Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Shireman named Deputy Under Secretary of Education

Unfortunately this isn't good news for any of us, as we continue to fight to save the Perkins Loan Program. Shireman is a very "pro direct loan" guy who believes all loan programs should be consolidated into direct loans. I met last week with Senator Specter and Casey's staffs, they are both interested in doing what is right. We DO have a chance in this fight! Stay tuned!


John Lynch




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April 20, 2009

Shireman Is Named Deputy Under Secretary of Education

Washington — It’s official. Robert M. Shireman will stay on at the Education Department as deputy under secretary.

Mr. Shireman, president of the California-based Institute for College Access and Success, has been acting as a consultant to the department for several months. He has long been considered a favorite for a top higher-education post in the Obama administration, but initially he said he didn’t want to return to Washington.


It is unclear how the deputy-under-secretary post relates to the position of assistant secretary for postsecondary education. The department did not respond to calls seeking clarification by the end of the day. The assistant secretary is in charge of administering most of the department’s programs for colleges and students, and advises the secretary on policy.


As a consultant to the department, Mr. Shireman has served as Secretary Arne Duncan’s chief higher-education adviser and spokesman, helping shape President Obama’s positions on Pell Grants, student loans, and student-aid simplification.


Earlier in his career, Mr. Shireman served as an aide to Sen. Paul Simon, a Democrat of Illinois, and as a senior education-policy adviser in the Clinton administration. He was also a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, an independent panel that advises Congress.


In other appointment news from the Education Department, Massie Ritsch, the communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, has been named to oversee outreach to education associations, foundations, and think-tanks.


—Kelly Field


Thursday, April 16, 2009

President Obama's Plan to Modernize and Expand Perkins Loan Program

Below is an outline of President Obama's budget plan as it relates to Perkins Loans.

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Cited from COHEAO.


President Obama released an outline of his budget that includes mention of the Perkins Loan Program.

Under the proposal, loans would be originated and fully serviced by the Department of Education. According to the Department, they believe they “can collect loans more efficiently and effectively than many colleges.”

The new version of Perkins would continue to make loans to students at a 5 percent interest rate. Schools would have discretion with regard to student eligibility. Interest on these loans would accrue while students are in school. Other terms and conditions and loan maximums would be the same as the current unsubsidized Stafford Loan program.

The plan also includes a call to increase the amount of available Perkins funds from $1 billion to $6 billion, and expand the program to cover all 4,400 institutions of higher education, as opposed to the 1,800 that currently use the program. According to the Department, this will expand the scope of Perkins by making it available to nearly 2.7 million students, as opposed to the 500,000 who currently receive Perkins Loans.

In discussing the budget proposal with reporters and members of the higher education community, Administration officials have described the proposal as “reinventing Perkins,” and state the new program is a key element of the Administration’s plans to emphasize college “completion,” as opposed to “access.” The targeting of the program to the neediest students will also be loosened, but this program would be used as an incentive for schools to promote college affordability. The “hope and plan” of the Department is to use a formula to incent schools to provide need-based aid to students (i.e. schools would receive additional loan funds based on their success in “making college affordable” or promoting college success ).

Department officials said they plan to “work out the details” with Congress on the formula for funding this new iteration of the Perkins program. While they did not provide many specifics, the Department officials did say have they have concerns with the current formula due to proportional increases in the amount of available Perkins funds and an institution’s cost of attendance. According to the Department, “that’s the wrong incentive.”

As the Department has described this proposal as part of the Department’s emphasis on college completion, it could also mean some additional major changes to program’s terms and conditions. It must be emphasized that any changes to the law must be made by Congress, subject to approval by the President. We expect the Administration and Congress will work closely together, but it will be up to Congress to actually change the Higher Education Act.

Full details of President Obama’s Fiscal 2010 Budget are expected to be released sometime later this month.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Welcome to the ECSI Blog!

Welcome to the ECSI Blog! In our continued efforts to stay connected with and increase communication with our clients and partners, we have created this blog as a way to do just that. Here we will share nuggets of information and keep you informed on things that are happening here at ECSI, as well as in the industry.

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