On August 14, 2008, a new comprehensive federal law took effect. The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (P.L. No. 110-315) contains important provisions that apply to UT System institutions and that impose additional restrictions and disclosure requirements concerning lender lists. The U.S. Department of Education has proposed regulations to implement the lender list requirements, and their adoption is pending.
Additionally, the new federal law requires institutions of higher education that participate in federal student loan programs to adopt a code of conduct for officers, employees, and agents who have responsibility with respect to those loans. UT System institutions have been complying with an Agreement with the Texas Attorney General entitled the Texas Higher Education Fair Lending Practices Agreement. The Agreement contains prohibitions that are substantially similar to the prohibitions that must be included in an institution’s code of conduct under the new federal law.
The Office of General Counsel is currently working on a code of conduct that satisfies all the requirements of the new law. The code of conduct will be adopted as a Systemwide policy and will replace the requirements of the Texas Higher Education Fair Lending Practices Agreement with the Texas Attorney General. We will notify UT System institutions when the code of conduct policy is adopted. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
