By Mike Bilfinger, Assistant Director, Public Policy, AACRAO
With the 2024 U.S. election results officially in, there is increased demand for attention on educational priorities. AACRAO’s Government Relations team is busier than ever, working on the following topics to stay up-to-date with the transition to the new administration and all it could mean for higher education.
The U.S. Department of Education
There is an assumption that President-Elect Trump wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Please know this is highly improbable. In the U.S. Senate, Republicans would likely need a supermajority, which would require at least six Democrats to agree to abolish the agency, something that isn’t politically tenable for those members. In the U.S. House, last year, 60 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting “no” to abolishing the Department, indicating a lack of political will, even among GOP members. Notwithstanding, the Department could be significantly impacted by proposed funding cuts.
Financial Value Transparency (FVT) and Gainful Employment (GE) Reporting Requirements
Another critical issue is the reporting requirements for Financial Value Transparency (FVT) and Gainful Employment (GE). The regulations call for institutions to report on 26 metrics as far back as eight years. The Department has already pushed back the reporting deadline from October 30, 2024 to January 15, 2025, but there is still concern among institutions about whether they will be able to report accurate data by the deadline, particularly as they continue to work through disruptions of the FAFSA rollout, time away from campus for winter break, and inconsistencies with the data they’re receiving from the Department.
AACRAO is working together with the entire higher education community to collect feedback regarding how the FVT/GE reporting deadline is impacting institutions. The American Council on Education (ACE) recently sent a survey to all higher education institutions to share this feedback with Congress and the Department of Education. Please consider sharing your institution’s experience by completing the ACE survey by Friday, December 6, 2024 at 5 p.m. EST. Participation should only take 10 - 15 minutes, and your responses will be confidential.
Beyond the FVT/GE survey, AACRAO will also be hosting a FVT/GE webinar on Wednesday, December 4, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. EST in connection with the Association of Institutional Research (AIR) and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), to provide an update on the FVT/GE reporting requirements. During the webinar, AACRAO’s Senior Director of Government Relations, William Gil, will be joined by the Executive Director of Title IV Compliance and Data Intake for NSC, Sean McTighe, as well as a representative from AIR, Carolyn Sloane Mata, Ph.D.
Government Relations Guest Episode and New Webinar Series
William Gil will join AACRAO’s H.E.A.R.D podcast as a guest for an episode focused on the U.S. election that will be released shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday. Sign up to receive alerts when new episodes are released.
AACRAO’s Government Relations team will host a Fireside Chat webinar, the first of a new series of quarterly webinars on Wednesday, December 18, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. EST. The first session will provide insight into the higher education public policy topics discussed in Washington, DC, within the new administration and what the election results could mean for the sector. Please come with questions, as there will be time at the end for Q&A.