(Excerpt from Inside Higher Ed News)

• Eight states and one territory are asking the Department of Education to waive a requirement that stipulates they must continue funding higher education at or above current levels in order to keep the federal dollars they received during the pandemic.
• All threee federal pandemic stimulus bills included a maintenace of effort requirement that states must meet if they want to keep the federal dollars.
• The CARES Act stipulated that states that received support from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund must maintain state support for higher education during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 that is at or above average levels of state support during fiscal years 2017, 2018 and 2019.
• The subsequent Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and American Rescue Plan say the same for fiscal year 2022.
• The Department of Education has yet to approve or deny the waiver requests, but either decision could have an impact on higher education funding in those states. If the waivers are approved, those states may lower their own contributions to higher education funding while the budgets are supplemented by federal dollars. If the waivers are denied, states must maintain their higher education funding levels or return the federal aid.