The Impact of the 2022 Elections

The Impact of the 2022 Elections on Congressional Education Committees

The 2022 elections flipped the U.S. House of Representatives from a Democratic to a Republican majority. This means the House Education and Labor Committee will have a new majority and a new Chair, likely Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina). This also means that there will be many new members on the Committee, as the ratio of members will change in favor of the Republicans.
 
Anticipating change, Chair Foxx has expressed interest in implementing a significant oversight plan to review U.S. Department of Education (USDE) actions. She also has indicated that working on a potential reauthorization of the Higher Education Act will be a priority.
                      
The elections also brought change to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which has oversight of accreditation. Democrats have maintained the majority in the Senate; however, the leadership of the Senate HELP Committee is unknown, as a caucus vote has not yet occurred.  Because Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) is retiring, there will be a new leader on the Republican side of the committee. There may also be new members of the HELP Committee, with some members leaving the committee for other Senate committees and new members being added to replace them.
 
The magnitude of change on both the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate HELP Committee means that the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has a significant task to educate new members on accreditation and its value to students and society. CHEA will begin meeting with new members of these committees, as well as with committee staff, as soon as the new Congress convenes in January 2023.
 

The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) recently issued two final rules with a significant impact on higher education.

On October 28, 2022, USDE published a rule addressing the use of Pell Grants for prison education, determining the amount of federal education assistance funds that institutions of higher education can receive (affecting the 90/10 rule), and new regulations governing change of ownership and change of control of institutions. Click here for a fact sheet on the new prison Pell Grant regulations, which will have a significant impact on the requirements both for accreditors of institutions offering these programs and on the institutions themselves.

On November 1, 2022, USDE published regulations covering a range of issues related to student loans and other higher education financial assistance. Click here for a fact sheet on the new provisions.

The new regulations will on into effect on July 1, 2023.