Brought to you by:

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

The Department of Education's (ED) plan to end its use of private collections agencies (PCAs) to recoup student loan dollars from defaulted borrowers was halted on Friday when a federal judge prevented ED from cancelling the solicitation.

On Sept. 14, 2018, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) posted a 2019–20 Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP) clarification for how to report a Federal Perkins Loan borrower who began the 2017–18 academic year as an undergraduate student and ended the academic year as a graduate student. ED updated pages VI-1 to VI-3 of the FISAP instructions to include the clarification to Part VI, Section A—Distribution of Program Recipients and Expenditures by Type of Student.

In a new issue brief released last week, NASFAA urges Congress to pass legislation that requires standardized terms and elements of the financial aid award notification but does not restrict institutions’ ability to communicate financial aid eligibility to their students in the way that is most meaningful and relevant to them. Lawmakers should also avoid requiring a standardized financial aid award notification to preserve the ability of colleges and universities to properly and clearly communicate the varying student aid options available at that institution, the brief says. Share the policy issue brief with your networks to help inform policymakers and the higher ed community about this issue and head to NASFAA's Advocacy Resources page for more tools to support your advocacy efforts.

As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, NASFAA is launching a new Diversity Leadership Program (DLP) aimed at advancing the careers of individuals from identified under-represented groups in the association—and creating a strong and diverse pipeline for association leadership. The DLP will provide the six selected participants with a robust portfolio of benefits, mentorship, and guidance on how to develop as a financial aid association leader at the state, regional, and national level. Please refer to the DLP webpage for more information about program benefits, the applicant selection process, and eligibility criteria. Applications are due Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018.

Federal Student Aid announced the posting of the 2019-2020 Summary of Changes for the Application Processing System guide. This guide provides information about changes and enhancements made to the application processing system for 2019–20.

On Sept. 14, 2018, Federal Student Aid replaced the 2019–20 FISAP Instructions document to add clarifying information to Part VI – Section A – Distribution of Program Recipients and Expenditures by Type of Student, pages VI-1, VI-2 and VI-3. 

"Malicious attackers have recently tried to gain access to students' financial aid refunds at multiple colleges in a scheme that involves sending fraudulent emails to students, according to a warning issued by the Education Department," The Washington Post reports.

VIEW NEXT ISSUE

Contact us to submit questions, content or to purchase advertisements.