WEATHER ALERT
804,000 long-term borrowers are having their student loans forgiven before payments resume this fall
Read full article: 804,000 long-term borrowers are having their student loans forgiven before payments resume this fallStudent loan payments start up again for most borrowers in October, but more than 800,000 people who have been paying for years are having their loans forgiven.
New rule will cut federal money to college programs that leave grads with high debt, low pay
Read full article: New rule will cut federal money to college programs that leave grads with high debt, low payA new federal rule threatens to cut federal money to college programs that consistently leave graduates with low pay or unaffordable debt.
Federal government launches new website to help people save on their student loans
Read full article: Federal government launches new website to help people save on their student loansUnder the new plan, income and family size will determine the payments for current and future federal student loan borrowers with some payments dropping to zero dollars per month.
Senators call for stronger rules on off-the-books suspension
Read full article: Senators call for stronger rules on off-the-books suspensionDemocratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are urging the Education Department to strengthen regulations against excluding kids from class because of behaviors related to a disability — a practice known as informal removal.
How to get a student loan refund if you paid during pandemic
Read full article: How to get a student loan refund if you paid during pandemicWhen President Joe Biden announced a plan to forgive student loan debt, many borrowers who kept making payments during the pandemic wondered if they’d made the right choice.
Former Westwood College students get federal debt canceled
Read full article: Former Westwood College students get federal debt canceledThe Biden administration says it will cancel any federal student loans used to attend the for-profit Westwood College from 2002 through 2015 after officials found that the school exaggerated the job prospects of graduates.
Debt wiped for Corinthian students as bigger decisions loom
Read full article: Debt wiped for Corinthian students as bigger decisions loomPresident Joe Biden hasn't made a decision yet on how he'll handle the student loan debt issue, but his administration is trying to bring closure to one of the most notorious cases of fraud in American higher education.
Texas suburb rejected diversity lessons in schools. But a federal probe may demand them.
Read full article: Texas suburb rejected diversity lessons in schools. But a federal probe may demand them.After the Department of Education’s civil rights enforcement arm announced in November that it was investigating students’ allegations of discrimination and bullying at the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, conservative parents and politicians were outraged.
Black colleges' funding hopes dim amid federal budget battle
Read full article: Black colleges' funding hopes dim amid federal budget battleOfficials at historically Black colleges thought they might finally have a pipeline for long-term funding from the federal government after the Biden administration included at least $45 billion for them in its multitrillion dollar economic package.
Pause on student loan payments extended through January
Read full article: Pause on student loan payments extended through JanuaryThe Biden administration has announced that federal student loan payments will remain suspended through January 2022, extending a pause that was scheduled to expire next month.
Biden order could change how colleges handle sex misconduct
Read full article: Biden order could change how colleges handle sex misconductBiden also signed a second executive order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council, which his transition team had announced before he took office. Any effort to rewrite DeVos’ rules would have to go through a federal rulemaking process that can take years to complete. AdRepublicans slammed Biden’s move and defended DeVos’ rules. The scope of cases that colleges must address is also likely to be expanded again under the Biden administration, he said. Biden is starting the process even as DeVos' policy faces ongoing legal challenges.
NYC schools chancellor exits, citing virus' personal toll
Read full article: NYC schools chancellor exits, citing virus' personal tollNew York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza is shown this still image, from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's media availability, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, in New York. (New York City Office of the Mayor via AP)NEW YORK – New York City's Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced Friday he will step down, citing the coronavirus pandemic's personal toll on his family. Porter is set to take over March 15, ready to “hit the ground running and lead New York City schools to a full recovery,” she said. Some elementary school students returned to in-person schooling in December, but upper-grade classrooms have remained closed except for those serving some special-needs students. “From day one, Carranza challenged white supremacy in education and called out the inequity, bias and segregation in New York City schools.
Feds say US colleges 'massively' underreport foreign funding
Read full article: Feds say US colleges 'massively' underreport foreign fundingSince coming under federal scrutiny, the 12 schools disclosed a combined $6.5 billion in foreign funding that was previously unreported, the department said. Yale said it failed to submit foreign funding reports for the years 2014 to 2017 but later corrected the omission. It's not unusual for U.S. colleges to accept foreign funding for research projects or exchange programs, but federal reporting requirements have long been treated as an honor system. That began to change last year, however, after a bipartisan report in Congress raised alarms about colleges’ ties with China. In response to that finding, DeVos began ordering broader investigations into universities' foreign funding.
Democrats say White House blocking CDC head from testifying
Read full article: Democrats say White House blocking CDC head from testifyingDirector of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the Department of Education July 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON House Democrats are criticizing the White House for blocking the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from testifying at a public hearing on safely reopening the nation's schools. Democrats said they invited CDC officials, including director Robert Redfield, to testify at a hearing next Thursday but were rebuffed by the White House. A committee spokesperson said the panel asked for any CDC official to testify but was rejected. A White House spokesperson said Friday that Dr. Redfield has testified on Capitol Hill at least four times over the last three months.
CDC: No rewriting of guidelines for reopening schools
Read full article: CDC: No rewriting of guidelines for reopening schools(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON Despite President Donald Trump's sharp criticism, federal guidelines for reopening schools are not being revised, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Redfield commented a day after Trump complained the reopening guidelines were very tough and expensive and the CDC was asking schools to do very impractical things. Speaking of CDC officials, he tweeted, I will be meeting with them.!!!" On Wednesday, at a White House coronavirus task force briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said new CDC guidelines would be coming out next week. I want to make it very clear that what is not the intent of CDCs guidelines is to be used as a rationale to keep schools closed, he said. In his tweet on Wednesday, Trump did not clarify which of the CDC guidelines he opposed.