Daily Briefing

Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday, May 21. Rick Seltzer wrote today’s Briefing. Julia Piper compiled Transitions. Get in touch: dailybriefing@chronicle.com.

Financial-aid officers groan

When the U.S. Department of Education laid off half of its workers in March, Secretary Linda McMahon said the agency was committed to directing resources “to students, parents, and teachers.”

College applicants and financial-aid officers were notably absent from that list — notably, at least, in light of survey findings released today.

Financial-aid offices are reporting delays, breakdowns, and deteriorating communication from the Education Department, according to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Among the key results of a survey the association conducted this month, which drew responses from some 900 colleges:

• 60 percent of colleges fielded more inquiries from students about Education Department services in the last 30 days than is typical.
• 59 percent of colleges reported noticeable changes in the Federal Student Aid office’s responsiveness, or they experienced processing delays. That could mean longer wait times for phone support or slower replies to emailed questions — or no answers at all.
• 47 percent said their regional FSA office closed, leaving many with gaps in compliance and training.
• 47 percent described students getting confusing or incomplete information from the Education Department because of missing or delayed communication. That includes federal websites, emails, and call centers.
• 42 percent reported students running into issues with federal loan servicing, including delays, misinformation, and inquiries going unresolved.

Many financial-aid offices said they changed the way they work because of FSA’s layoffs. About a quarter reported shuffling responsibilities among employees. A quarter said they delayed some tasks. Smaller shares hired more help or turned to external contractors. Respondents who submitted open-ended comments often said employees are working longer hours.

It’s becoming harder for students to access and understand federal financial aid, according to NASFAA. Colleges say students are increasingly asking when they’ll receive their aid, and they’re wondering how delays might affect their access to programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

• Colleges often don’t know how to answer students’ questions.

The context: NASFAA hasn’t been shy in voicing reservations about a slimmed-down Education Department. “Claiming that eliminating half the department won’t affect its services — without any clear plan to redistribute the workload — is, at best, naïve and, at worst, deliberately misleading,” Beth Maglione, who was its interim president, said after March’s layoffs were announced.

“Students need accessible and consistent information about financial aid, and schools need clear guidance and support to effectively counsel their students,” Melanie Storey, NASFAA’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “The department must act quickly to remedy the situation before the damage to schools and students is beyond repair.”

The findings contrast with sunnier data from the Education Department. James Bergeron, deputy under secretary and acting chief operating officer for Federal Student Aid, said last month that 92 percent of users had reported satisfaction with the FAFSA and 85 percent of questions were being resolved by an improved virtual assistant.

“The Biden Administration completely botched the 2023-24 FAFSA rollout — students faced extreme delays, colleges and universities could not package aid offers on time, and more than 2 million calls were dropped,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday. “In President Trump’s first 100 days, the department has responsibly managed and streamlined key federal student aid features, including fixing identify verification and simplifying parent invitations, while ensuring the 2026-27 FAFSA form is on track. The department will continue to deliver meaningful and on time results for students, families, and administrators.”

The bigger picture: The Federal Student Aid office was sharply hit by March’s layoffs, raising concerns that the recently fixed Free Application for Federal Student Aid could run into new problems or the disbursement of student grants and loans could be interrupted. Today’s survey results could have been much worse. But they’re hardly encouraging.

Federal news

• Ed Dept. reworks discretionary grants: Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Tuesday proposed focusing grantmaking on “evidence-based literacy, expanding education choice, and returning education to the states.” The department contrasted those criteria against Biden-administration priorities, which, it said, emphasized DEI. Though some of the proposed changes focus on K-12, the department noted the “education choice” criteria could affect higher ed by prioritizing distance education, career preparation, apprenticeships, and work-based learning. (U.S. Department of Education)
• False Claims Act focused on DEI: The Department of Justice wants to use the anti-fraud law to pursue civil claims against federal funding recipients the Trump administration believes knowingly violated its interpretation of civil-rights laws. Potential cases include colleges that allegedly allow antisemitism, have trans athletes competing on women’s sports teams, and maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Officials encouraged whistleblowers to file their own lawsuits, pointing out they could receive a slice of any money the government recovers. The Trump administration is already using the False Claims Act to press Harvard University on its admissions practices. (U.S. Department of Justice, MassLive)
• Here come the DEI auditors: Virginia Commonwealth University is contracting with a law firm to evaluate whether it’s complying with federal efforts to eliminate DEI work. VCU has already made changes under its own internal review, but its provost said outside help is needed because federal guidance isn’t clear on which programs the government considers illegal. (VPM)
• Another day, another Harvard funding termination: The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday announced $60 million in federal grants being terminated over allegations that the institution didn’t stamp out antisemitism and racial discrimination. (Reuters)

🔎 For more on the Trump agenda: The Chronicle is tracking the latest efforts to reshape higher ed.

