The Labor Law Insider - Recent U.S. Supreme Court, NLRB Decisions Highlight Labor Issues in Higher Education, Part II
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (the “Act”), which recently became law, makes significant changes to federal financial aid programs administered under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (“HEA”). These changes...more
Earlier today, the Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote, to approve a revised version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (H.R. 1). This concluded a vote-a-rama that began the...more
A new lawsuit will test the legality of grant programs of the U.S. Department of Education for colleges and universities, charging that these programs unlawfully discriminate based on race or ethnicity....more
On Tuesday, June 10, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released the text of its budget reconciliation bill, accompanied by a section-by-section summary and a one-pager. This release follows the...more
On May 5, 2025, the Department of Education (ED) released a “Request for Institutions to Provide Repayment Information to Former Students to Prevent Defaults” (GEN-25-19). Noting that “only 38% of Direct Loan and...more
The Trump Administration’s effort to remake the Federal government’s relationship with Higher Ed and research grantees continues to gather steam, and an unprecedented recent letter to Harvard presages a potentially new front:...more
As a part of the new administration’s broader effort to add regulatory requirements and scrutiny to institutions of higher education, on April 23, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) on Transparency Regarding...more
On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to stop accrediting organizations from including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements as part of accreditation standards....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
In this alert, we discuss key provisions of the orders and actions implicating the higher education sector and the lawsuits challenging them (building on our previous analysi...). We have grouped these actions based on their...more
On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order called “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education” along with a fact sheet about the EO and six other EOs relating to education....more
On April 23, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at overhauling the federal system of accreditation for higher education institutions. ...more
The Trump Administration stated last week that it will prioritize compliance and enforcement against colleges and universities with respect to the U.S. Department of Education (ED)'s foreign gift, contract and ownership...more
On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order, “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education.” This Executive Order would require agencies that currently accredit colleges and universities to overhaul...more
Higher educational institutions have experienced outsized attention in the early days of the second Trump Administration. A trio of three recent executive orders suggests that the Administration’s focus on higher education is...more
On April 23, President Donald Trump issued an executive order revamping federal engagement with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). ...more
On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (the “Executive Order”) directing the Secretary of Education to investigate and hold accountable accreditors of institutions of higher education (“IHEs”) that...more
In light of recent enforcement activity, institutions of higher education should review their reporting and disclosure obligations related to foreign entities and individuals under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act (20...more
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has declined to sign a certification form issued by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), which asked all state education agencies to affirm compliance with federal...more
As the entire public and private sector adjust to the Trump Administration's attack on programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI"), colleges and universities are in a difficult position. Like federal...more
On February 18, 2025, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Biden administration’s income-driven repayment Plan was an overreach of authority. In doing so, it upheld a preliminary injunction on the Plan and sent...more
On February 14, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a new "Dear Colleague" letter to "clarify and reaffirm the nondiscrimination obligations of schools and other entities that receive federal financial assistance...more
The Stop Campus Hazing Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, now requires higher education institutions to collect hazing statistics to include in their 2026 Annual Security Report, among other new reporting and...more
In a recent policy shift, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) agreed in a court filing to end its plan to impose additional regulations on third-party service providers (TPSPs) contracting with colleges and universities....more
On April 17, 2024, the Biden administration published a proposed rule that would amend current regulations to allow for certain student loan debts to be waived, potentially providing relief to millions of student loan...more