Opinion: Should All College Admissions Become Need-Blind? March 18, 2019-"In a world of unlimited resources, colleges could, and should, make their admissions decisions independent of an applicant’s ability to pay. Unfortunately, that isn’t the world in which we live. Faced with the reality of limited dollars,...
NASFAA Mention: DeVos Pitches Tax Credit Scholarships in Iowa March 19, 2019-"A new report from the Higher Education Committee of 50, a group facilitated by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, makes recommendations to Congress on access, accountability, affordability and transparency in...
NASFAA Mention: White House Looks to Curb Student Lending March 19, 2019-"The White House on Monday endorsed adding new lending caps for graduate and parent borrowers and giving campus aid administrators the authority to require loan counseling for student borrowers, among a slate of priorities for reauthorizing the Highe...
NASFAA Mention: Higher Ed Committee Recommends Changes to FAFSA March 27, 2019-"A committee of higher education leaders and faculty from across the U.S. released a list of recommendations to the Department of Education March 13, enumerating ways to help students enroll in, pay for and graduate from college," The Daily Texan rep...
NASFAA Mention: Obfuscating Net Price March 28, 2019-"When it last overhauled the Higher Education Act in 2008, Congress required that colleges make disclosures on their websites about the actual net price students would pay if they enrolled on campus," Inside Higher Ed reports.
NASFAA Mention: How to Write a Financial Aid Appeal Letter April 11, 2019-
Successful financial aid appeals are rare, experts say. But crafting a good financial aid appeal letter can give students the best chance of getting more money for college," U.S. News & World Report writes. "After receiving an award l...
NASFAA Mention: Bill Aimed at Skill-Based Grants April 12, 2019-"Two federal lawmakers from Indiana have joined to introduce legislation establishing a pilot program that would tailor federal Pell Grants to fit the job market," The Journal Gazette writes.
NASFAA Mention: Should Students Be Able to Borrow More? Some Experts Say Yes. April 22, 2019-"Despite widespread concern about college students’ debt burden, a growing number of experts are calling on policymakers to increase the amount of federal loans students may borrow. Current regulations prohibit undergraduate students from borro...
NASFAA Mention: Don’t Let These Common Award Letter Mistakes Cost You Money April 23, 2019-"You’ve written essays, completed applications, filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®)and applied for scholarships. Now, you know where you’ve been accepted — congrats! — and it&rsq...
NASFAA Mention: What Should Colleges Tell Admitted Applicants About Aid? April 23, 2019-"For years, many consumer advocates and education finance experts have criticized the way some colleges tell admitted applicants about the financial aid they will receive if they enroll," Inside Higher Ed reports. NASFAA's Megan Coval is quoted.
NASFAA Mention: Accepted! How to Decipher Your College Aid May 3, 2019-"With college acceptances in hand, now comes the hard part: understanding your financial aid offers. These letters are notorious for being laden with jargon that differs from offer to offer, making comparison difficult. But you can learn how to inter...
NASFAA Mention: What to Know About a College's Net Price Calculator May 9, 2019-
"A school's sticker price is rarely the actual amount families will pay for college, and many are often unsure of the true cost of college," U.S. News & World Report writes. "Colleges participating in federal financial aid progra...
NASFAA Mention: Trump Faces Backlash Over Plan to Dip Into Pell Reserves May 14, 2019-"Education advocates say a Trump administration plan to use federal Pell Grant money to fund space exploration would jeopardize aid for future college students and could trigger a budgeting crisis within just a few years," The Associated Press report...
NASFAA Mention: How a Student's Job Affects College Aid May 16, 2019-"Will working during the summer or at a part-time job hurt a student’s prospects for financial aid? It’s a question that many students ask—and the answer can be confusing," writes The Wall Street Journal. NASFAA's Jill Desjean is qu...
NASFAA Mention: College Scholarships Hit With Big Tax Increases in New Tax Law May 17, 2019-"A little-noticed provision in President Trump’s sprawling new tax law is treating middle- and low-income college students as if they are trust-fund babies, taxing sizable financial aid packages at a rate first established 33 years ago to preve...
NASFAA Mention: Student Aid Verification Process Falls Short May 17, 2019-"The U.S. Education Department’s process for verifying the accuracy of student aid applications has no reasonable assurance of identifying errors, a Thursday report from the department's inspector general found," Inside Higher Ed repo...
