Overview - On March 11, 2025, the Department of Education (ED or the Department) effectively fired a substantial portion of its employees, marking a significant step in what Secretary Linda McMahon has called the...more
Welcome to the sixth issue of The Academic Advisor – our e-newsletter focused on education law insights. For this mid-summer edition, we take a deeper look at the newest developments regarding the 2024 amendments to...more
On January 2, 2024, the Department of Education (DOE) released six issue papers that contain a range of proposals to ensure institutions of higher education and federal student aid programs best serve students. The issue...more
U.S. Department of Education Takes Action Against Five Schools for Disbursing Federal Student Aid to Students Enrolled in Unaccredited Programs - “The settlement agreements include the payment of liabilities for all five...more
Our Education Team studies how a change to the 90/10 Rule will affect how for-profit institutions will count federal funding in the 90/10 calculation. The Moran–Carper Amendment to the American Rescue Plan significantly...more
On March 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published Electronic Announcement GENERAL-23-11 (EA) notifying institutions that participate in the Title IV federal student aid programs (Title IV) that it is...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
With only four months left before most changes to the federal Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (“Safeguards Rule”) – a component of the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (“GLBA”) that provides for the protection of...more
The Department of Education announced two initiatives that expand oversight of third-party providers to institutions of higher education that participate in federal financial aid programs. On February 15, ED announced...more
In a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Department of Education (ED) Analyst Brian Schelling, a coalition of AGs from twenty states and the District of Columbia submitted comments on ED’s proposed rulemaking...more
On July 19, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) issued three new guidance documents pertaining to institutions adding or changing an institutional accreditor. This new guidance was announced by Department...more
Like most industries today, Consumer Finance Services businesses are being significantly impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Troutman Pepper has developed a dedicated COVID-19 Resource Center to guide clients...more
For proprietary institutions subject to the 90/10 rule, President Joe Biden’s signing of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on March 11 reflects a major change in this revenue test that provides for-profit institutions and...more
On March 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) issued new guidance to institutions of higher education (IHEs) regarding the use of funds received pursuant to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund...more
At the end of last week, the Department of Education announced that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has directed Federal Student Aid (FSA) to extend until December 31, 2020 the relief that was provided to federal student loan...more
The CDC, American College Health Association, and Department of Education have all issued recent guidance regarding the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Concurrently, colleges across the country have taken steps to move classes online...more
Last week, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) requesting information about how OCR “plans to address alarming racial...more
Income share agreements (ISAs) continue to draw interest from schools, policymakers, and other stakeholders searching for solutions to the issue of rising student debt. Last summer, we published a primer outlining some of the...more
My colleagues and I have the privilege of advising numerous clients on income share agreements (ISAs), including universities, service providers, and institutional investors. So we were excited by reports that the U.S....more
The US Department of Education today issued the unofficial version of its final state authorization regulations that includes new rules governing accreditation and recognition of state authorizing agencies. The final rule...more
Putting an end to a crisis that jeopardized access to Title IV to 80,000 California students, on Friday, Acting Under Secretary of Education Diane Auer-Jones wrote to the head of the California Department of Consumer Affairs...more
As widely reported in the news and as discussed in our recent webinar, on 22 July 2019 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) notified institutions that, as a result of the U.S. District Court ruling in NEA v. DeVos, ED's 2016...more
On Monday, July 22, 2019, the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that the Distance Education Rules that were originally scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2018, and were then...more
The Department of Education issued guidance yesterday that ED’s regulations prohibit California residents enrolled in distance education programs at out-of-state public and nonprofit institutions from receiving federal...more
• Recently released guidance from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) confirms that both private and public institutions of higher education must report litigation, settlements and other...more