The U.S. Department of Education has asked a federal court for an 18‑month extension to finish decisions tied to a landmark borrower‑defense settlement, and separately shifted responsibility for distributing a major career‑education grant program to the Labor Department — a move that has encountered technical and administrative problems. The Education Department told the court it lacks resources to meet an existing Jan. 28 deadline for timely borrower‑defense decisions, seeking to move the automatic‑relief trigger to July 2027; the Project on Predatory Student Lending urged the judge to reject the request and press the agency to honor earlier commitments. At the same time, a separate Trump‑era experiment to have another agency administer $1.4 billion in career and technical education grants has been plagued by payment systems, communication breakdowns and rollout delays, according to reporting on the program’s implementation. For higher education leaders, the twin developments signal ongoing operational risk from shifting federal priorities: unresolved borrower‑defense claims threaten institutional reputations and financial liability exposure, while bungled grant handoffs complicate access to workforce funding and campus workforce‑education partnerships.