New Items

Another reprieve for gainful employment, financial value transparency reporting deadline

Higher Ed Dive

Natalie Schwartz

February 21, 2025

The U.S. Department of Education is giving institutions until Sept. 30 to send in data and correct information they’ve already submitted.

Dive Brief:

The U.S. Department of Education is extending the reporting deadline for the gainful employment and financial value transparency regulations to Sept. 30, according to an agency announcement last week.

The seven-month extension aims to give college officials more time to submit the required information and to allow institutions that have already sent in their data to make corrections.

The Education Department has pushed back the reporting deadline several times amid concerns that colleges didn’t have enough time or guidance to provide the data required under the new regulations. This extension, the first one under the Trump administration, will be the last, the announcement said.

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Amid Federal Upheaval, a Pell Shortfall Looms

Inside Higher Ed

Liam Knox

February 24, 2025

The Pell Grant is facing a projected $2.7 billion budget shortfall, its first in over a decade. With the Education Department in turmoil and Trump slashing spending, access advocates worry cuts may be unavoidable.

Amid all the chaos and upheaval for federal higher education policy, the Pell Grant program is running out of money.

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a $2.7 billion budget shortfall for the program next fiscal year, its first shortfall in over a decade. By fiscal year 2026–27, the CBO projects that the program will be short $10 billion unless Congress puts more money toward the grants.

The Pell Grant provides need-based federal financial aid for more than 30 percent of American college students. College access advocates have worried for years about the program’s financial health and warn that without a funding increase, low-income students will lose essential funding that already fails to keep up with rising tuition costs and inflation.

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Education Dept. Lifts Pause on Some Civil Rights Investigations

Inside Higher Ed

Jessica Blake

February 24, 2025

After pausing most civil rights investigations, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is resuming some inquiries, but only those related to disability-based discrimination, according to a memo obtained by ProPublica.

Those involving race or gender will remain on hold, the nonprofit news organization reported.

The investigation freeze, which had been in place for a month, forbade OCR staffers from pursuing discrimination complaints that had been submitted by thousands of students at schools and colleges across the country. In fiscal year 2024, the office received 22,687 complaints—37 percent of which alleged discrimination based on disability.

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Court declines to block DOGE from accessing Education Department data

Higher Ed Dive

Natalie Schwartz

February 18, 2025

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, said the student group failed to show it faced “irreparable harm” without emergency relief.

Dive Brief:

A federal judge declined Monday to block staffers from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data at the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of California Student Association requested a temporary restraining order, arguing in its lawsuit that DOGE staffers’ access to student data represented an “enormous and unprecedented” privacy intrusion.
However, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that the student group failed to show it would likely face “irreparable harm” without emergency relief. Moss did not rule on whether the group has standing to sue or whether it has stated claims that could warrant relief in the future.

Dive Insight:

The University of California Student Association sued the Education Department in early February, arguing that the agency was violating federal privacy laws and regulations by allowing DOGE to access sensitive student data.

CONTINUE READING

New Items

Natalie Schwartz

February 21, 2025

The U.S. Department of Education is giving institutions until Sept. 30 to send in data and correct information they’ve already submitted.

Dive Brief:

The U.S. Department of Education is extending the reporting deadline for the gainful employment and financial value transparency regulations to Sept. 30, according to an agency announcement last week.

The seven-month extension aims to give college officials more time to submit the required information and to allow institutions that have already sent in their data to make corrections.

Liam Knox

February 24, 2025

The Pell Grant is facing a projected $2.7 billion budget shortfall, its first in over a decade. With the Education Department in turmoil and Trump slashing spending, access advocates worry cuts may be unavoidable.

Amid all the chaos and upheaval for federal higher education policy, the Pell Grant program is running out of money.

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a $2.7 billion budget shortfall for the program next fiscal year, its first shortfall in over a decade. By fiscal year 2026–27, the CBO projects that the program will be short $10 billion unless Congress puts more money toward the grants.

Jessica Blake

February 24, 2025

After pausing most civil rights investigations, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is resuming some inquiries, but only those related to disability-based discrimination, according to a memo obtained by ProPublica.

Those involving race or gender will remain on hold, the nonprofit news organization reported.

Natalie Schwartz

February 18, 2025

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, said the student group failed to show it faced “irreparable harm” without emergency relief.

Dive Brief:

A federal judge declined Monday to block staffers from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data at the U.S. Department of Education.

The University of California Student Association requested a temporary restraining order, arguing in its lawsuit that DOGE staffers’ access to student data represented an “enormous and unprecedented” privacy intrusion.

However, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that the student group failed to show it would likely face “irreparable harm” without emergency relief. Moss did not rule on whether the group has standing to sue or whether it has stated claims that could warrant relief in the future.

Dive Insight:

The University of California Student Association sued the Education Department in early February, arguing that the agency was violating federal privacy laws and regulations by allowing DOGE to access sensitive student data.