MSCHE Provides Comments on USDE Negotiated Rulemaking Committees
On August 28, 2025, Heather F. Perfetti, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) President, provided written comments on the United States Department of Education (USDE) intent to establish negotiated rulemaking committees published in the Federal Register via Docket ID ED-2025-OPE-0151-0001.
The letter stated:
As a student-centered accreditor, we support any regulations that ensure efficient processes for all student loans and the allocation of title IV funds, as well as streamlined pathways for workforce development programs that lead to post-secondary degrees. Our institutions always benefit from clarity in these processes as do we. As a title IV gatekeeper, we are required to ensure that institutions meet all legal and regulatory requirements, and we assist the triad in ensuring that. However, we also advocate for our institutions to meet any requirements without administrative or financial burdens so onerous that they too significantly impact the ability to operate or fail to serve the students that all of us are here to support.
Given the anticipated regulatory proposals related to student loans that will substantially impact financial aid and the anticipated regulatory proposals related to Workforce Pell grants and programs that will substantially impact community college administration, it is essential that the negotiated rulemaking committees include meaningful representation by financial aid and community college administrators and professionals. The full extent of the potential changes and the clarity necessary with such changes need to be fully considered by those who hold expertise in the implementation.
Categories: Advocacy