With declining enrollments and an increasingly complex business and regulatory environment, higher education faces an era of institutional consolidations. Yet, just as institutions need to become more agile, the Department of Education’s recent rulemaking on changes in ownership has added new layers of expense and risk to the already entangled merger process. The Department now requires a two-step process whereby the completed change in ownership must receive state authorization, accreditor approval, and Department approval before it will issue a final Provisional Program Participation Agreement to receive Title IV funding. Transactions that are not well positioned to meet these requirements and timed strategically may be at risk of failing. In-house counsel play a pivotal role in advising clients on the viability of a deal, both with respect to alignment of strategic priorities and the best course of action, whether it be a change in ownership, closure and teach-out plans, or no deal at all.
Please join us for this 2-hour webinar in which a NACUA general counsel will engage expert outside counsel and counsel for a regional accrediting agency in conversation about the critical challenges on the path to a successful transaction, including:
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The multiple dimensions of pre-planning, planning and due diligence required for a successful transaction and institutional integration;
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The new two-step process the Department of Education requires to maintain Title IV program participation for the acquired entity between closing and final regulatory approvals;
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Navigating state authorization and substantive change processes with the institutions’ accreditors; and
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Additional post-transaction considerations.
This webinar will be of interest to in-house and outside counsel to colleges and universities, as well as senior institutional leaders who guide the integration of operations, academics, and institutional cultures.