Junk Fees to be Scrapped

Everyone – students, families, Democrats, Republicans, Representatives, Senators, the President, even universities and colleges themselves – agree that higher education is too expensive.  Both the legislative and executive branches have pledged to implement policies that lower those costs.  Last Thursday, theBiden-Harris Administration announced their plans to help in this area with strategies to “crack down on junk fees.”  These junk fees include non-refunded meal account funds, bank fees associated with using a college-sponsored credit card or banking account, automatic charges for textbooks and supplies included in tuition, and finance charges for taking out a student loan. 

 Colleges and universities often partner with banks for disbursement of financial aid through credit or debit cards.  Unfortunately, many of these bank cards include excessive and/or hidden fees that can cost students significantly.  Problems with these fees have recently been reported to Congress by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and were reported by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as far back as 2014. 

Another, often hidden, fee students and parents incur is the loan origination fee.  This administrative fee can be from 1 to 4 percent of the amount of the loan and is frequently added to the loan amount and, therefore, continuously incurs interest throughout the life of the loan.  According to the Biden-Harris Administration “These fees are a relic of an era when the government compensated private lenders to issue these loans.  Today, this fee is nothing more than a tax imposed on students by the government, costing consumers more than $1 billion annually.” 

Colleges and universities are not on board with all the Administration’s plans, however.  For instance, universities would now be required to return all unused “flex dollars” in the students’ meal plan accounts.  Moreover, students would have to opt-in to include textbook fees into their tuition charges.  The Administration and the Department of Education say this will allow students to be aware of what prices they pay for textbooks and allow them to find cheaper sources for materials.  Universities contend that this will impede their ability to provide students with materials at below market prices on the first day of class. 

These announced strategies build upon regulations released in late 2023 which include investing in the Open Textbooks Pilot Program to lower textbook costs, requiring universities to adhere to more stringent requirements of transparency on all college costs, requiring universities when they act as lenders to adhere to federal consumer financial protection laws, and preventing colleges from withholding transcripts of courses paid for with federal money. 

Issues and Challenges for new Executive and Congressional Policymakers

One place that might not be on many people's radar to check for helpful information during new Presidential and Congressional transitions is the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO is often called the "congressional watchdog" since it "investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars."  It has a Presidential and Congressional Transition page with three topics to help new leaders focus on important issues and challenges:

1. Priority Recommendations: The GAO sent letters to key federal departments and agencies urging them to focus on recommendations available for viewing by subject term, federal agency, or topic.
2. Key Issues and High Risk List: "GAO’s High Risk List calls attention to agencies and program areas that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or are in need of transformation."
3. Management Agenda: "The Management Agenda provides high-level information for new leaders about the critical management challenges facing the federal government and lays out the actions needed to address those challenges."

New Medicaid and Affordable Health Care Act Reports - General Accounting Office

Close to the 3rd enrollment period for the health insurance marketplace which begins Nov. 1, 2015, the General Accounting office has released four new pertinent reports:

• Medicaid: Additional Efforts Needed to Ensure that State Spending is Appropriately Matched with Federal Funds, GAO-16-53 (Released Oct 23, 2015).
• Medicaid and Insurance Exchanges: Additional Federal Controls Needed to Minimize Potential for Gaps and Duplication in Coverage, GAO-16-73:(Released: Oct 23, 2015).
• Medicaid: Additional Federal Controls Needed to Improve Accuracy of Eligibility Determinations and for Coordination with Exchanges GAO-16-157T:(Released: Oct 22, 2015).
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Preliminary Results of Undercover Testing of the Federal Marketplace and Selected State Marketplaces for Coverage Year 2015 GAO-16-159T (Released: Oct 22, 2015).

Audit of the Management of the International Space Station National Laboratory

The General Accounting Office (GA0) released a report covering the April 2014 to April 2015 management of the ISS (International Space Station) National Laboratory. The Highlights section of the report, International Space Station: Measurable Performance Targets and Documentation Needed to Better Assess Management of National Laboratory, explains the purpose of the audit and provides recommendations:

Why GAO Did This Study

The U.S. has spent almost $43 billion to develop, assemble, and operate the ISS over the past two decades. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 required NASA to enter into a cooperative agreement with a not-for-profit entity to manage the ISS National Laboratory and in 2011 did so with CASIS. CASIS is charged with maximizing use of the ISS for scientific research by executing several required activities. Recently, questions have arisen about the progress being made to implement the required activities and the impact it has had on ISS’s return on the investment.

GAO was asked to report on the progress of CASIS’s management of the ISS National Laboratory. GAO assessed the extent to which (1) CASIS has implemented the required management activities, and (2) NASA and CASIS measure and assess CASIS’s performance. To perform this work, GAO reviewed the cooperative agreement between NASA and CASIS, CASIS’s annual program plans, and other documentation and interviewed ISS, CASIS, and NASA officials.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends NASA fully staff the ISS National Laboratory Advisory Committee; NASA and CASIS work together to develop measurable targets for CASIS’s metrics; and NASA begin documenting its annual review of CASIS’s performance. NASA partially concurred and CASIS did not concur with the first recommendation, but concurred with the other two. GAO continues to believe the first recommendation is valid, as discussed further in the report.

GAO Report - Alleged Abuse at Schools & Treatment Centers

On May 19, 2009 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a 62 page report entitled Seclusions and Restraints: Selected Cases of Death and Abuse at Public and Private Schools and Treatment Centers. The one page highlights version of the GAO's testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor gives background and examples about the use of restraints and seclusions in public and private schools that resulted in abuse or death. To prepare the report, GAO reviewed federal and state laws about the use of restraints and seclusions in schools, examined allegations of abuse from the past twenty years, and looked at police reports, autopsies, and school policies of closed cases. GAO personnel also interviewed parents, attorneys, and school officials and searched to find the current employment status of staff involved in the cases.

GAO found the following common themes in the 10 cases of restraint or seclusion they examined that resulted in either a criminal conviction, a civil or administrative liability finding, or a large financial settlement:

• they involved children with disabilities who were restrained and secluded often in cases where they were not physically aggressive and their parents did not give consent
• restraints that block air to the lungs can be deadly
• teachers and staff in the cases were often not trained on the use of seclusions and restraints
• teachers and staff from at least 5 of the 10 cases continue to be employed as educators.

The highlights version of the report also contains a chart with details about four of the ten cases.