Duane Morris attorney Jonathan Helwink authored the Inside Higher Ed article “Future of Borrower Defense May Look Different” about how new borrower defense to repayment regulations may bring increased compliance risks to colleges of all types.
Read the full article on the Insider Higher Ed website.
Institutions of higher education (IHEs) and companies providing services to IHEs (including so-called online program managers or OPMs) should take careful note of two announcements by the U.S. Department of Education that could significantly impact the institution/service provider relationship and the Department’s oversight of that relationship.
First, and most immediately effective, the Department has revised its subregulatory guidance regarding the activities that make an entity providing services to an IHE a “Third Party Servicer” (TPS) for Title IV purposes. In a significant expansion over prior guidance, an OPM providing services to an IHE related to student recruiting and retention, providing software products and services involving Title IV administration activities, or providing educational content and instruction are now defined as a TPS. Being defined as a TPS comes with significant increased risk and compliance obligations by the third party and the institution. There is an open public comment period on this change through March 17, 2023.
Read the full text of this Alert on the Duane Morris website.
Important Update: On February 28, 2023, the Department published an update to Dear Colleague Letter 23-03 that makes clear the guidance does not become effective until September 1, 2023. The reporting deadline for institutions and third-party servicers to report to the Department is also extended until September 1, 2023. Further, the Department extended the comment period through March 30, 2023.
A video replay of the webinar “What Does It All Mean? The U.S. Department of Education’s Regulatory Reach Over Service Providers for Institutions of Higher Education” is available to view.
A video replay is now available for the webinar “What the Midterm Election Results Mean for Higher Education,” recently presented by Duane Morris’ Education Team.
For more information, please visit the event page.
On August 12, the Supreme Court of the United States denied eight students’ request to block Indiana University’s requirement that students be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected the request without comment, without seeking a response from the state and without referring the request to the full court for a vote. Justice Barrett’s denial indicates the court’s belief that the students’ challenge was not a particularly close case.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
A webinar replay of “Everything Schools Need to Know About Protecting Records in the Cloud and Negotiating Technology Agreements” is now available.
Duane Morris’ Education Industry Group has been ranked in The Legal 500 US 2021 guide.
An excerpt from the publication:
Duane Morris LLP’s education practice brings together a multidisciplinary team skilled across litigation, real estate, and employment law, and has a very strong reputation, “rooted in understanding the needs of in-house counsel.”
Testimonials
For more information, please visit the firm website.
Duane Morris is hosting the webinar, “Everything Schools Need to Know About Protecting Records in the Cloud and Negotiating Technology Agreements,” on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.
For more information and to register, please visit the event website.
We have entered a new phase in the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
We no longer wake up every day to increasing numbers of deaths, infections, and reminders about social distancing and vaccine shortages. Instead, we now read about record low numbers of infections, limited fatalities, and a domestic surplus of vaccine so large that we are now vaccinating children as young as 12 and may be exporting it by June.
And, just last week, the CDC dispensed with mask guidance for vaccinated people. This prompted President Biden to host his first “maskless” appearance of his presidency. For college leaders planning the summer and fall semesters, it’s a 180-degree turnaround that we were afraid to hope for just last year.
Yet here we are. The question now vexing colleges is how to safely reopen on-ground learning with a pandemic in retreat. It’s a nice problem to have, but it still has to be solved.
To read the full text of this article by Duane Morris partner Edward M. Cramp, please visit the University Business website.
A replay of the webinar, “Reviewing the Third Round of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF III),” is now available.
About the Program
On January 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education published information regarding the process, timing and allocation levels for the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF II funds) contained in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Subsequently, the Department published guidance documents on February 25, March 19 and March 22. In addition, on March 10, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), providing yet another round of direct grant funding (HEERF III funds).
