DC Shuttle …
Hearings & Markups of Interest
The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hybrid hearing on Second Class Workers: Assessing H2 Visa Programs Impact on Workers on Wednesday, July 20 at 10:15 a.m. in 2175 Rayburn and via Zoom.
U.S. Dept of Ed Awards Final $198 Million of American Rescue Plan Higher Education Funds to Support Students at Community Colleges, Rural and Minority-Serving Institutions. The Department of Education awarded the final $198 million in Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grants. These final grants will help students from 244 higher education institutions and the institutions themselves to address and recover from the impacts of the pandemic. Overall, “the American Rescue Plan, signed by President Biden in March 2021, provided almost $40 billion in relief funds to colleges and universities, directly helping thousands of students impacted by the pandemic,” according to the Education Department. Additional information can be found here.
Ed Dept Releases Proposed Regulations to Expand and Improve Targeted Relief Programs. The Department of Education released proposed regulations that would expand and improve the major student loan discharge programs authorized by the Higher Education Act. According to the department, “the regulations propose to alleviate student loan debt burdens for borrowers whose schools closed or lied to them, who are totally and permanently disabled, and for public service workers who have met their commitments under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona also stated that the department is “committed to fixing a broken system.” He went on to say that “these proposed regulations will protect borrowers and save them time, money and frustration, and will hold their colleges responsible for wrongdoing.” Additional information can be found here.
We publish the DC Shuttle each week Congress is in session featuring higher ed news from Washington collected by the New England Council, of which NEBHE is a member. This edition is drawn from the Higher Education Update in the Council’s Weekly Washington Report of July 18, 2022. For more information, please visit: www.newenglandcouncil.com.
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