Cuts, cuts, cuts

• Uncertainty pushes Swarthmore to three-month budget: The private college’s board turned to the short-term interim budget “to avoid over-correcting” for potential federal changes that could suppress first-year international enrollment, cut its federal research funding, and raise the endowment tax. That means decisions on pay increases won’t come until the fall. (The Chronicle, Swarthmore College)
• Brace for layoffs at U. of Washington: Senior leaders wrote that “it is almost impossible to imagine a scenario in which layoffs will not be necessary” amid deep federal and state cuts, adding that they “will need to reimagine our approach to teaching, research, scholarship, patient care and community engagement.” The warning comes on the heels of a request earlier this month that all units trim core budgets for next year by 4.7 percent, on average. (University of Washington)
• Furloughs and salary cuts loom in Maryland: University System of Maryland regents gave institutions permission to temporarily reduce salaries and furlough employees in the face of a 7-percent state budget cut and lost federal funding. Institutions in the system have previously announced layoffs and hiring freezes. (The Baltimore Banner)
• Catholic U. cuts 7 percent of work force: The Washington, D.C., institution laid off 66 staff members on Monday as part of an effort to balance its operating budget, according to President Peter Kilpatrick. (Catholic University of America)

Quick hits

• Falwell settlement worth $15 million: Liberty University agreed to pay its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., $5.5 million, plus a $9.7-million retirement package, under a settlement announced last year. Falwell, meanwhile, agreed to send $440,000 to the university to settle undisclosed “disputed expenses.” Tax documents reveal those details about the settlement, which ended a slew of legal claims the university and Falwell filed against each other after Falwell stepped down amid a sex scandal. (USA Today)
• Mott offers presidency: Trustees for the community college in Michigan narrowly approved a contract offer to make its interim president, Shaunda Richardson-Snell, its full-time leader with a $255,000 base salary, $900 monthly car allowance, and potential $30,000 merit bonus. Last week the trustees delayed an offer to Richardson-Snell amid conflict-of-interest concerns and faculty calls for a national search. (WNEM, MLive)
• No Title IX findings against former Utah Tech president: University-commissioned investigators decided that Richard (Biff) Williams did not commit sexual harassment when he left a phallic arrangement of vegetables for an administrator and signed it as if it was from other employees. Williams, who is now president of Missouri State University, has since called his prank inappropriate. Utah Tech fought the release of records related to the investigation, even as it faces a lawsuit over the incident and other allegations of misconduct. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Two students dead in dorm: Two 22-year-old women died on Monday at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville in what a campus email described as a “targeted and isolated” incident. Officials gave few details despite reports of a shooting around 4 p.m. The university canceled final exams for the rest of the week, saying final grades would be handled case by case. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• CAIR decries Qur’an desecration online: The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned a series of posts made last week on a Reddit page for the University of California at Los Angeles that showed someone stepping on a Qur’an, Islam’s sacred text, ripping out pages, and flushing them down a toilet. A lawyer for the L.A. office called it “part of a broader pattern of unchecked Islamophobia” at UCLA. A university spokesperson said, “While we do not control what is posted on anonymous, third-party message boards, there is no place for discrimination of any kind in our community.” (CAIR, UCLA)

Transitions

• Gretchen Ritter, vice president for civic engagement and education at Syracuse University, has been named executive vice president and provost at the University of Minnesota.
• Carrie Castille, former senior vice chancellor at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and former director of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, has been named president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
• Matt Lee, vice president for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture at Louisiana State University, has been named interim president of the Louisiana State University system after William F. Tate IV steps down to become president of Rutgers University.
• Thomas DeChiaro, vice president and chief information officer at Drexel University, has been named interim chief information officer at Dartmouth College.

To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com. You can also find Transitions online here.

Footnote

Pour one out for the poor college dive bar. This institution is losing its sticking power around campuses, according to Mac Engel, a Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist who recently bemoaned the closure of The University Pub near Texas Christian University, and other watering holes like it.

“These dives may be staples of a college town, but they’re also typically old and sit on valuable real estate,” Engel wrote. “Real estate owned by landlords that fully recognize they can charge just a bit more.”

Some may celebrate this development as protecting students from excesses and distractions that pull them away from academics. They’re supposed to be studying, after all.

But I think back to Hungry Chuck’s near my own alma mater, which was displaced years ago by the construction of a new apartment building. Before my commencement, a still-popular Chuck’s sold shirts bearing the words “Four year’s wasted.” That misplaced apostrophe sparked intense conversation about possessives and plurals, proving the dive bar offers educational opportunities, of sorts.

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