- A new Department of Education guidance prohibits federal work-study program money from funding students working in political jobs.
- The federal work-study funds are meant to to help students gain "real-world" experience.
- The DOE also clarified requirements for institutions to distribute voter registration packets.
Guidance from the Department of Education released on Tuesday prohibits federal funds from supporting political activism on college campuses through the federal work-study program.
According to a press release from the department, Biden-era guidance allowed federal work-study programs to fund students who engaged in a variety of partisan and nonpartisan political activities. The Department of Education has rescinded that guidance and clarified that institutions should focus the funds on jobs that provide real work experience.
This action from the department comes after a letter from 16 Republican attorneys general that claimed the Biden-era guidance violated federal law.
The new guidance from the Department of Education also clarifies the requirements for institutions to distribute voter registration forms to its students.
“Federal Work Study is meant to provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to succeed in the workforce, not as a way to fund political activism on our college and university campuses,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent, per the release.
Kent’s statement continued that under the leadership of the Trump administration, American taxpayers will no longer fund political rallies, poll workers or voter hotlines on campus.
According to the Department of Education the work-study program provides “part-time jobs to students with financial need.” Positions involved with political activity on campus would include jobs involving voter registration, voter assistance at a polling location or through a voter hotline and serving as a poll worker.
Clarifications around distribution of voter registration forms
“We will also not require institutions to solicit students to register to vote if they know they are ineligible,” Kent said, according to the department’s release.
The new guidance from the Department of Education also covered the requirements institutions are given to distribute voter registration forms. Under the Higher Education Act, colleges are required to make a “good faith” effort to distribute voter registration forms and make them widely available to each of their students that are enrolled and physically in attendance at the institution.
“To give institutions ample flexibility to ensure that they are not aiding and abetting voter fraud, the Department does not interpret this ‘good faith’ provision in the HEA as requiring institutions to distribute voter registration information to students who the institution has reason to believe are ineligible to vote in federal or state elections, such as foreign students,” per the Department of Education.
The department’s guidance also requests that institutions notify students about certain points pertaining to legally voting in the U.S.:
- Only citizens of the United States may vote in federal elections.
- Voting more than once, including voting in two or more states, is prohibited under federal law.
- Knowingly or willfully providing false information, including relating to name, address, or period of residence, in the voting district for the purpose of establishing eligibility to register or vote is prohibited under federal law.
- In most states, individuals may only register to vote where they are domiciled, and they may not be domiciled in more than one place.