CONGRESS

The House and Senate are not scheduled to conduct legislative business until after the November election with both chambers returning on November 12.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched the first phase of testing for the 2025-2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), called Beta 1. ED has provided several resources, including a revised Federal Student Aid Estimator for the Student Aid Index and Pell Grant eligibility, along with tools for creating a StudentAid.Gov account and a 2025-26 FAFSA prototype to help users prepare for the upcoming financial aid process.

Two major student loan grace periods have expired, one which lessened the consequences of missed or late payments and another that offered benefits to borrowers with defaulted Federal student loans, called Fresh Start.

President Biden signed an Executive Order instructing various Federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and ED, to create and release information within 110 days for K-12 schools and higher education institutions about active shooter drills conducted in schools.

The Federal Communications Commission and ED released a new resource guide on free and low-cost ways schools and libraries can increase their cybersecurity defenses.

ED appointed Denise Gonzales, a local school board member, and Jared Solomon, a Maryland state legislator, as new members of the National Assessment Governing Board and reappointed four current members.

COURTS

A Federal judge dismissed a 2023 lawsuit from Florida against ED, in which Florida argued that certain policies were preventing colleges from changing their accreditors.

A Federal judge in Georgia declined to stop the Biden Administration from implementing its student loan forgiveness regulations and transferred the ongoing case to a Federal court in Missouri. Subsequently, Eastern District of Missouri Judge Matthew Schelp replaced the Georgia Court’s temporary restraining order with a preliminary injunction halting implementation by the Biden Administration on these regulations.