NASFAA Mention: Paying Off the Student Loans of an Entire Class Is No Easy Task May 21, 2019-"Billionaire Robert F. Smith stunned Morehouse College's Class of 2019 when he pledged over the weekend to pay off their student loans. Details of the plan are forthcoming, but any effort to wipe away the education debt of hundreds of graduates will ...
NASFAA Mention: Is Change Coming to Federal Work-Study? May 23, 2019-"For more than half a century, the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program has plugged along, dutifully providing hundreds of thousands of students each year with jobs while colleges benefit from their subsidized labor," Education Dive reports. "D...
NASFAA Mention: Six Figures in Debt for a Master's Degree June 3, 2019-"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is betting big on transparency as a solution for high student debt burdens. New data on program-level borrowing that the Education Department released last month through the College Scorecard sheds light on ...
NASFAA Mention: Bottom Line Above All Else June 5, 2019-"The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) released ASA's report Starting with Students: Findings from NASFAA's Consumer Testing Study of the U.S. Department of Education's College Financing Plan, along ...
NASFAA Mention: Coming Soon: New Documents for College Financial Aid Offers June 5, 2019-"Sometime within the next year or so, the Department of Education is expected to release a new document that will help students and parents understand and compare financial aid packages from multiple colleges and universities," ThinkAdvisor writes.
NASFAA Mention: How the Education Dept. Is Proposing to Ease Rules on Accreditation June 12, 2019-"The U.S. Department of Education took a step toward making significant changes in the federal regulation of accreditation on Tuesday, proposing to give accreditors more flexibility in approving new kinds of academic programs and allow troubled colle...
NASFAA Mention: Senators: Let's Eliminate This 'Hidden' Student Loan Tax June 13, 2019-"When there's bipartisanship in Washington, it's a beautiful thing. These U.S. Senators are uniting to eliminate a 'hidden' student loan tax that may be costing you thousands of dollars," Forbes reports.
NASFAA Mention: Capitalize on the Magic of NASFAA: Don't Miss These Sessions June 14, 2019-"It's time to do something just for you—and no, that doesn't mean spending the day at the beach when you arrive in Orlando, Florida to attend the 2019 NASFAA National Conference. When I say 'do something just for you,' I mean networking an...
NASFAA Mention: 4 Ways Graduate Student Loans Differ from College Debt June 20, 2019-"Graduate students have a leg up on the financial aid process. Most are no longer student loan novices. They have perfected the art of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, they understand terms like Expec...
NASFAA Mention: NCAN Receives NASFAA Award for Financial Aid Research, Campaigns June 27, 2019-"Earlier today, NCAN was awarded the Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ (NASFAA) national conference in Orlando, FL. The award recognizes an organization or individual for...
NASFAA Mention: Affording College Starts With Filling out the FAFSA June 28, 2019-"Affordability is one of the biggest barriers to attaining a college education, and yet achieving a college degree remains one of the best investments a student can make for his or her future," writes Education and Career News. NASFAA's Megan Coval i...
NASFAA Mention: Colgate University to Launch No-Loan Initiative July 11, 2019-"Colgate University has announced a new initiative to lower student debt for its graduates. Starting in fall 2020, the university will no longer include federal loans in its financial aid packages for students whose families earn no more than $125,00...
NASFAA Mention: The 6 Types of Students Most Confounded by the FAFSA July 22, 2019-"Everyone loves to hate the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process that opens the doors to student loans and grants, with its multiple questions about family finances," according to POLITICO.
"But among the 20 million annual FAFSA ap...
NASFAA Mention: Study: Cutting Federal Graduate Loans Would Harm Black Students, HBCUs July 23, 2019-"Cuts to federal student loans for graduate and professional students could be devastating to African-Americans and, in a ripple effect, historically Black colleges and universities, according to a study by the AccessLex Institute," Diverse: Issues i...
NASFAA Mention: California Students Caught in the Middle July 24, 2019-"For years, the U.S. Education Department (over two administrations) has battled with states, college leaders and consumer advocates over rules requiring institutions operating online to secure approval from each state in which they intend to enroll ...
NASFAA Mention: GAO Says a Popular Student Loan Repayment Plan Is Susceptible to Fraud July 26, 2019-"The Education Department’s lax vetting of income and household information is leaving popular student loan repayment programs susceptible to fraud and errors, the Government Accountability Office said in a report Thursday," The Washington Post...
