OPM and Third-Party Servicers Update; Your Turn to Inform the Department of Ed

The U.S. Department of Education is listening! Their February 15 press release (see our post about it) provides opportunities to inform the Department on two separate but related topic areas. We hope that you will take one or more of the opportunities described below to ask questions, share the impacts on students, and generally apprise the Department of practical information about the use of OPM’s and Third-Party Servicers at your institution.

In today’s post we will provide updates on what WCET and SAN have been doing on this issue and advise you (and urge you) to participation in this process. The topics include:

• Updates on Online Program Management (OPM), including a synopsis of the Department’s listening sessions, what we are hearing from members, and previews of our comment to the Department.
• Third-Party Servicers (TPS), including reactions from others to the third-party servicer guidance and urging for you to comment.
• Directions on the opportunities to provide feedback and the processes to participate.[...]