INSIDE HIGHER ED — Eight states and one territory are asking the Department of Education to waive a requirement that stipulates they must continue funding higher education at or above current levels in order to keep the federal dollars they received during the pandemic. Each state provided its own justification for the request, but some higher education leaders worry that states’ failure to maintain appropriations will hurt higher education funding levels in future years. All three federal pandemic stimulus bills included a maintenance-of-effort requirement that states must meet if they want to keep the federal dollars. The CARES Act stipulated that states that received support from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund must maintain state support for higher education during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 that is at or above average levels of state support during fiscal years 2017, 2018 and 2019. The subsequent Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and American Rescue Plan say the same for fiscal year 2022