ED Rescinds FWS Guidance Concerning Voting Registration Efforts
By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Managing Editor
The Department of Education (ED) has updated its interpretation of the allowable use for Federal Work-Study (FWS) funds and provided a reminder of the Higher Education Act’s (HEA) requirements concerning an institution's distribution of voter registration information.
ED’s updated interpretation has determined that past guidance, issued under the Biden administration, "inappropriately expanded” the usage of FWS.
According to the department’s guidance, “jobs involving partisan or nonpartisan voter registration, voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker — whether this takes place on or off campus — involve political activity because these activities support the process of voting which is a quintessential political activity whereby voters formally support partisan or nonpartisan political candidates by casting ballots.”
The updated guidance was provided in a dear colleague letter on Tuesday, which rescinded prior guidance concerning the usage of FWS to support voter registration activities as well as requirements for distributing voter registration forms.
“Federal Work Study is meant to provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to succeed in the workforce, not as a way to fund political activism on our college and university campuses,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement.
ED’s guidance also gives institutions more flexibility in their distribution of voter registration information by not requiring schools to solicit voter registration to students if the school knows they are ineligible to vote. The department is also encouraging schools to remind students of the eligibility criteria for voter registration under federal, state and municipal law.
Publication Date: 8/20/2025
Jennifer A | 8/20/2025 6:1:38 PM
It is also an institutions duty to instill a sense of civic engagement and to that end help them "gain real-world experience that prepares them to succeed in the workforce" that is being a poll worker!!!!! Voting is a civic duty and civil responsibility. Higher education should be helping to encourage young voters to turn out ...... oh, but wait, that would meant more people voting and young voters tend to be democrat, so that would hurt republicans. Sound like the Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent is preforming partisan activism.
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