Home_REGucation: Higher Education Resources

As part of our ongoing commitment to the postsecondary community, Thompson Coburn’s higher education practice routinely creates complimentary resources designed to assist institutions with navigating the legal complexities of the higher education sector. We have collected a number of these resources on this page, including our most recent webinars, training series, desk guides, whitepapers, blog posts, and litigation summaries. We hope you find these resources helpful, and if you have any questions, please contact a member of our team.

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Compliance Resources

Compliance Resource: Preferred Lender Arrangements

This guide provides an overview of the compliance obligations institutions must meet when entering into preferred lender arrangements, including requirements for lender lists, disclosures, codes of conduct, and ongoing reporting under federal law.

Compliance Resource: Financial Responsibility Guide

We provide a guide to the reporting obligations under ED’s new Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, Ability to Benefit Rule.

COMPLIANCE RESOURCE: A Desk Guide for the 2023 Final Financial Value Transparency & Gainful Employment Rule

We have developed this Desk Guide to assist institutions as they contemplate compliance with the final version of the GE rule.

COMPLIANCE RESOURCE: A Guide to Understanding GLBA Requirements for Institutions of Higher Education

This compliance resource, organized as an FAQ, provides answers to the most common questions regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s updated GLBA Safeguards Rule, which becomes effective in June 2023 and applies to institutions of higher education.

COMPLIANCE RESOURCE: Suggested Protocols for Responding to Individual Borrower Defense to Repayment Claims

With regard to BDR claims, data released by ED suggests that virtually every institution in the U.S. has at least a handful of claims pending against it. Given this trend, we have developed this document to aid institutions with establishing protocols to responding to BDR claims.

COMPLIANCE RESOURCE: 90/10 Rule Compliance: Strategies & Considerations

To remain eligible to participate in the federal student aid programs, proprietary institutions must comply with the “90/10 rule.” New regulations published by ED in October 2022 apply to institutional fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2023. This compliance resource, updated March 2023, compiles strategies for managing 90/10 rule compliance.

Webinars/Training Resources

Thompson Coburn’s Higher Education training resources are housed on our YouTube site.

Click here to access the Thompson Coburn Higher Ed playlist on our channel.

Blog Posts

Thompson Coburn’s Higher Education blog, REGucation, strives through practical advice and insight, to help the higher education community manage a fast-changing and increasingly complex regulatory environment.

Our goal is to serve as a practical, concise, and accessible resource for institutions confronting regulatory and policy issues. The blog focuses on the extraordinarily broad and sophisticated set of legal challenges faced by contemporary post-secondary institutions, including those involving real estate, construction, joint ventures, litigation, intellectual property, immigration, taxation, financing, employees and benefits, and government relations, to name a few. We also cover the staggering collection of federal, state, and accrediting agency laws and standards specific to higher education.

Click here to view all REGucation posts.

Litigation Summaries

Our litigation summaries are your resource for legal updates on key rulings and ongoing cases shaping the higher education sector. Our archive of updates is below.