NASFAA Mention: GAO: U.S. Should Verify Borrowers’ Income for Income-Driven Loan Plans July 26, 2019-"The Government Accountability Office in a report released Thursday recommended that the Department of Education do more to verify the income and family size of borrowers applying for income-driven repayment plans," according to Inside Higher Ed.
NASFAA Mention: Loophole Allows Families to Get Aid Meant for Needy Students July 30, 2019-"The U.S. Education Department is being urged to close a loophole that has allowed some wealthy families to get federal, state and university funding that's meant to help needy students. Federal authorities were notified last year that some parents i...
NASFAA Mention: What to Expect From Student Loan Counseling July 30, 2019-"Student loan counseling is mandated by law for those who borrow federal loans to pay for college or graduate school. Yet each year, students graduate or leave school unaware of how much money they borrowed, or worse, that they have debt at all," acc...
NASFAA Mention: What About Fairness? July 31, 2019-"The news stories left one feeling, yet again, that some wealthy parents will do just about anything to get their kids into college and to help them pay for it," Inside Higher Ed reports.
NASFAA Mention: College Financial Loophole Exposed August 6, 2019-"Another loophole in the college application system was exposed recently with wealthy families transferring legal custody of their children to others who make less money to qualify for financial aid," WFTS-TV reports.
NASFAA Mention: Weighing Responses to Latest Higher Ed Scandal August 12, 2019-"Illinois House lawmakers took a first look last week at potential responses to a scandal that’s unfolded over affluent families’ efforts to game the student financial aid system," Inside Higher Ed reports.
NASFAA Mention: Parents Exploit Financial Aid Loophole August 15, 2019-"Some Chicago-area parents have been gaming the financial aid system to get scholarships for their children that should go to needy students," World reports.
NASFAA Mention: How Student Loan Fees Work and What They Cost August 21, 2019-"Tammy Trevino wasn’t sure whether to borrow a federal student loan or a private student loan for her daughter’s education. Then she learned federal loans come with an origination fee that private loans typically don’t," NerdWallet ...
NASFAA Mention: 2 New Ways to Support Student Financial Literacy on Campus August 22, 2019-"Campus teams responsible for teaching financial literacy concepts to students—and in turn, improving cohort default rates on student loans—need not operate as islands within higher ed," University Business reports. "Two new national reso...
NASFAA Mention: How Student Loan Fees Work and What They Cost August 28, 2019-"Tammy Trevino wasn’t sure whether to borrow a federal student loan or a private student loan for her daughter’s education. Then she learned federal loans come with an origination fee that private loans typically don’t," USA Today r...
NASFAA Mention: Pollard Makes Financial Aid Presentation on the Hill August 28, 2019-"On July 23, Assistant Director of Financial Aid Christopher Pollard spoke to congressional staffers and higher education advocates on Capitol Hill about the basics of financial aid programs. The event, the National Profile hosted by the National Ass...
NASFAA Mention: Fear and Confusion Among Immigrant Students September 9, 2019-"The California Community Colleges system is trying to ease the concerns of immigrant students worried about the impact of a new immigration rule scheduled to go into effect next month," Inside Higher Ed reports. NASFAA's Jill Desjean is quoted.
NASFAA Mention: Unlocking FAFSA Money for College Is Easier Than Ever: How to Apply October 1, 2019-"Who wouldn't want to spend an hour or so trying to get extra cash for college? Well, pretty much any parent or student who is dreading filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Families who expect to have a student in college in the ...
NASFAA Mention: 7 Common FAFSA Mistakes to Avoid October 1, 2019-"The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opened today, and families are often eager to complete it quickly. But before you start working on your FAFSA, get a handle on some common mistakes that families make when filling out the forms so...
NASFAA Mention: How to Get Student Loans With No Credit Check October 11, 2019-"When you need to borrow money for school, you might be interested in obtaining no credit check student loans. Getting student loans without a credit inquiry could be important to you if you have bad credit or if you simply haven’t had time to ...
NASFAA Mention: Opinion: 2020 Presidential Hopefuls Need to Focus More on Education Policy October 16, 2019-"Iowa isn't the only destination for presidential candidates. Those bidding for the White House have crowded college campuses across the country, showing off their politics, policies, and promises across countless speeches and campaign events. Each p...
NASFAA Mention: What's New on the 2020-2021 FAFSA October 25, 2019-"The 2020-2021 FREE Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, may look a little different to students and families who have applied for college financial aid in prior years, whether they completed the form online or on a mobile device," reports ...
