The sponsoring member on the House during the last session lost his re-election bid in November.
In discussions with staff regarding the bill on its direction, it currently is being managed as a stand-alone bill and not being pushed for consolidation into the VAWA Reauthorization. However, it could be easily rolled into that Reauthorization process once it begins later this year.
Please see bill language attached. Campus SaVE Act
Gainful Employment Regulations sent to the White House
The regulations that should be released soon for gainful employment should be released in the next several weeks. The final version has been sent by The Department of Education to the White House for review before it is released.
The Department of Education has led a very long and contentious negotiated rule making session on gainful employment. In broad terms, the Department of Education’s goal is to determine which programs really are preparing students for gainful employment and not sinking graduates into chasms of debt.
An excerpt from an article in Inside Higher Education noted….As for the rules on gainful employment, ‘when applied to the existing landscape of vocational programs, the department's approach would seem to favor programs at public institutions over private ones (either for-profit or nonprofit), those that required fewer credits earned over more credits, and those in higher-paid fields like nursing and information technology over lower-paid careers in the arts.
Because the rules would apply only to certificate programs at community colleges, state universities and private, nonprofit institutions, they’re less likely to force any real change at nonprofits. Tuition on these programs at public institutions is so low that it’s relatively rare for students to take out loans. If they do, they’re likely to be small. Even at private nonprofits, where tuition is likely to be of a similar magnitude as at for-profit colleges, the fact that the rules apply only to non-degree programs will keep many programs out of regulatory reach.
Shireman and other department officials have insisted in many instances that the department is not "out to get" for-profit colleges and that it is not the department’s intention to regulate the sector out of existence. “We have made it quite clear that we are interested in improvement and outcomes all across the spectrum, all across the sectors,” he says.
New Round of Negotiated Rulemaking
The Department of Education has announced a new round of negotiated rulemaking. The Department of Education will be conducting roundtable discussions to inform its policy in the areas of teacher preparation and college completion. On the day following each public hearing, the Department intends to conduct three roundtable discussions at the same location as the public hearing, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. local time. They will be announced on the Department’s Web site at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/
The Department intends to use these roundtable discussions to inform of postsecondary education policies in three key areas – teacher preparation and college completion, and First in the World. Each of the four roundtable discussions will focus on three topics. The one topic will be the design and implementation plans for teacher preparation programs, including: (1) the proposed Presidential Teaching Fellows program along with funding for the already authorized Honorable Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence program (subpart 2, title II of the HEA); (2) ways in which the Department can streamline institutional reporting requirements; and (3) potential regulations regarding State identification of low-performing teacher preparation programs pursuant to sections 205 and 207 of the HEA.
A second topic will be the College Completion, with a focus on obtaining analysis, evaluations, and recommendations concerning State-level reform efforts that show the most promise for increasing college completion. Also discussed will be the College Completion Incentive Grants program, proposed in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget; that would encourage States to make systemic reforms in their higher education systems to increase the number of students who complete a postsecondary degree or certificate program and would reward institutions that are successful in increasing their completion rates.
The third topic will be possible priorities and structure for a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) “First in the World” competition proposed in the President’s FY 2012 budget. The purpose of this discussion is to obtain analyses and recommendations concerning institutional reform efforts that show the most promise for increasing college completion, expanding institutional capacity, and improving quality of outcomes. These analyses and recommendations will be used to inform the development of competitive preference and invitational priorities and the structure of the FIPSE “First in the World” competition.
Individuals desiring to participate in the roundtable discussions must register by sending an email to HigherEducationRoundtable.
DREAM Act Update
President Obama was in Texas on Wednesday and announced new plans to overhaul the country’s immigration programs. As a follow up to that, the House and Senate introduced bills which would grant legal status to undocumented immigrants brought to the USA illegally if they attend college or serve in the military, and meet other conditions.
Durbin, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and 30 other Democrats have signed onto the Senate bill, S 952.
In the House, the DREAM Act, HR 1842, was introduced by Democratic Reps. Howard Berman of California and Luis Guitierrez of Illinois, along with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla. The full text of both bills has not been released yet to the GPO.
Under the measure introduced Wednesday, people can obtain legal status if:
- They came to the United States when they were 15 or younger and have had a continuous presence in the states for at least five years.
- They have good moral character
- They graduated from high school or obtained a GED.
- They completed two years of college or military service in good standing.
Last December the House passed a broader version of this bill but it was blocked in the Senate during the lame duck session. Please see press release attached for more details. Dream Act Press Release
FERPA Update
The Department of Education released several weeks ago proposed changes to FERPA guidelines. The press release from the department is listed below and the language is attached. The deadline for comments to the Department of Education is May 23rd.
AACRAO released this statement, ‘The proposed FERPA regulations would "strengthen" enforcement provisions to ensure that every entity working with personally identifiable information from student education records is using it for authorized purposes only. While this change represents a step in the right direction, it does not extend to individuals such basic rights as awareness and notice, consent, access and correction/emendation of personally identifiable information in possession of third parties in the manner that they currently enjoy those rights when those same records are maintained by institutions. The change gives some covering to the proposed change permitting these entities to designate any outside party as an "authorized representative" of the educational authority, thus allowing the release of student education records to those "authorized representatives." In addition to the new privacy guidelines, the department announced the appointment of a new chief privacy officer, Kathleen Styles, a former official with the U.S. Census Bureau. It also issued briefs on best practices for data security and privacy protections and established the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) within the National Center for Education Statistics. The center is intended to serve as a one-stop resource on privacy, confidentiality, and data security.
Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development
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