AAU Urges Lawmakers to Develop Bipartisan Recovery and Competitiveness Measures
AAU sent a letter to President Joe Biden and congressional leaders thanking them for pandemic relief measures and highlighting actions federal policymakers should pursue, in a bipartisan fashion, to bolster the government-university partnership, support our nation's recovery, and strengthen our global competitiveness. The letter urges lawmakers to: double the maximum Pell Grant award to $13,000; provide research recovery funding consistent with the bipartisan H.R. 869/S. 289, the “Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act;” invest in scientific research infrastructure; and ramp up research and STEM education investments, setting a path for sustained funding growth thereafter. “Reinvigorating the long-standing and successful government-university partnership is vital to our nation’s strength and resilience and our capacity to address challenges to our economy, climate, and security for decades to come,” the letter notes. ( Association of American Universities - Mar. 19, 2021)
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Higher Ed's Parachute
With the ink now dry on Congress’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, some colleges and universities have begun making plans for the money they’re slated to get. Many of those plans include covering budget shortfalls from last year or expected ones this year. The nation’s nonprofit institutions are set to get about $36 billion from the package. The text of the legislation stipulates that colleges and universities must spend at least half the money they receive on emergency aid to students. However, some institutions are considering allocating more than that to students. Institutions can’t say for sure how much they’ll be getting from the package, but the Education Department will likely take into account general head count as well as the number of students eligible for Pell Grants at each institution. ( Inside Higher Ed - Mar. 22, 2021)
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Former Senator Bill Nelson Nominated to Lead NASA
President Joe Biden has nominated his longtime colleague, former Senator Bill Nelson (D–FL), to lead NASA, the administration announced today. If confirmed, Nelson will be tasked with leading the country back to the Moon, while also developing an ambitious project to recover the rock samples drilled by the Perseverance rover on Mars. Nelson, 78, has a long history with the agency. As a senator, he was a lead author of the law that created NASA’s new Moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which yesterday saw the first successful test of its engines . . . . [H]is nomination disappointed some, who hoped for a more innovative—and potentially female—voice to lead the agency. ( Science Magazine - Mar. 19, 2021)
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NASA Climate Official Says Agency Has 'Renewed Emphasis' on Practical Science Applications
NASA is seeing a “renewed emphasis” on practical applications of science under the Biden administration, the agency’s acting senior climate advisor Gavin Schmidt said Friday. He added that when the agency needs to work on making its projections include real-world impacts. The climate advisor role was created in February, and its duties include providing recommendations for agency leadership on climate-related science, technology and infrastructure programs. The advisor will also advocate for NASA climate investments in the government at large. ( The Hill - Mar. 19, 2021)
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Obama NOAA Leader Joins Biden White House in Climate Role
Jane Lubchenco, who was the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during the Obama administration is joining the White House to help lead climate and science efforts. Lubchenco, who held the top role at the NOAA from 2009 to 2013, will take on the newly created position of deputy director for climate and environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). A statement from the White House said that she will bring an approach that connects climate and environment with health, economic recovery, equity and sustainability in an office that oversees major initiatives including the National Climate Assessment. ( The Hill - Mar. 19, 2021)
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AAU, Organizations Urge State Department, DHS to Help International Students Return to the United States
AAU yesterday joined ACE and 39 other higher education organizations on a letter to the State and Homeland Security Departments urging them to take action to allow international students to return to campuses in the United States for the fall semester. The letter suggests the departments: prioritize processing for student visas and work authorizations; allow consulates to waive the requirement for in-person interviews if consulates are unable to reopen this spring; relax current guidance that prohibits American colleges and universities from providing instruction to students in “comprehensively sanctioned countries;” and more. ( Association of American Universities - Mar. 19, 2021)
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Labor Department Announces 18-month Delay of High-Skilled Wage Rule
The Labor Department announced it would propose to delay its Jan. 14 high-skilled wage final rule. The proposed delay would push the effective date from May 14, 2021, to Nov. 14, 2022, and move the applicability date from July 1, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2023. The delay is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, March 22. The final rule would raise wage requirements for H-1B employees and make it more difficult for high-skilled foreign workers with degrees from U.S. colleges and universities to acquire H-1B visas. AAU has filed comments with, and sent letters to, DOL about the rule and joined an amicus brief to support a lawsuit brought by Purdue University, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and 14 other plaintiffs. ( Association of American Universities - Mar. 19, 2021)
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Student-visa Records Show Enrollments by Foreign Students Tumbled 18% In 2020
The pandemic and a flurry of immigration-related directives from the Trump administration devastated international-student enrollments at U.S. schools in 2020, and the full extent of their losses are even worse than schools estimated in the fall. The number of students here on F-1 and M-1 visas fell by 18% last year, to 1.25 million, according to a new tally by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which manages the Department of Homeland Security’s student-visa monitoring system. Visa records for newly enrolled students tumbled by 72%. U.S. consulates around the world paused nearly all routine visa processing last spring, meaning aspiring students weren’t able to schedule the required in-person interviews to be issued their visas. ( The Wall Street Journal - Mar. 19, 2021)
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FY 22 APPROPRIATIONS NEWS
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SAA Requests Generous Subcommittee Allocation to Support Federal Student Aid
The Student Aid Alliance[, of which AAU and Vanderbilt University are members,] sent a letter to House and Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee leaders thanking them for their continued bipartisan support of federal student aid programs and requesting a generous funding allocation from the subcommittee to support increased investments in federal student aid programs. Increased student aid funding, the letter says, would improve college affordability and enhance and expand successful programs. The letter also recommends that the Pell Grant maximum be doubled to $13,000, as it is “the single most important tool to enable low-income students to afford college.” ( Association of American Universities - Mar. 19, 2021)
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A DeVos System Allowed 12 Minutes to Decide Student Loan Forgiveness
Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made no secret of her disdain for a program intended to forgive the federal student loans of borrowers who were ripped off by schools that defrauded their students. She called it a “free money” giveaway, let hundreds of thousands of claims languish for years and slashed the amount of relief granted to some successful applicants to $0. In Ms. DeVos’s final year in office, her agency denied nearly 130,000 claims—far surpassing the 9,000 rejections in the prior five years —with a system that pressured workers to speed through applications in a matter of minutes, according to internal Education Department documents filed in federal court. The department aimed to process 5,000 applications a week, the documents show—a standard that required agency employees to adjudicate claims that could stretch to hundreds of pages in less than 12 minutes.( The New York Times - Mar. 19, 2021)
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