NASFAA, Higher Ed Organizations Raise Concerns Over ED’s General Administrative Regulations
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
NASFAA, along with dozens of higher education organizations, signed onto a letter last week raising concerns about the Department of Education’s (ED) proposed revisions to the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), which the organizations argue make “harmful changes” to how ED operates, competes, and funds its competitive and formula grants.
The letter, led by the American Council on Education (ACE), lists several areas of concern over ED’s proposed revisions to regulations governing the department’s grants. Earlier in August, ED published through the Federal Register revised provisions to EDGAR, which the organizations argued were built upon a recently proposed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rule by the Trump administration. Notably, the OMB proposed rule was delayed by Congress during the appropriations process.
Specifically, the organizations argued that as drafted, these revisions proposed by ED would codify a “range of harmful changes that would weaken selection criteria based on objective merit, create significant financial risks for institutions of higher education, diminish transparency in grantmaking, and create misalignment between grant selection criteria and the purposes of programs authorized and funded by Congress.”
Specifically, some areas of concern listed in the letter include:
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New suspension and termination authority and secretarial discretion in continuing multi-year awards. The organizations wrote that this would require final funding decisions on grants to be made by senior political appointees rather than the current merit review process.
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Competitive preference for lower indirect cost rates. The organizations wrote that this revision would create a new allowance for the Secretary to provide “competitive preference to applicants who propose to charge lower indirect costs than their negotiated rate.”
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Constitutional rights, freedom of inquiry, and federal statutes and regulations on nondiscrimination. The organizations wrote that this proposed change would require recipients of competitive grants and state-administered formula grants “to ensure that hiring, admissions, promotions, and compensation practices under the grant are based on merit and high standards, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or proxies thereof. The organizations stressed that this is beyond the scope of ED’s authority.
“Taken as a whole, the proposed changes would negatively impact the ability of our nation’s colleges and universities to support their students, advance their education and research missions, and support their broader communities,” the letter reads. “We urge the Department to respect congressional intent and pause any revisions to EDGAR, including those provisions aligned with OMB’s proposed rule.”
Publication Date: 10/2/2026
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