Last week, President Biden released his highly anticipated Infrastructure bill proposal. The $2 trillion “American Jobs Plan” aims to create millions of jobs while rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. It is expected to span eight years if enacted, and education and workforce development was a significant part of the proposal. To learn more about the proposal, read more in our full blog post. Elsewhere on the Hill was relatively quiet with both the House and Senate out of session, but there were several other Administration announcements. Here are some notes from last week:
- Agricultural Workforce Training Priority Released: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative announced an agriculture workforce training priority to help expand student’s access to agricultural jobs through the development of new workforce training programs or the expansion, improvement or renewal of existing workforce training programs at community, junior and technical colleges and institutes. An informational webinar about this priority will be held April 5, from 2-3 p.m. ET.
- President Biden Investigating Legality of Canceling $50,000 in Student Loan Debt: On Thursday, the Biden Administration requested that the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona prepare a report on the president’s legal authority to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt per borrower. This has been a hotly debated topic throughout the pandemic, and more details will be available in the coming weeks. Also under the student loan debt theme, Secretary Cardona joined a roundtable discussion with student loan borrowers and advocates to discuss the impact of student loan debt.
- Student with Disabilities Get Relief for Student Loans: The Department of Education announced actions to help students who have total or permanent disabilities who had their student loans discharged, but have faced reinstatement or other penalties for not submitting earnings documentation during the COVID-19 national emergency.
- Expanding Relief to Additional Federal Student Loans in Default: The Department of Education also announced an expansion of the pause on federal student loan interest and collections to all defaulted loans in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program aimed to help those who were burdened by debt during the pandemic. This expands the action taken by the Biden Administration that included pausing student loan interest, repayment, and collections activity through Sept. 30, 2021.
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