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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's assistant vice president for government relations, to dive into their predictions concerning higher education’s political landscape for 2022. The group covers Build Back Better’s pathway, congressional dynamics on spending bills, the pandemic’s continued impact on higher education, the potential wind-down of the federal student loan moratorium, and more. Hugh also provides an update on congressional Republicans’ efforts to question the Department of Education on its usage of temporary waivers for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a recap of NASFAA’s article detailing financial aid staffing shortages, as well as a quick resource update on next week’s negotiated rulemaking session. 

Navient — a private student loan company and former federally-contracted servicer for the Department of Education (ED) — reached a settlement Thursday with a group of state attorneys generals to resolve a longstanding lawsuit over allegations that the company engaged in predatory lending practices and “abusive” student loan servicing practices.

After a rough estimate of 4,500 minutes — or 75 hours — of work, Daniel Barkowitz and Alyssa Dobson, who respectively served as the primary and alternate representative of financial aid administrators during the Department of Education’s (ED) most recent negotiated rulemaking session, tacked on some additional virtual time to reflect on their experience participating in the regulatory process.

With the pause on federally-held student loan payments stretching beyond two years with the latest — and thought to be last — extension, top Republicans on the House and Senate education committees are again asking the Department of Education (ED) to disclose documents detailing the budget projections for the federal student loan portfolio.

The NASFAA office will be closed on Monday, January 17 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day federal holiday. NASFAA's Today's News will not be sent, and membership and technical support — as well as response to AskRegs inquiries — will resume when the office reopens on Tuesday, January 18.

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