NACUBO On Your Side: May 24–June 13, 2022
6/13/2022
As things move quickly in Washington, DC, NACUBO is your constant advocate in action. NACUBO On Your Side covers important legislative and agency activity NACUBO staff are tracking, what we’re currently advocating for, and how you can take action with us.
Here are the issues we are tracking and advocating for this week.
On the Hill
Yellen Appears Before House and Senate Committees
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified before the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee about the Biden administration’s FY23 budget proposals and how the administration intends to address rising inflation and respond to other challenges. Yellen also was asked to reconcile differences between House and Senate retirement legislation, including the House-passed expansion of the IRS charitable rollover, which facilitates charitable giving by senior citizens.
Agency Action
ED to Forgive Remaining Debt for Corinthian Students
The Department of Education announced plans to forgive the remaining $5.8 billion in federal student loan debt owed by over 560,000 student borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges. The loan forgiveness builds on ED’s 2015 conclusion that Corinthian misrepresented itself to students by inflating employment prospects and lying about the transferability of credits.
ED Shares Next Steps in Changes to Federal Student Loan Servicing
Last month, the Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid posted the solicitation for its Unified Servicing and Data Solution (USDS), a long-term loan servicing solution. As the culmination of ED’s “Next Gen” initiative, the USDS will replace the legacy servicing contracts for Direct Loans and government-managed Federal Family Education Loans. ED expects to award contracts this winter and have USDS servicers begin their work in December 2023.
Advocacy
NACUBO Joins Legal Brief Asserting Non-Employee Nature of Student Athletes
NACUBO joined 12 other organizations in filing an amicus brief with the 3rd Circuit federal court of appeals in Philadelphia in Johnson v. the NCAA, regarding whether NCAA Division I student-athletes in all sports at private and semi-public institutions should be considered employees of their college or university. The brief states, “A ruling that student-athletes are employees of the colleges and universities they attend would radically alter intercollegiate athletics and undermine the many educational benefits intercollegiate athletics provide. Most dramatically, if colleges and universities are forced to pay their student-athletes, it is inevitable that many schools will simply eliminate athletics teams, with non-revenue sports teams the most likely to be on the chopping block. The result would be far fewer opportunities for students to experience the benefits of intercollegiate athletics.” The brief also points out that all three branches of the federal government have long understood that intercollegiate athletics belong firmly in the domain of education and do not give rise to an employment relationship.
