CONGRESS

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act on a 357-70 vote.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce voted to favorably report H.R. 6951, the College Cost Reduction Act, to the full House on a 22-19 vote.

House Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the Roadmap to College Student Success.

ADMINISTRATION

The Biden Administration announced additional actions on artificial intelligence (AI) following President Biden’s Executive Order on AI.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) released updated proposals for the forthcoming session of its negotiated rulemaking effort on program integrity and institutional quality.

ED announced that it will hold a fourth negotiated rulemaking session on student loan debt. The session will be held on February 22 and 23 and focus primarily on loan forgiveness for borrowers experiencing hardship.

ED announced further delays in sending students’ Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) information to institutions of higher education and announced updates to the FAFSA’s student aid index calculations. An ED spokesperson stated that 3.3 million FAFSAs had been filed with the Department as of this week.

Navient announced that it will outsource its servicing of federally guaranteed loans to the Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (MOHELA).

EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans on providing clients a summary of the following event next week:

February 6: House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee Hearing on “Protecting Missing and Exploited Children.”

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

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