Study Guide

Congressional Republicans are increasingly focused on ensuring that U.S. colleges and universities are properly disclosing gifts and contracts from foreign sources under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. §1011f (“Section 117”). The Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (the “Committee”) held a hearing on July 18, 2023 titled Exposing the Dangers of the Influence of Foreign Adversaries on College Campuses, which discussed the enforcement, and even potential expansion, of Section 117.

On Wednesday, December 22, the Biden-Harris administration announced its decision to provide federal student loan borrowers an additional 90 days of repayment relief.  This pause on federal student loan repayments is scheduled to last through the start of May 2022.  This is the third time the administration has extended the repayment moratorium since taking office in January 2021.

The Department of Education announced an overhaul to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program on Wednesday, October 6, 2021. These significant, but temporary, changes to the often criticized system are expected to help hundreds of thousands of public service workers with student loan debt—including teachers, nurses, first responders, nonprofit workers and government workers.

On Friday, August 6, the Department of Education announced its “final” extension of the federal student loan repayment moratorium, which was enacted via the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P. L. 116 – 136). While repayments, interests and collections were set to resume on Friday, October 1, 2021, the deadline has now been extended until Monday, January 31, 2022.