Jessica Blake

ED Opens Door to Student Loan Cap Negotiations The department made some progress toward its student loan overhaul in negotiated rule making, but big questions remain about borrower limitations and repayment plans.

I spent all of last week sitting in on the Dept of Ed's rulemaking session concerning student loans.

Long story short, some progress has been made on smaller details, but major questions remain on key issues.

Here's a more in-depth rundown of the week's debates for all my fellow policy nerds.

ED Digs Its Heels in Over Student Loan Caps As it currently stands, the proposal will designate only 10 degree programs as professional and eligible for the $200,000 loan cap. Higher ed experts hope the department will reconsider.

And here’s a check point story I wrote after the first two days of this week’s session.

Grad v. Professional Programs a Key Issue for ED Panel Professional programs get access to more federal dollars under a new law, raising the stakes for next week’s policy negotiation.

For context, here’s the primer I wrote coming into the week.

The shift comes after a series of lengthy caucuses Wednesday and a tense discussion before the public where many questions were raised over what grad programs qualify as professional.

This definition is critical as it determines which students will have access to the higher $200,000 loan cap.

It’s day 5 and your favorite neg reg reporter is back!

For much of the week, it seemed ED was pushing to wrap up the student loan meeting and reach consensus by Friday.

But that changed this morning when the dept announced that the rule making committee will return at the beginning of November.

ED Put Political Out-of-Office Reply on Staff Emails One legal group is preparing to challenge the Trump administration’s action in court, staffers say.

Trump is using employees’ automatic out-of-the-office messages to advance his political agenda without their consent.

“It’s just wild to see your name attached to a message that you had nothing to do with,” one staffer said. “It feels like a violation … you don’t have autonomy over your own words.”

ICYMI: I’ll be heading to the department soon for neg regs day 4, but in the meantime, let me catch you up on day 3.

Comments on this third version were limited, though mostly positive. But it will likely be rehashed in more detail tomorrow. It’s only day 3 so expect more changes.

It seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum from yesterday’s very narrow list of 10 programs. And some sources say it should include programs beyond just health care, like education and social work. But, remember it only lasts until 2027.

Little had changed in the language. But officials said this version clarified that in order to qualify as “designated” the university could use marketing materials that clearly said the program leads to a professional license. They reinforced that this had to be done prior to July 4, 2025.

So ED went back to the drawing table once again. At the end of the day, we wrapped up with a third proposal.

Some panelists worried allowing anything other than formal reports would open the flood gates and defeat the loan cap’s purpose of efficiency and lowering college cost. Others said it would leave out key high-demand health care programs with inescapably high costs that otherwise meet the criteria.

But the main question was what counts as designation? Is it limited to formal labels in government reports like IPEDS? (This was only possible for doctoral degrees like OT) Or could it include less formal descriptions in course catalogs or marketing materials for programs like social work?

The plan created an interim definition of professional that would last until June 30, 2027. It would allow any post-bacc program that met existing statutory standards, was designated as professional by the university prior to OBBBA and led to licensure to receive the higher $200,000 aggregate cap.

⛓️ Here’s your quick end of the day wrap up from @insidehighered.com re: student loan cap regulations.

Right after lunch, ED officials presented a new proposal that came from a long morning of negotiations behind closed doors. It was much appreciated but did not go without questions.

Tamy Abernathy, the dept’s negotiator came back from the caucus and said “there is a deal on the table, a compromise of sorts.”

But we (the public) still don’t know what that deal is. Abernathy quickly called a new caucus with the panelists that weren’t included in the first to give them a voice.

The committee members I heard from yesterday are advocating hardest for certain health care programs like occupational therapy, clinical psychology and masters in nursing to be added to the list.

The question today is will the Trump administration budge?

In summary, the dept drew a hard line, limiting the higher loan limit for professional programs to 10 degrees. But panelists were pushing back.

They held two caucuses and then proposed their own definition of who’s in and out at the end of the day. That’s likely what they talking about now with ED.

Here's a quick run down on where the conversation left off yesterday: www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Annnnd we're back! The government may be in shutdown but negotiated rulemaking over student loans is still going strong at ED.

So far today, most of the committee has been in private caucus, likely discussing what degrees will qualify for higher loan caps. We're now over the original 30 min slot.

I should let you write my posts 😂

Stay tuned for more updates!

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Government Shutdown Could Delay ED Rule Making Higher education experts and committee members say the plan remains uncertain, adding that a delay could complicate the department’s plans.

Here’s a few stories @insidehighered.com has already published about the issues on the floor:

I’m on the ground at ED for today’s meeting on new student loan regs. Here’s what’s happened so far:

The dept. said it will continue this week’s session even if the gov shuts down.

Officials have also drawn a hard line on the definition of professional, outlining an exhaustive list of 10 programs.

Update to this from @jessicablake.bsky.social: neg reg will continue in person despite the shutdown.

Trump Administration Withholds Millions for TRIO Programs Nonprofits that advocate for first-gen students say that without the federally funded programs, college could become unattainable for hundreds of thousands of students.

Despite saying it would fund TRIO for 2025, ED has not paid about $660 million worth of aid for more than 2,000 programs, advocacy groups say. Those include Veterans Upward Bound, Educational Opportunity Centers & Talent Search @jessicablake.bsky.social reports www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Trump Administration Withholds Millions for TRIO Programs Nonprofits that advocate for first-gen students say that without the federally funded programs, college could become unattainable for hundreds of thousands of students.

New from @jessicablake.bsky.social: more than 2,000 TRIO programs didn’t get their funding Sept. 1 as expected. Lawmakers are demanding ED release the funds and warning the freeze could lead to “irreparable damage.”

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Conservative Campus Group Founder Charlie Kirk Shot at UVU A university spokesperson says Kirk was shot during an event held by his group, Turning Point USA. He’s in surgery.

Conservative Campus Group Founder Charlie Kirk Shot at Utah Valley University

A university spokesperson says Kirk was shot during an event held by his group, Turning Point USA. He’s in surgery.

www.insidehighered.com/news/student...