These Are the Higher Ed Issues Biden Is Abandoning Before Leaving Office
Credit: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP / Getty Images- President Joe Biden has abandoned many of his proposals in the waning days of his presidency following pushback from some stakeholders.
- The administration withdrew a proposed rule change that would have prohibited states from banning transgender athletes from participating on teams that align with their gender identity.
- Biden also backtracked on a proposal intended to force strict restrictions on online clock-hour programs.
- Biden’s administration also dropped its two proposals for federal student loan debt relief, as well as a proposal to extend some TRIO programs to noncitizens.
When President Joe Biden exits the White House on Jan. 20, he’ll leave behind multiple proposals that would’ve impacted how colleges and universities operate and educate.
After pushback from public commenters, he withdrew one proposal that would have extended Title IX protections to transgender athletes. Another would have prevented online clock-hour programs from utilizing an asynchronous model. The administration also dropped a proposal for student debt relief.
Incoming President Donald Trump likely would have overturned many of these initiatives. By not issuing a final rule, the Department of Education (ED) avoids having to redo the lengthy process of amending the regulations yet again in the coming years.
As the Biden administration prepares to leave office, here’s a look at the higher education initiatives it leaves behind.
Proposed Regulations for Online Programs
Biden unveiled watered-down regulations that will impact nearly all online college programs.
ED finalized new rules that will require colleges and universities to report more information connecting students’ use of federal financial aid and the online programs they enrolled in. Institutions will have until July 2027 to begin reporting this information to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), which could clarify which programs create value for students.
What’s most notable, however, is what’s missing from ED’s final rule.
The department put forth a proposal in October that would have prevented online asynchronous trade school students from receiving federal financial aid.
ED ultimately abandoned that part of the rule after pushback from public comments.
“The department is not at this time moving forward with a proposal to disallow the offering of asynchronous clock-hour programs through distance education,” ED said in a statement.
“However, we remind institutions that asynchronous clock hours cannot be used for homework and that there must be robust verification of regular and substantive interaction with an instructor.”
The department also backtracked on other reporting requirements.
ED previously proposed that online programs regularly record student attendance throughout the semester to more accurately document when a student withdraws. However, institutional advocates stressed that this would place a heavy burden on faculty because most online modalities don’t have a built-in system for recording attendance.
This argument ultimately persuaded the department.
“We are persuaded by concerns about the need for continued development in these tools to make them consistently effective for this purpose,” ED said in its public notice.
“As such, we will not be finalizing this provision to provide more time to evaluate technological changes that can better track student engagement. The department will continue to monitor the state of this tracking and may revisit this issue at a later date.”
Title IX Protections for Transgender Athletes
Just one month before Trump is set to be sworn in for his second presidential term, the Biden administration withdrew a proposed rule change that would have extended Title IX protections to transgender athletes.
The administration released the proposed changes in April 2023, which would’ve outlawed colleges and universities from banning athletes from participating in sports inconsistent with their assigned gender at birth, with limited bans allowed for fairness in highly competitive environments or due to player safety concerns.
In the Federal Register notice announcing the withdrawal of the proposed rule, ED noted the more than 150,000 public comments ranging from general support to outright opposition.
It also said that it “recognizes that there are multiple pending lawsuits related to the application of Title IX in the context of gender identity, including lawsuits related to Title IX’s application to athletic eligibility criteria in a variety of factual contexts.”
As of July 2024, 25 states have laws that ban transgender students from participating in college sports aligned with their gender identity, according to the Movement Project.
However, an extremely small minority of U.S. college athletes are transgender. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Charlie Baker said in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes out of the over 500,000 athletes in the organization.
On Jan. 9, a federal judge ultimately struck down Biden’s Title IX rules nationwide.
TRIO Program Access for Undocumented Students
The Biden administration released a proposal March 5, 2024, that would’ve expanded college prep programs, called TRIO programs, to non-U.S. citizens, including undocumented students.
However, ED said it was swayed by arguments that the proposed change wouldn’t “ensure that the TRIO programs are able to reach all populations of disadvantaged students, irrespective of immigration status.” It also would have made noncitizen students eligible for some programs but not others.
“An expansion of student eligibility under only certain TRIO programs would create confusion, as many grantees administer grants under more than one TRIO program,” ED’s public notice said.
“Additionally, expanding student eligibility for only certain TRIO programs would increase administrative burden by requiring grantees to deny similarly situated noncitizens from participating under certain TRIO programs, but not others.”
Federal Student Loan Debt Relief
After years of legal battles attempting to cancel federal student loan debt, the Biden administration abandoned its proposal of debt relief for five categories of borrowers, including those experiencing financial hardship.
Biden’s proposal would’ve erased debt for borrowers with 25-year-old loans as well as debt balances exceeding the initial loan disbursed.
In its withdrawal notice, ED said it wants to instead focus on court-ordered settlements, helping borrowers who were unable to make payments, and those who needed more time to determine the right repayment plan.