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Trump Begins Work to Boost Apprenticeships. President Trump announced new administrative actions as well as legislative proposals aimed at boosting apprenticeship programs and other worker training, The Wall Street Journal reports. In a speech at a community college in Wisconsin, Trump unveiled a White House push on apprenticeship programs and workforce development issues. He said ...
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FAFSA Data Breach. The U.S. Education Department announced that it has partially restored an online tool that automatically provides borrowers' income data when they repay their students loans through an income-driven repayment program. The IRS and Education Department suspended the tool in March. A grand jury indictment gave greater detail about why the Department of Education and...
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Budget Proposal Funds School Choice, Hits Aid to to Low- and Middle-Income Students. The White House released President Trump's budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, which cuts spending at the U.S. Department of Education and focuses on school choice. The budget would reduce the Department of Education's discretionary funding from $68.2 billion to $59 billion, 13% below the ...
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Senators Introduce Unit Record System Bill. U.S. Senators Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced legislation that would change how schools report data and overturn the federal ban on a unit record system. The College Transparency Act (H.R. 2434) would transition to the collection of data on the individual student...
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DeVos Visits HBCU, Trump Questions HBCU Funding. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited Bethune-Cookman University to deliver its commencement address. She was met with controversy as hundreds of graduating seniors booed and turned their backs on her, the NY Times reports. The Trump administration has had a rocky start with HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities)...
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Year-Round Pell Included in Spending Bill. Lawmakers reported that they had struck a deal to fund the government through the rest of fiscal year 2017 and it is expected that Congress will vote on that bill this week to avoid a government shutdown on Friday. The deal reached Sunday includes year-round Pell Grants, lawmakers have confirmed. Through year-round Pell Grants, students ca...
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DeVos Tours Florida Schools. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited Florida schools, including Florida International University. She addressed the concerns of many educators by saying she understands the concerns of undocumented students and the Trump administration is "not seeking to go and find them in schools." DeVos also told reporters there's a "possibility" that Florida...
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Lawmakers Push Back on Ed Dept, NIH Cuts in Budget Proposal. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that handles funding for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, pushed back against the Trump administration's call to cut nearly $18 billion in domestic programs in fiscal 2017, including $3 billion at the Education Department. B...
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Administration Rolls Back Regulations on Student Loan Defaults. The Trump administration reversed guidance from the Obama administration that forbade student loan debt collectors from charging high fees to defaulted borrowers. Loan guarantee agencies that collect on defaulted debt will now be permitted to charge borrowers who have defaulted on their federal student loans fees up to...
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Trump's Budget Proposal. President Donald Trump released his FY 2018 federal budget blueprint or "skinny budget." Trump's budget proposal would cut $9.2 billion, or almost 14%, from the Education Department's budget. The proposal would downsize or eliminate a number of grants, including for teacher training, afterschool programs, and aid to low-income and minority college students...