CONGRESS

The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to keep the Federal government funded until December 16.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its cost estimate for the Biden Administration’s plan for one-time Federal student loan forgiveness, predicting that the action will cost approximately $400 billion.

ADMINISTRATION

The Biden Administration released its National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health and a fact sheet on partnerships that the Administration will form in an attempt to address hunger and nutritional issues in the U.S. President Biden also offered remarks at this week’s meeting of the White House Conference on Hunger, Health and Nutrition.

Two lawsuits were filed against the Biden Administration regarding its plan for one-time Federal student loan forgiveness. The first lawsuit was filed on behalf of an individual borrower in the State of Indiana and the second lawsuit was filed by a group of six States: Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. After holding a hearing on the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction on the first suit, a Federal District Court judge declined to take such action, ruling that the plaintiff would not be irreparably harmed by the loan forgiveness action.

The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Federal Student Aid (FSA) office updated its frequently asked questions (FAQ) document on the Biden Administration’s loan forgiveness plan to include more information about borrowers’ ability to opt out of receiving the Administration’s one-time loan forgiveness action and the forgiveness action’s interaction with Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL).

ED announced their own estimate of the cost of the Administration’s plan for one-time Federal student loan forgiveness, predicting that it will cost approximately $30 billion per year or $305 billion over 10 years.

ED held a National Digital Equity Summit and discussed its “vision to advance digital equity for all learners.”

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Penn Hill Group provides a list of grant opportunities and summaries for select grants. Please visit our website for more information.