EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GOES INTO SHUTDOWN MODE: Education Department staffers have been instructed to report to work this morning to commence an "orderly shutdown" of their agency-issued phones and laptops, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. Furloughed staffers will be required to turn off government-owned equipment, secure files and create out-of-office messages.

— After Education staffers close down their workplaces in four hours or less today, the instructions are clear: "Furloughed employees may not perform work, including checking ED email from any device, under any circumstances." They won't be able to access the department's network remotely. Benjamin Wermund has more on the department’s instructions to employees here.

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— As the shutdown of the federal government enters its third day, more than 90 percent of Education Department employees are expected to be furloughed. Just 247 of the department's 3,912 full-time employees would be exempted from the furlough through the first four weeks of a shutdown, according to the agency's contingency plan filed with OMB.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING AND WELCOME TO MORNING EDUCATION. Drop me a line with your tips and feedback: mstratford@politico.com or @mstratford. Share event listings: educalendar@politicopro.com. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.

FEDERAL STUDENT AID PREPAID CARD PILOT PROGRAM MOVES AHEAD: The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to test a new way to disburse federal student loan and Pell grant funds to students. The Education Department, in the coming weeks, plans to solicit offers from companies that would manage a federal prepaid card that allows students to directly access refunds of their student loan or grant money — the money that’s left over after covering tuition and that’s typically used to pay for books, off-campus housing and other living expenses.

— The department plans to start the pilot in “late Spring 2018,” according to a 14-page draft solicitation. The agency indicated that it will allow participation of up to 25,000 students at as many as four colleges or university systems, according to the document. Department officials plan to solicit offers next month from a company or multiple companies that would manage the card. Those firms would, in turn, contract with a bank and payment processing firm, as well as the participating college, according to the document.

— Currently, colleges and universities provide loan refunds to students either through direct deposit, a check, or by loading the money onto a debit card or other financial product. Those debit card products came under scrutiny several years ago for charging high fees and, in some cases, schools received financial rewards for offering them on campus. (The Obama administration imposed new regulations on campus financial products that restrict fees and marketing and require more disclosure of the agreements card struck with colleges.)

— The new “Federal Student Aid Payment Card” is meant to provide students and colleges with “a consistent, economically advantageous and timely method” to receive federal student loan refunds, according to the draft solicitation document. For example, the document says, the department plans to prohibit the card provider from charging a wide range of fees, including on in-network ATM withdrawals, foreign transaction fees, overdraft fees and account maintenance fees, among others.

— Wayne Johnson, the department’s head of federal student aid, said last year that a primary goal of the product is to remind students they’re spending student loan money. The card, according to the draft solicitation, should be able to send students customized mobile alerts before completing a transaction that warn them of the “long-term dollars and cents ramification of making purchases using their student loan funds.” In addition, the card would also “possess the ability to restrict the types of products and services/and or merchants” from which a student could make purchases using the card, according to the document.

— The draft document also pitches the program as a potential way for financial service providers and other companies to tap into a potentially lucrative student market, though it notes there will be privacy safeguards. The federal card “will, in all likelihood, be the first financial services product introduced to a student, which could then lead to a long-term, even life-long, relationship for other financial services and products,” the department says in its draft solicitation. But the department warns “the data associated with the FSA Payment Card Program will be highly restricted as to cross-marking use” and says that companies will only be able to access student data for marketing purposes when students “specifically grant permission.” Read the full draft solicitation here.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FURTHER GUTS OBAMA-ERA ‘GAINFUL’ RULE: The Education Department on Friday further scaled back some of the requirements colleges face under the Obama-era “gainful employment” rule. For-profit colleges and other career college programs subject to the regulation will no longer have to disclose on their websites the median earnings of their graduates, nor room and board charges, the department said. Department officials also said that colleges could provide students with multiple job placement rates for their programs.

— The gainful employment rule, which is meant to cut off federal funding to poor-performing for-profit and other career college programs, remains on the books even as the Trump administration has begun a process to rewrite it. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has previously delayed key parts of the rule, provided colleges with more time to file appeals and eased the appeals process for some schools.

— Democratic attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia are suing DeVos over her delays of various provisions of the “gainful employment” rule, which they argue are illegal.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— Mildred García, formerly the president of California State University, Fullerton, has started as the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

— Annie E. Clark, the co-founder and executive director of End Rape on Campus, plans to step down from her role leading the organization on Feb. 9. The group’s managing director, Jess Davidson, will serve as interim executive director.

SYLLABUS

— State spending on higher education has inched upward. But most public colleges can’t celebrate: The Chronicle of Higher Education.

— Michigan State trustee ask president to resign over Nassar scandal: The New York Times.

— Most New York teachers return to classrooms despite infractions, report shows: The Wall Street Journal.

— With just 3 students, small-town high school closing down: The Associated Press.

Follow the Pro Education team: @caitlinzemma (cemma@politico.com), @khefling (khefling@politico.com), @mstratford (mstratford@politico.com), @BenjaminEW (bwermund@politico.com) and @MelLeonor_ (mleonor@politico.com).