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 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
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
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 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 May 19, 2023, the Department of Education (ED) published in the Federal Register proposed regulations concerning gainful employment (GE), threatening to cut off federal financial aid for approximately 1,800 career training...more
On April 6, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Department of Education addressed the treatment of transgender students in sports.
Specifically, in West Virginia, et al. v. B.P.J., by her next friend and mother,...more
On April 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education announced in a blog post that it will delay the Sept. 1, 2023, effective date of its Dear Colleague Letter on third-party servicers and institutions (DCL). The new effective...more
Federal Student Aid’s Office of Enforcement announced a “secret shoppers” program as one of many tools to evaluate a college or university’s recruitment, enrollment, financial aid and other practices. The secret shoppers...more
On March 2, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education announced it will hold individuals representing corporations or other legal entities, including a member of the board of directors or a chief executive officer, personally...more
On Feb. 15, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance that significantly expands the definition of “third-party servicer” to include services completed by many online program managers (OPMs) and entities...more
Historically, most independent schools have not been subject to Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 because they do not accept federal funds. As a result, many independent schools carefully evaluate whether to...more
On March 23, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced its intention to hold corporate owners, investors and controlling parties of private institutions of higher education directly liable for the school’s...more
An Income Share Agreement (ISA) is a contract in which a lender gives a student money for education, and in return, the student promises to pay the ISA-provider a fixed percentage of the student’s income for a set amount of...more