U.S. Department of Education

Student Debt Relief

Negotiated Rulemaking

Meeting Summary

December 11 & 12, 2023

Welcome

Introductions

FMCS Facilitator welcomed the parties to Session 3 and conducted the roll call of negotiators, 

General Counsel for the Department of Education, and the Department’s Federal Negotiator. 

Old Business

The Federal Negotiator shared that proposed regulatory text had been sent out to negotiators 

before Session 3, all data requests answers had been given to negotiators, and the hardship topic 

discussion would be talked about at the end of the 2nd day of this Session 3.

Additional Membership Discussion and action

There was a request for a new consistency group by Alternate Negotiator Josh Divine (State 

Attorneys General). He proposed a new negotiator constituency group of taxpayers/small 

business owners/non-borrowers and offered Betsy Miller as primary negotiator and Alex 

Williams as alternate negotiator. Existing negotiators expressed concerns around the timing of 

the request being late in the process and another negotiator noted that she already covers the 

categories of taxpayers, small business owners, and non-borrowers in addition to her other 

constituency group. The negotiators voted down the proposal. Due to the negative vote, Josh 

Divine indicated he would be stepping down as an alternate negotiator in this process.

Membership

The following individuals are the members of the Student Loan Debt Relief Negotiated 

Rulemaking Committee: 
Community of Interest Primary Negotiator Alternate Negotiator

Civil Rights Organizations Wisdom Cole, NAACP India Heckstall, Center for Law and 

Social Policy

Legal Assistance Organizations 

that Represent Students or 

Borrowers

Kyra Taylor, National Consumer

Law Center

Scott Waterman, Student Loan 

Committee of the National 

Association of Chapter 13 Trustees

State Officials, including State 

higher education executive 

officers, State authorizing 

agencies, and State regulators of 

institutions of higher education.

Lane Thompson, Oregon DCBS -

Division of Financial Regulation Amber Gallup, New Mexico Higher 

Education Department

States Attorneys General Yael Shavit, Office of the 

Massachusetts Attorney General Vacant

Public Institutions of Higher 

Education, Including Two-Year 

and Four-Year Institutions

Melissa Kunes, The Pennsylvania 

State University

J.D. LaRock, North Shore 

Community College

Private Nonprofit Institutions of 

Higher Education

Angelika Williams, University of 

San Francisco

Susan Teerink, Marquette 

University

Proprietary Institutions Kathleen Dwyer, Galen College of 

Nursing

Belen Gonzalez, Mech-Tech 

College

Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities, Tribal Colleges and 

Universities and Minority-Serving 

Institutions (institutions of higher 

education eligible to receive 

Federal Assistance under title III, 

parts A and F, and title V of the 

HEA)

Sandra Bohan, Salish Kootenai 

College

Carol Peterson, Langston 

University

Federal Family Education Loan

(FFEL) Lenders, Servicers or 

Guaranty Agencies

Scott Buchanan, Student Loan 

Servicing Alliance

Benjamin Lee, Ascendium 

Education Solutions, Inc.
Student Loan Borrowers Who 

Attended Programs of Two-Years 

or Less

Ashley Pizzuti, San Joaquin Delta 

College

David Ramirez, Pasadena City 

College

Student Loan Borrowers Who 

Attended Four-Year Programs

Sherrie Gammage, The University 

of New Orleans

Sarah Christa Butts, University of 

Maryland

Student Loan Borrowers Who 

Attended Graduate Programs

Richard Hasse, State University of 

New York at Stony Brook

Dr. Jalil Bishop, University of 

California, Los Angeles

Currently Enrolled Postsecondary 

Education Students

Jada Sanford, Stephen F. Austin 

University

Jordan Nellums, University of 

Texas

U.S. Military Service Members, 

Veterans, or Groups Representing 

them

Vincent Andrews, Veteran Vacant

Consumer Advocates

Jessica Ranucci, New York Legal 

Assistance Group

Ed Boltz, Law Offices of John T. 

Orcutt, P.C.

Individuals with Disabilities or 

Groups Representing them

John Whitelaw, Community Legal 

Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI)

Waukecha Wilkerson, Sacramento 

State University

Federal Negotiator

Tamy Abernathy, Director of 

Policy Coordination Group for the 

Office of Post Secondary 

Education

The Agenda

The Department provided draft redlined regulatory text for the negotiators to consider prior to 

the session and fully updated text before any consensus decisions were made. Throughout the 

two-day session, the Department of Education provided background and context for new 

language, received feedback from the negotiators, had informal temperature checks with 

negotiators on the new language, addressed concerns about the language, and then had the 

negotiators decide via consensus on proposed language. Consensus among the negotiators was 

reached on the following bolded sections:

Section 30.80-Waiver of Federal Student Loan Debts

Section 30.84-Waiver When a Loan is Eligible for Forgiveness Based on Repayment Plan

Section 30.86-Waiver Based Upon Secretarial Actions
Section 30.87-Waiver Following a Closure Prior to Secretarial Actions

Section 30.88-Waiver for Closed Gainful Employment Programs with High Debt-to-Earnings 

Rates or Low Median Earnings

Section 682.403-Waiver of FFEL Program Loan Debt (per below)

• Section 682.403(b)(2)

• Section 682.403(b)(3)

Consensus among the negotiators was not reached in the non-bolded sections per below:

34 CFR Part 30-Debt Collection (Sections 30.10, 30.20, 30.23, 30.25, 30.27, 30.29, 30.30, 30.33, 

30.39, 30.62, 30.69, 30.70, 30.79-Technical Corrections in Subparts A, C, E and F

Sections 30.81-Waiver When the Current Balance Exceeds the Original Principal Balance for 

Low-Income Borrowers on an IDR Plan

Section 30.82-Waiver When the Current Balance Exceeds the Original Principal Balance for 

Borrowers on the SAVE Plan

Section 30.83-Waiver When a Loan First Entered Repayment 20 or 25 Years Ago

Section 30.85-Waiver When is Eligible for a Targeted Forgiveness Opportunity

Section 30.89-Waiver When the Current Balance Exceeds the Original Principal Balance

Section 30.90-Waiver When the Current Balance Exceeds the Original Principal Balance for LowIncome Borrowers not on an IDR Plan

Section 682.403-Waiver of FFEL Program Loan Debt (per below)

• Section 682.403 A, C, D, E, & F

• Section 682.403(b)(1)

Public Comment

The Committee provided a sixty (60) minute opportunity for public comment at the end of first 

day of Session 3. There was no public comment on the second day of the session.Closing

Closing

At the request of the non-federal negotiators, FMCS invited researchers to make a 15-minute 

presentation to the Committee on their research on the hardship issue. A research presenter by 

the name of Dalie Jimenez was available on the 2nd day to present and did so. Some negotiators 

expressed concerns that the Department did not provide text on hardship situations when 

questions on the topic were discussed in Sessions 1 & 2. The Department indicated it will regroup 
following this Session 3 and get back to the negotiator group on any next steps on hardship. In 

the meantime, the Department of Education will provide final language on consensus and nonconsensus language per the above consensus decisions in this Negotiated Rulemaking.