On Aug. 7, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum entitled “Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education Admissions,” directing the Secretary of Education to “expand the scope of required Integrated...more
On July 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination, warning that many programs and initiatives labeled as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion...more
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), as passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, contains a provision that would modify the excise tax paid by certain private colleges and universities on net investment...more
On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Deputy Attorney General announced its new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which aims to use the False Claims Act (FCA) to investigate and pursue claims against entities...more
On May 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Dear Colleague Letter on Nondiscrimination Requirements for Medical Schools on the Basis of Race, Color, and National Origin pursuant to Students...more
On April 23, 2025, the White House issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to investigate and hold accountable accreditors of institutions of higher education that engage in unlawful discriminatory...more
On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities, aimed at reinforcing and expanding the enforcement of Section 117 of the Higher...more
On March 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague Letter addressed to the chief officers of state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs), reminding them that the Family...more
On February 20, 2025, during a speech to the Federal Bar Association’s annual qui tam conference, Michael Granston, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Commercial Litigation Branch at the U.S. Department of Justice...more
UPDATE No. 2 (Feb. 18, 2025): On Feb. 14, 2025, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) published an Electronic Announcement (GE-25-02) extending the deadline for evaluating Completers’ Lists and reporting data associated...more
As McGuireWoods shared on Jan. 22, 2025, the Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Executive Order (EO) takes aim at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at institutions of higher...more
In his first two weeks in office, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders affecting educational institutions. One order, signed Jan. 29, 2025, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” targets...more
On Jan. 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance through a Dear Colleague Letter that, if left in place by the new administration, could significantly expand Federal Student Aid program reviews, attorney...more
On Jan. 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum to all executive departments and agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, requiring a temporary pause of federal financial assistance by...more
The Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Executive Order (EO) issued on Jan. 22, 2025, takes aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs at institutions of higher education. (McGuireWoods’...more
On Dec. 23, 2024, President Biden signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA), amending the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). The SCHA requires recipients of federal...more
On Jan. 9, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky vacated the entire 2024 Title IX final rule in State of Tennessee v. Cardona, No. 2:24-00072 (Jan. 9, 2025). The Department of Education had issued...more
In the wake of the newly adopted Biden-era Title IX regulations, one question that continues to prompt debate among educational institutions and courts alike is whether employees can sue their employers under Title IX of the...more
The U.S. Department of Education announced it will formally rescind the 2023 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on Third-Party Servicers (GEN-23-03) by Nov. 18, 2024. As explained in our prior Feb. 21, 2023, and April 12, 2023,...more
On April 17, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau entered an order against BloomTech Inc., which does business as the Bloom Institute of Technology, and its CEO, Austen Allred, for mischaracterizing BloomTech’s...more
On April 17, 2024, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I Council unanimously adopted a proposal that allows NCAA member schools to provide assistance in supporting name, image and likeness (NIL) activities...more
On April 4, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its opinion in CCST v. U.S. Dept. of Education, reversing the order of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, and granting a...more
On March 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education published an electronic announcement delaying the reporting deadline for institutional data related to the Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency (FVT)...more
On March 27, 2024, in a long-awaited decision that carries major implications for 501(c)(3) organizations and independent schools, the Fourth Circuit held that an independent school’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status did not...more
Affirmative action admissions developments in the higher education sector continue, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to issue an emergency injunction pending appeal that would have prohibited the U.S. Military...more