November 2,  2026

Leading the News this Week

Join our Upcoming Webinars!

Midterm Election Results: Impacts on Congress, the President, and Higher Education

Please join ACCT and our partners at Penn Hill Group on Tuesday, November 10, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM ET as they dive deep into the 2026 midterm elections and their potential impacts on the future of higher education. The election outcomes are set to shape government funding priorities, ACCT backed legislation, and other Congressional activity through the last half of President Trump's term. Click here to register.

Latest Action in Washington Live

Please join ACCT's government relations team this Friday, November 6, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM ET for our monthly update. You can expect to learn about the latest federal developments impacting community colleges, including the latest accreditation rule from the Trump administration and the political landscape post-midterms. Click here to register. 

Read on for more top federal news affecting community colleges.

News in Higher Education

Department of Justice Makes Arrests in "Ghost Students" Crackdown

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last Thursday that several individuals had been arrested and indicted as part of a national crackdown on "ghost students," or scammers who commit identity theft to apply for federal student aid and loans. From this, the DOJ has seized more than $750,000 in cryptocurrency. Besides engaging in identity theft, ghost students enroll in coursework at open-access institutions and use artificial intelligence (AI) to make it seem like they are participating in the course while they fraudulently collect financial aid.

New fraud detection tools had been added to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by the Department of Education (ED) earlier this year, and Congress is considering legislation to make these changes permanent as part of a targeted federal effort to curb FAFSA fraud. The recent arrests are considered the start of a continued effort to crack down on fraud, which investigators estimate could exceed $200 million in stolen funds. Read more here.

Department of Education Updates the College Scorecard

The Department of Education (ED) updated the College Scorecard tool to remove certain Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) designations and filters. The change comes after the Trump Administration reallocated funding from MSIs to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCU), deeming MSIs to be unconstitutional in September.

The College Scorecard is a free online tool designed to allow students to compare tuition costs, values, and career outcomes among colleges. Now, with the removal of these MSI filters, the filters available for students when searching for colleges based on racial and ethnic characteristics are HBCUs and TCCUs.

The new update also adds data on students’ average earnings at a given institution seven years after graduation; previously, the tool only included data on students’ average earnings 1 and 5 years after graduation.

Take Action on CCAMPIS

In this year's Child Care Access Means Parents In School (CCAMPIS) program, the Department of Education (ED) made 40 new awards out of an expected 148 initially planned awards in the FY26 competition. Moreover, Secretary McMahon announced there were nearly 300 applicants, of which 79 applicants earned a perfect score. This year, ED chose to front-load all four years of funding using FY26 funding, resulting in fewer awardees.

ACCT has developed an email template for contacting members of Congress to encourage support for the program. The message asks that the final bipartisan FY27 spending bill include language to continue funding down the FY26 competition slate, while saving some funding for a new FY27 competition.

As always, please coordinate any outreach with your college's leadership, and CC PublicPolicy@acct.org.

Financial Aid 101: A Guide for Community College Leaders (Second Edition)

This report provides an updated overview of the federal financial aid landscape and incorporates the changes to the federal financial aid program stemming from the passage of H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Financial Aid 101: A Guide for Community College Leaders (Second Edition) offers a practical and clear format to better inform community colleges and their students about federal financial aid, especially when they find themselves advocating for these programs to their lawmakers. Take a look at this report found on ACCT’s website. 

Snapshots

1. Higher Ed and the Midterms (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

2. Colleges Prepare for Credit Transfer Regulations (Inside Higher Ed)

3. DOJ Makes Arrests in FAFSA “Ghost Student” Scheme (Inside Higher Ed)

This Fall: Invite Your Members of Congress to Campus!

ACCT's Toolkit to Host Congressional Visits

During this year’s long congressional state work periods in September and October, congressional lawmakers return to their home states and districts to engage with their constituents and to pitch the many accomplishments they have made throughout the congressional session. Community college leaders have an optimal opportunity to establish, strengthen, or renew relationships with the lawmakers that represent their campuses and advocate for community college legislative priorities.

Take a look at ACCT’s new Toolkit on How to Host Your Member of Congress, which offers strategies to strengthen relationships with congressional lawmakers. On ACCT Now, read the blog, Community College Advocacy Continues All Year Round: Invite Your Member of Congress to Meet Back Home!

Remember -- you can use this time to:

• Invite your Member of Congress to visit your community college.
• Meet your Member of Congress at the congressional district office.
• Attend a congressional town hall, parade, BBQ, or other event that features your Member of Congress.
• Host a nonpartisan candidate forum, town hall, or tour with your Member of Congress or candidates seeking election for that congressional seat. If you invite a candidate that is not yet in office, you must invite all candidates for that seat and provide equal time, without endorsement.
• Invite your Member of Congress to speak at a program graduation or annual commencement.

Please contact the ACCT Government Relations team with information and pictures of your visit: publicpolicy@acct.org. We would like to uplift your member of Congress’s engagement with your community college to inspire others.

