All rulemaking sessions at the Department of Education begin with Covid Pandmetic and the second Trump administration.
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If the government shuts down on Wednesday, it is unclear whether the Ministry of Education will be able to continue the week’s planned meeting of a number of regulatory changes.
The Advisory Rulemaking Committee began work on Monday and was initially scheduled to continue until Friday. But at the start of Monday’s meeting, department officials noted that if the government exhausts funds on October 1, the remaining meeting will be delayed and the plan will actually resume within two weeks. (This is consistent with the pending notices posted Federal Gazette In the morning. )
Deputy Assistant Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Andrade said that all of this changed again before Monday’s meeting ended. Jeffrey Andrade, deputy secretary of policy, planning and innovation, said the department is reconsidering its earlier statements and that the negotiations’ rule-making committee may be able to continue operating in person by the end of the week.
“It’s possible we can work hard to solve this problem,” Andrad said, adding that he just received his own possibilities.
Under its closure contingency plan, the department plans to take nearly 87% of its employees on leave. But officials are planning to get employees who are on the rulemaking process, as well as those who are committed to implementing a large Beauty Act of Congress, which was passed in July.
This rulemaking session focused on clarifying the details of the new graduate loan cap and a combined version of multiple existing income-driven repayment plans.
At this week’s meeting, several higher education experts said that new regulations will be finalized before they come into effect on July 1, 2026, before the CAP and repayment plans take effect, no matter what. One added that the government’s closure could bring the wrench into an already tight schedule.
“First, having such a tight schedule to complete the rules makes the department’s work even more challenging,” said Clare McCann, managing director of policy at the Center for Post-Education and Economics Research at the U.S. university.
One of the members of this week’s rulemaking committee talks with Internal Advanced ED In the condition of anonymity, while they are still uncertain about how they will perform the rest of the week, Andrad’s last-minute announcement gave them hope.
“I’m not sure what to do and will wait for a clearer answer in the morning,” the committee member said. “But I know the department is working to do as much work as possible.”
That is, if the meetings do end up moving online, it won’t be too ordinary for department staff. All meetings before the second Trump administration began have been held online since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
McCann noted that the real challenge may be having enough staff to facilitate the meeting, regardless of the way it is.
“Of course, the department will be able to keep some of these moves, but there is no doubt that they will also have some employees that are seen as unnecessary and are furloughed during the closure,” McCann said. “Many of the department need to set rules, so even if they are able to keep some of the core teams involved, any loss of personnel will be challenged.”
Under the contingency plan, student aid allocation will not be suspended and loan payments will remain due. However, the ministry will suspend civil rights investigations and stop grant activities, although current grantees will still be able to obtain granted funds by September 30.
