Welcome back to After the First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed’s federal policy reporter.
It’s Day 319 of the second Trump administration, and another round of negotiated rule making is upon us. I’m sure you can’t wait.
Since we last spoke, we’ve learned more about the Education Department’s plans to outsource several grant programs to other federal agencies—a move that concerns some tribal colleges. And Northwestern University cut a deal with the Trump administration to restore its federal funding. Among other provisions, Northwestern agreed to rescind a 2024 agreement with student protesters.
But let’s talk about the next round of rule making. The committee will discuss rules to expand the Pell Grant to short-term job training programs and to implement a new earnings test for all degree programs. Next week’s negotiations will only cover the Pell Grant expansion—commonly referred to as workforce Pell. I got my hands on the department’s proposal and will publish my reporting on Monday, so stay tuned.
The earnings test will be a significant issue for the committee during January’s meeting, because Congress didn’t give the department much wiggle room to adjust the test. Experts say discussions will revolve around the Biden-era gainful-employment rule, which requires for-profit and nondegree programs to pass debt and earnings tests to access federal student aid. Some observers worry the department could gut the regulation entirely.
Remember: the new earnings test, called Do No Harm, exempts undergraduate credentials. Advocates say scrapping gainful employment would leave students in those programs at risk. I have a lot more on the earnings test discussions in my story out today.
Fact-Check Corner: Even as the Trump administration gears up for another round of rule making, advocates for nursing schools are criticizing the previous round’s proposal to designate some degrees as professional and others as graduate. Under that plan, only 11 professional fields would be eligible for a $200,000 loan cap. Other graduate programs, including nursing, are subject to a $100,000 cap. Shortly before Thanksgiving, social posts and videos critical of the plan went viral, but not all the claims were accurate. I cross-checked the claims here.
In Other News: The prestigious Truman Scholarship is in the hot seat as House Republicans argue the program disproportionately benefits students who support progressive causes. At a hearing this week, Republican lawmakers suggested the $3 million program should be shut down. (Scholarship recipients receive $30,000 to put toward a “public service–related” graduate degree.)
Witnesses echoed conservatives’ criticism of higher education. “They’re lobbying, they’re working for lawmakers, they’re consulting, they’re working for very influential, liberal-leaning law firms,” Jennifer Kabbany, editor in chief of The College Fix, said of the scholarship recipients. “And so they’re having a big influence on our nation’s conversation and what legislation is brought forth. This isn’t just a $3 million scholarship—this is the direction of our country.”
Next week:
- I’ll be at the Education Department monitoring negotiated rule making. The committee meets Monday through Friday. You can find more details about how to watch here.
That’s it for Week 46. Thanks for reading! What else should we be covering? Let me know at jessica.blake@insidehighered.com.
As always, if news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be shopping for holiday gifts and enjoying the smell of a fresh Christmas tree in my apartment.
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