Grant Opportunities

Please view ACCT's new resource highlighting top competitive grant opportunities for community colleges. These below are the top highlights:

Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Small Research Grant (R03 Clinical Trial Optional)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are accepting proposals for small research grants on the ethical, legal, and social implications of human genetics and genomics. The NIH is seeking to fund small projects (i.e. those with a single investigator) which directly involve key stakeholders in single or mixed methods research. Funding can be used for the collection of preliminary data or the analysis of existing secondary data, and particular interest is paid to projects engaging in normative or conceptual analyses, including legal, economic, anthropological, philosophical, and/or historical analyses of existing or emerging issues in the field of human genomics. The award ceiling is $50,000 and the application deadline is Monday, November 16, 2026. Learn more and apply here. 

Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant Program 2026

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in collaboration with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is accepting proposals for its Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant Program. This grant aims to facilitate multi-state partnerships to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through competitively funded initiatives and projects. The grant is intended to address regional and/or national specialty crop issues, including, but not limited to: food safety, plant pests and disease, research, crops-specific projects addressing common issues, and marketing and promotion. USDA anticipates about 20 awards ranging from $250,000 to $1,000,000. Cost sharing is required, and applicants must demonstrate 25%. The application deadline is Friday, December 4, 2026. Learn more and apply here.

Landmarks of American History and Culture and Summer Institutes

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Lifelong Learning is accepting proposals for the Landmarks of American History and Culture and Summer Institutes grant programs. This grant provides institutions of higher education with funding to design and host residential professional development summer programs for faculty to develop their scholarship and teaching abilities in specific humanities subjects. Successful applicants will design and host the same program in the summers of 2028 and 2029, recruiting new participants each summer. NEH estimates 17 expected awards – proposed 1-week summer programs are eligible for up to $300,000 in funding; 2-week programs are eligible for up to $410,000 in funding; 3-week programs are eligible for up to $460,000 in funding. The deadline is Wednesday, December 9, 2026. Learn more and apply here.  

Collections Stewardship

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Collections & Infrastructure is currently accepting proposals for the Collections Stewardship, a program that aims to advance the preservation and availability of physical and digital collections crucial for research, education, and public engagement in the humanities. Projects may include conservations and preservation, digitization and description, enhancement of existing digital resources, and preservation services & education training. All public and private institutions of higher education are eligible to apply. NEH anticipates around 50 awards ranging from $50,000 to $500,000. Awards are available in three tiers: tier 1 consists of planning projects that range from $50,000 to $100,000; tier 2 consists of individual implementation projects ranging from $100,001 to $350,000; and tier 3 consists of implementation projects involving more than one organization ranging from $350,001 to $500,000. The application deadline is Tuesday, December 15, 2026. Learn more and apply here.

• November 4, 11:59 PM ET - NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs
• November 6, 1-2 PM ET -  ACCT LAW Live 
• November 10, 12:30-1:30 PM ET - Midterm Election Results: Impacts on Congress, the President, and Higher Education Webinar
• November 10, 2-3 PM ET -- FSA FVT/GE, STATS Webinar #2
• November 16 -- ELSI Small Research Grant
• December 4, 1-2 PM ET-  ACCT LAW Live
• December 4 - Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant Program
• December 9 -- Landmarks of American History and Culture and Summer Institutes
• December 15 - Collections Stewardship
• February 7-10, 2027 - National Legislative Summit

Outreach Efforts

Is your institution meeting or hosting an event with federal elected officials?

We created a Congressional Contact Form that will help us track outreach efforts of community college leaders across our membership. By filling out the form, you are better informing ACCT's advocacy efforts and our advocacy team is able to continue those conversations with congressional staff in DC. 

ACCT NOW is the go-to resource for issues affecting community colleges. Our new website features original reporting and research, as well as of-the-moment legislative updates. ACCT NOW also includes articles, reports, and research from outside sources that benefit the ACCT community. Read the Latest Articles on ACCT NOW:

Would you Like a Federal Update Session for Your Team?

Both this new presidential administration and new Congress have brought with them a flurry of developments in the federal landscape that can make keeping up a monumental task. ACCT's Government Relations team is here to help by offering a 45-minute to an-hour federal update session to community college leadership teams who are ACCT members. To request a session, fill out this form and please email publicpolicy@acct.org with any questions.

Have a Question?

Contact us with any questions or concerns about public policy and ACCT's advocacy on behalf of two-year colleges and two-year college trustees. ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts are sent to interested ACCT members to keep you up to date on important legislative activities that impact community colleges.

If you no longer wish to receive ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. For more information about ACCT's advocacy services, visit acct.org/advocacy

Spread the Word.

Please encourage your fellow trustees, presidents and colleagues to stay up to date about legislation that affects their community colleges by joining the Latest Action in Washington (LAW) Alert network. To join, simply register here. 

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