NASFAA Mention: Debt Forgiveness Plans Sound Great. But What Comes Next? October 25, 2019-"A. Wayne Johnson, a high-ranking official with the U.S. Department of Education, got a lot of attention on Thursday for his campaign proposal to forgive up to $50,000 per person in federal student-loan debt. The plan, announced as Johnson resigned h...
NASFAA Mention: Trump Official to Campaign on Student Debt Relief October 25, 2019-"A Trump administration official, who until last year oversaw the $1.5 trillion federal student loan portfolio, said Thursday he was stepping down to run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. And he said his signature issue would be canceling massive ...
NAFSAA Mention: BCC Financial Aid Topped $10 Million Last Year October 28, 2019-"Barton Community College students received more than $10 million in financial aid last year, an increase of more than $2.1 million, according to Myrna Perkins, Barton’s chief accreditation officer and director of financial aid. That includes l...
NASFAA Mention: Committing to Credential Transparency November 5, 2019-"The American Association of Community Colleges and 14 other national postsecondary education organizations have agreed to use a new credential registry as well as common language to describe credential information in an effort to make credential dat...
NASFAA Mention: ED Dept Loosens Requirements for Academic Term Lengths November 8, 2019-"The U.S. Department of Education this week announced changes that will make it easier for programs with terms longer or shorter than a typical semester or quarter to disburse federal aid to students," Education Dive reports.
NASFAA Mention: 3 Legit Reasons for 'Negotiating' Your Aid Package November 12, 2019-"Talk to a financial aid administrator or admissions consultant, and the advice is the same: Never 'negotiate' your college award letter. For them, the word demeans the process," Student Loan Hero reports.
NASFAA Mention: Millennial Money: You Lost Your Job. Now What? November 13, 2019-"It doesn’t matter if you were fired or laid off, whether you saw it coming or were completely blindsided: Losing your job is disorienting," NerdWallet reports. "You’ll feel like you’re in a fog. And yet, in that fog you still need ...
NASFAA Mention: Report: Growth in State Aid to College Students Hits Decade High November 15, 2019-States doled out $13.6 billion in student aid in the 2017-18 academic year, up from $12.8 billion in 2016-17, according to an annual survey from the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs, Education Dive reports.
NASFAA Mention: FAFSA Says How Much You Can Pay for College. It’s Often Wrong. November 18, 2019-"Like millions of other parents, Julie Phipps filled out the federal form last November that determined her college-bound daughter was eligible for financial aid. She also learned how much the federal government figured her family could contribute to...
NASFAA Mention: A Seminary, Same-Sex Marriage and Student Privacy November 25, 2019-"A former student filed suit against Fuller Theological Seminary, claiming that it had expelled her because she was in a same-sex marriage," Inside Higher Ed reports. "The complaint filed by the former student, Joanna Maxon, says disciplinary proceed...
NASFAA Mention: Expert Answers to Your Financial Aid Questions December 3, 2019-"Whether you’re still filling out your first financial aid application or you’re out of school and paying off your loans, it’s likely that you have encountered questions along the way. The financial aid process isn’t always th...
NASFAA Mention: Remembering Jeff Appel December 3, 2019- "The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators said it was notified on Friday of the death of Appel, a career Education Department official," POLITICO Pro reported in its Morning Education newsletter.
NASFAA Mention: Next Steps Uncertain After Bipartisan Agreement December 5, 2019-"Higher education advocates are largely supportive of a new bipartisan amendment on federal funding for historically black colleges and universities, but some point to challenges in the road ahead," Inside Higher Ed reports.
NASFAA Mention: Meet Aidan, the U.S. Education Department’s Financial Aid Chatbot December 5, 2019-"With $1.5 trillion in outstanding loans to more than 40 million borrowers, the Federal Student Aid office ought to 'provide services on par with world-class financial firms,' U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said Tuesday at the office’s...
NASFAA Mention: Senate Passes HBCU Funding, FAFSA Changes December 6, 2019-"The bipartisan deal announced Tuesday to amend legislation tied to funding historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions is moving quickly. It's already been passed in the U.S. Senate," Inside Higher Ed reports...
NASFAA Mention: Confusion Still Reigns Over Student Aid. Here's Why. December 11, 2019-"Congress has just approved some changes to simplify how students apply for federal student aid. OK, great. But hold the applause. Even as the process of applying for federal student aid may be getting improved thanks to bipartisan legislation, the w...