Republican lawmakers are considering a number of proposals that could effectively increase taxes on students enrolled in school, as well as millions of student loan borrowers already in repayment. The plans, which have not been finalized and are still under review, could become part of a major tax bill that GOP leaders hope to pass through the reconciliation process, which would allow a party-line vote that bypasses the Senate filibuster, which normally would require Democratic support to overcome. Republicans hold slim majorities in both the House and the Senate. GOP lawmakers want to extend and potentially expand expiring tax cuts…

On January 29th former Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of at least 15 years for the 71 year old Menendez. His co-defendants real estate developer Fred Daibes and Egyptian American businessman Wael Hana were sentenced to 7 years and 8 years in prison respectively. Menendez was convicted in federal court last July on 16 counts including bribery, extortion, honest services wire fraud, obstruciton of justice, conspiracy and acting as an agent of Egypt. The essence of the charges against Menendez were that he and his wife received hundreds…

GOP Proposal Could Tax Graduate Student Scholarships and Fellowships Republicans are floating a 50-page list of ideas to help offset the cost of planned tax cuts. The list includes a proposal to eliminate the tax-exempt status of graduate student scholarships and fellowships, which the GOP calculates would produce $54 billion in additional federal revenue. Taxing all graduate scholarships and fellowship income would reduce the financial support that graduate students rely on for their education, significantly increasing their financial burden. It could profoundly impact students’ ability to finance their studies, particularly for those in fields with limited access to private funding.…

The BOP’s challenges have only intensified since Trump’s inauguration, which coincided with the resignation of Director Colette Peters. In the absence of permanent leadership, Acting Director William Lathrop has issued a flurry of directives to address sweeping policy shifts, including a mandatory return to in-office work, a hiring freeze, and the identification of probationary employees and those on administrative leave. These measures have left many BOP staff grappling with uncertainty. The deferred resignation offer has added to this turmoil. Employees were instructed to simply type “Resign” in reply to the email if they wished to accept the offer, with little…

Twenty-two years before he bet his company on bitcoin, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor sat down for a long interview with Forbes during which he invoked Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Churchill, Caesar and Lincoln. At that point, in 1998, the company was a Wall Street darling, thanks to its dot-com-era software suite. MicroStrategy was doing just $100 million in sales, but Saylor envisioned a day when its technology would be used by “everybody on the planet.” He was 33 and couldn’t see the coming March 2020 crash or that MicroStrategy stock would languish for two decades. From Forbes, September 7,…

The Federal government issued an executive order to pause all payments of federal assistance as of 5:00 January 28th excluding Social Security, Medicare and assistance provided directly to individuals. Clarification came that the pause would not affect student Pell grants but great confusion continued among colleges and universities as to what the impact of the pause would be. Fortunately, just before the pause was to go into effect, a judge ordered the pause paused until Feb. 3rd. As currently understood, the pause will stop all federal payments to colleges and universities for research grants, construction projects and other programs that…

GOP Tax Proposal Threatens More than Just Student Loan Foregiveness As part of a sweeping effort to offset the cost of a massive tax cut and immigration package, House Republicans are floating several controversial proposals to reshape the tax code. Among the options reportedly under consideration is eliminating the student loan interest deduction, a tax break that has provided financial relief to millions of low—and middle-income borrowers. While the Trump administration’s actions regarding student loan forgiveness have been the subject of considerable attention, the potential elimination of the student loan interest deduction also warrants scrutiny. This tax break has served…

Most people who receive restricted stock units, or RSUs, from their company as part of their compensation plan are gambling with their opportunity to grow wealth — without even knowing it. RSUs are powerful tools that you can leverage to quickly grow your net worth. But they can just as rapidly spiral out of control and create an unnecessary time bomb within your investment portfolio. If you have RSUs, here’s what you need to understand about the risks they can pose when mismanaged — as well as the strategy you can use to harness their power for the good of…

Entertainment giant Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital Partners have made the United Football League a major player in the sports world. The UFL could be headed towards strong growth with its leagues expansion goals, alongside its mutually beneficial alliance with the NFL to test rules and technology that sets it apart. When you add in its impressive media deals with Fox, which previously owned the USFL, and ESPN, which had the XFL’s media rights, a new era in spring football is ready for kick off. The Breakdown You Need To Know: With bigger media deals in…

This article has been updated to reflect additional information and comment by the U.S. Department of Education. The Trump administration released a sweeping memo on Monday that will suspend broad swaths of spending across nearly all sectors of the federal government. The breadth of the order is substantial, and could have major impacts for millions of Americans. And it’s at least possible that student loan forgiveness and federal aid programs could be swept up in the suspension. The memo, released by Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, appears to instruct federal…