{"id":18585,"date":"2024-03-01T17:18:08","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T00:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/?p=18585"},"modified":"2024-03-01T17:18:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T00:18:08","slug":"ed-review-03-01-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sehd.ucdenver.edu\/impact\/2024\/03\/01\/ed-review-03-01-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Review (03\/01\/24)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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PROGRESS: FAFSA IMPLEMENTATION<\/b><\/p>\n

This week, the Department announced a number of updates in support of\u00a02024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid<\/a>\u00a0(FAFSA\u00ae) implementation (press release<\/a>).<\/p>\n

First, the Department updated how it calculates the amount of aid students will receive, in order to be in full alignment with the\u00a0FAFSA Simplification Act<\/i>.\u00a0 The update will not affect the agency\u2019s timeline for delivering completed applications to schools, and, combined with other implementation efforts, a total of 7.3 million students are expected to be eligible for federal Pell Grants in the 2024-25 award year.\u00a0 Since the 2024-25 FAFSA form became available on December 30, 2023, more than 4.7 million forms have been successfully submitted.<\/p>\n

Second, the Department began to deploy support from the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office and non-profit organizations to lower-resourced institutions as part of the\u00a0FAFSA College Support Strategy<\/a>.\u00a0 Personnel will conduct needs-assessments and provide dedicated help to schools that are preparing for and processing student aid offer packages.\u00a0 The agency has received inquiries from over 100 colleges through FSA\u2019s concierge service and followed up to identify the specific needs for each.\u00a0 The agency has also started proactively reaching out to institutions with high Pell Grant enrollment, resource constraints, and other needs to offer support.<\/p>\n

Third, the Department is sending system-generated Institutional Student Information Records, or ISIRs, to schools and their vendors to process student records faster and more efficiently.\u00a0 This action builds on the test ISIRs shared with colleges in February.\u00a0 The agency will continue to update more test ISIRs and open-source tools stored in a public repository (see also\u00a0FSA Electronic Announcement<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Moreover, last week, the Department\u00a0shared<\/a>\u00a0that contributors without a Social Security number will be able to successfully submit FAFSA forms and outlined a process that allows students affected by this issue who need to meet state and institutional aid or scholarship deadlines to submit an incomplete FAFSA before the issue is fully resolved.<\/p>\n

The Department continues to provide updates and resources on its\u00a0Better FAFSA landing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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STUDENT LOAN RELIEF<\/b><\/p>\n

On February 21, the Biden Administration announced that it is automatically discharging more than $1.2 billion in loans for nearly 153,000 borrowers eligible for the shortened time to forgiveness benefit under the President\u2019s\u00a0Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan<\/a>\u00a0(press release<\/a>,\u00a0President\u2019s remarks<\/a>,\u00a0press call transcript<\/a>, and\u00a0White House fact sheet<\/a>).<\/p>\n

President Biden emailed borrowers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories (state-by-state data<\/a>), notifying them that they were approved for forgiveness and would not need to take any action to receive relief.<\/p>\n

For borrowers to be eligible for this forgiveness, they must be enrolled in the SAVE Plan, have been making at least 10 years of payments, and have originally taken out $12,000 or less for college.\u00a0 Under SAVE, for every $1,000 borrowed above $12,000, a borrower can receive forgiveness after an additional year of payments.\u00a0 All borrowers on the SAVE Plan receive forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, depending on whether they have loans for graduate school.\u00a0 The benefit is based on the original principal balance of federal student loans borrowed to attend school, not what a borrower currently owes or the amount of an individual loan.<\/p>\n

Borrowers who meet these criteria are strongly encouraged to immediately sign up for SAVE at\u00a0StudentAid.gov\/save<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With this action, the Administration has approved $138 billion in student loan debt relief for nearly 3.9 million hard-working Americans.<\/p>\n

There are now 7.5 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan, of whom 4.3 million have a $0 payment.\u00a0 The Department will implement the remaining benefits of SAVE in July 2024 — which will further reduce monthly payments from 10% of a borrower\u2019s discretionary income to 5% (see also the Council of Economic Advisers\u2019\u00a0issue brief on SAVE benefits<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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EARLY LEARNING RESOURCES<\/b><\/p>\n

