April 22, 2022
Short-Term Pell Grant Program Eligibility Information Request
Congress is currently working to reconcile the differences between two pieces of legislation that each have the goal of making the United States more competitive on the international stage in the areas of technology and scientific research. Top priorities include semiconductor chip manufacturing, cyber security, and medical research. The House version of this bill includes a provision to allow the Pell Grant to be used for short-term workforce training programs.
ACCT is seeking examples of short-term programs (150-600 clock hours) that would both be eligible for short-term Pell and prepare workers to be employed in fields related to the bill, such as high-tech manufacturing, cyber security, or laboratory research. If your institution has examples of programs that would meet such criteria or would be interested in establishing programs that would qualify, please fill out this form to let us know.
Community College Funding Priorities for the 2023 Fiscal Year
As Congressional Appropriators collect input from all members of Congress to draft proposed funding legislation, we encourage you to reach out to your elected officials and ask them to support community college funding priorities in the upcoming fiscal year 2023 (FY23) appropriations process. You can reach out to your U.S. Representative or Senators directly by using our action campaign here.
Department of Education Announces Actions to Correct Errors in Student Loan Programs
This week, the Department of Education (ED) announced plans to correct errors found in the administration of student loan programs that have led to borrowers missing out on eligible payments towards public service loan (PSLF) or income-drive repayment (IDR) forgiveness.
Specifically, ED plans to take action to rectify previous “forbearance steering” by loan servicers that prevented borrowers from making eligible payments towards forgiveness by making a one-time account adjustment to count certain long-term forbearances toward IDR and PSLF Forgiveness. The Department also plans to increase oversight on existing loan servicers to ensure the practice of forbearance steering is discontinued.
In addition to tackling issues stemming from “forbearance steering,” ED also plans to conduct a one-time revision of IDR payments to address past inaccuracies by counting any payments made regardless of payment plan and loan consolidation status towards IDR forgiveness tracking. Finally, the Federal Student Aid (FSA) department at ED will issue new guidance to student loan servicers to ensure accurate and uniform payment counting practices, and it will track payment counts in its own modernized data systems. In 2023, FSA will begin displaying IDR payment counts on StudentAid.gov so borrowers can view their progress after logging into their accounts.
Department of Education Publishes Guidance on Supporting Student Civic Engagement
This week, the Department of Education (ED, Department) released a Dear College Letter to colleges and universities highlighting opportunities and resources to promote civic engagement, including how Federal Work Study may be used to support certain nonpartisan community service activity related to the electoral process. The guidance also provides information and a reminder on institutions’ requirement to “make a good faith effort to distribute a mail voter registration form, requested and received from the State to each student enrolled in a degree or certificate program and physically in attendance at the institution, and to make such forms widely available to students at the institution.”
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