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CampusLogic. "Our old [award letter] process was 85% manual," says Neumann University's DFA. "The setup, template creation, mail-merge, Excel spreadsheets, those things were nothing compared to how overwhelming all of the information was for our students." Learn how different things are since Neumann maximized Colleague with AwardLetter by CampusLogic

This week, in an extended episode of "Off The Cuff," Justin and Megan are joined by New America's Rachel Fishman and uAspire's Laura Keane to discuss their recent research on challenges with the formatting of financial aid award letters. Rachel and Laura give a high-level description of their research, what they found, and recommendations for how institutions can make award letters more digestible for students and parents. Meanwhile, Justin and Megan share some insights from NASFAA's own research on consumer information and award letters, and how stakeholders from all sides — including students, institutions, software providers, and more — must work together to establish best practices. Next week's episode will be a live recording from NASFAA's 2018 National Conference — we hope to see you all in Austin!

As Judy Lewis Logue prepares to retire after 55 years working in financial aid next winter, she will be leaving a lot behind, such as friends, colleagues, and a slew of red noses. That’s because Logue hopes that after she steps down as the director of financial aid at the University of San Diego (USD), her staff will continue the tradition she started three years ago of fighting childhood poverty by supporting the nationwide effort known as Red Nose Day.

Each time you access the NASFAA Conference App and take certain actions—like downloading a session handout, connecting with a conference sponsor or exhibitor, connecting with other attendees, etc.—you will earn points. QR Codes will be at each exhibitor’s booth, so you can learn about new products and services and earn points at the same time. The person with the most points at 5:15 pm on Wednesday, June 26 will win a free 2020 National Conference registration, second place will receive a 2020 NASFAA Leadership & Legislative Conference & Expo registration, and third, fourth, and fifth place winners will receive a complimentary NASFAA U online course registration of their choosing.

With two volumes of the FSA Handbook updated for the 2018-19 award year, we have followed suit with updating the Student Aid Index. We've updated the following modules: Administrative Capability, Need Analysis, Professional Judgment, Satisfactory Academic Progress, and Student Eligibility. We value your feedback. Please use the feedback form to tell us what we're doing well, or what you'd like to see more of.

If you were unable to tune in for the live June 6 webinar on the Top Five Compliance Issues and How to Avoid Them, you can order the webinar recording now and watch it at your convenience. You’ll have full access to the webinar archive and handout, as well as access to the Top 20 Most Frequently Asked Questions document compiled from questions submitted by attendees during the live webcast. If you attended the live event, you can still use your registration link to access the on-demand event and FAQ document. Order today.

Federal Student Aid released three new reports that segment federal student loan borrowers by two demographic levels, including age and location; age and debt size; and debt size and location. The new reports were posted to the FSA Data Center along with a series of updates to the quarterly application, disbursement, and portfolio reports to include data through March 31, 2018. Federal Student Aid proactively posts these reports in support of open government initiatives to help ensure consistency, increase transparency, and establish self-service opportunities for stakeholders.

On June 6, 2018, the Department published an Electronic Announcement that notes decreased origination fees for Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and Direct PLUS Loans (for both parent and graduate student borrowers) with a first disbursement on or after October 1, 2018 and before October 1, 2019. In this announcement, the Department reminds schools how the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System will process Direct Loans with the new origination fees and how to correct records if necessary.

"For many college students, summer is a time to pursue internships, work full-time or otherwise take a break from classes. Not so this year for many students at Louisiana community colleges," Inside Higher Ed reports. 

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