On February 26, the Department released guidance for how states, school districts, and schools can use federal Title I funds to expand access to high-quality preschool for three- and four-year-olds in a range of settings, including schools, Head Start, and community-based organizations.\u00a0 This guidance aims to help more children experience early school success, and it encourages more schools to set up kindergarten to be a\u00a0sturdy bridge<\/a>\u00a0between the early years and the early grades.\u00a0 Secretary Cardona highlighted this guidance during a same-day visit to an\u00a0early childhood center in\u00a0Union City, New Jersey<\/a>\u00a0(photos<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Given the clear link between high-quality preschool and student achievement, the revised \u201cNon-Regulatory Guidance on Serving Preschool Children through Title I, Part A of the\u00a0Elementary and Secondary Education Act<\/i><\/a>\u201d will help states, districts, and schools leverage critical resources to expand access to preschool and enhance program quality.\u00a0 This guidance last was revised in 2012, prior to the most recent reauthorization of the ESEA in 2015.\u00a0 The release of this guidance also follows the President\u2019s Executive Order on \u201cIncreasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers<\/a>,\u201d which directed the agency to update its guidance on how schools could expand access to high-quality preschool.<\/p>\n

The Department of Education is coordinating efforts with the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure quality preschool is available through a variety of settings to meet the needs of all families (see\u00a0joint letter<\/a>), and the Secretary\u2019s\u00a0Dear Colleague Letter to Chief State School Officers<\/a>\u00a0provides more details about how states and communities can ensure opportunities for all young learners and lay the path for early school success (press release<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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CONCERNING CIVIL RIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n

The Department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released four new resources with information for students, families, and schools addressing the civil rights of students with disabilities and a data snapshot about education access for students with disabilities from OCR\u2019s 2020-21\u00a0Civil Rights Data Collection<\/a>\u00a0(CRDC) (press release<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The resources delve into common medical conditions that can be disabilities for purposes of Section 504, which prohibits discrimination against students with disabilities by institutions that accept federal funding, including\u00a0asthma<\/a>,\u00a0diabetes<\/a>,\u00a0food allergies<\/a>, and\u00a0gastroesophageal reflux disease<\/a>.\u00a0 These resources, applicable at all levels of education, explain when such medical conditions trigger protections, what kind of modifications an institution may need to take to avoid unlawful discrimination, and what an institution may need to do to remedy past discrimination.<\/p>\n

The CRDC\u00a0data snapshot<\/a>\u00a0profiles educational opportunities provided to public school students with disabilities during the 2020-21 school year.\u00a0 It reflects troubling differences in the experiences of students with disabilities compared to their non-disabled peers. \u00a0For example, higher percentages of students with disabilities were physically restrained or secluded than students without disabilities.\u00a0 Students with disabilities were also over-represented in disciplinary actions, when compared to their total student enrollment, while students with disabilities were under-represented in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, gifted and talented programs, and dual enrollment or dual credit programs.<\/p>\n

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STUDENT VOTER TOOLKIT<\/b><\/p>\n

The Department also released a \u201cToolkit for the Promotion of Voter Participation for Students<\/a>,\u201d offering resources for educational institutions to help them identify and implement actions to assist eligible students with voter registration and voting.\u00a0 The toolkit includes explanations of current legal requirements for schools, recommendations for non-partisan steps to expand voter participation across their student bodies, federal resources to support voters in their communities, and examples from the field with effective and promising strategies.\u00a0 It is responsive to President Biden\u2019s Executive Order on \u201cPromoting Access to Voting<\/a>,\u201d which called on federal agencies to consider ways to expand opportunities for Americans to register to vote and obtain information about — and participate in — the electoral process (press release<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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ODDS AND ENDS<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On February 29, Vice President Harris\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0critical steps to lower the cost of child care for over 100,000 working families.\u00a0 A\u00a0new rule<\/a>\u00a0will cap the cost of child care at no more than 7% of income for families enrolled in the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, saving families more than $200 per month, on average.\u00a0 The new rule also allows states to waive payments entirely for some families and helps pay child care providers faster and more fairly, which will help raise wages for child care workers (White House fact sheet<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Last week, Secretary Cardona visited the\u00a0Community College of Rhode Island<\/a>\u00a0to discuss the need for increased career pathways and career and technical education (CTE) programming and apprenticeships (photos<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Secretary also recorded a\u00a0