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Ocelot. New research shows the breakdown between institutions and students rests with inaccessible information, inconsistent advice, and confusing systems. Get the full results, insights, and case studies on how institutions can scale the personal touch and bridge the engagement gap. Download the report.

Each year, droves of academically qualified students miss out on the federal funds they could receive to help them defray the cost of college. NASFAA today released a series of 10 papers that provide policy recommendations to help streamline the FAFSA, the culmination of a year-long project in which NASFAA, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, enlisted and joined subject-matter experts in assessing the current validity of previous work done on FAFSA efficiency and exploring new simplification concepts. Authors included Seton Hall University Associate Professor Robert Kelchen, and staff from the Center for American Progress, The Century Foundation, the Center for Law and Social Policy, Iowa College Aid, the National College Attainment Network and the Urban Institute. Read the papers, as well as the 13 recommendations NASFAA felt would resonate most with its membership and included in its executive summary as official FAFSA simplification recommendations for Congress.

Much has been discussed in recent months about the future of higher education following the massive disruption caused by the ongoing pandemic, and one thing panelists on Tuesday made clear is that innovation will be needed for higher education to survive the economic downturn. In the final session of NASFAA’s 2020 Summer Training Series on Tuesday, higher education experts and leaders provided a glimpse into the future of how the sector needs to adapt as a whole and what individual institutions are doing to best assist students through a year that will surely look different from previous ones.

As congressional leadership continues to reconcile its next coronavirus aid package a group of higher education advocates is urging Congress to revise aid allocation for community colleges as a part of a finalized stimulus measure. In a letter sent to congressional leaders, nearly a dozen higher education groups request that any implemented legislation use unduplicated headcount as its measure of higher education enrollment, instead of a measure that counts students by full-time equivalents (FTE). “Using headcount instead of FTE would be a better approach, as the former approach treats all Pell [Grant] students equally in a distribution of relief money,” the letter reads. “This approach recognizes that financial struggles do not cleanly prorate based upon the number of college courses someone takes.” The letter goes on to provide examples as to how FTE disadvantages two-year public or minority-serving institutions by undercounting their Pell recipients more severely than public four-year colleges even though public colleges of two years or less educate about 100,000 more Pell Grant recipients than four-year public colleges.

The regulatory language in 34 CFR 668.54(b) does not mention a verification exclusion due to the death of a parent. However, the Application and Verification Guide (AVG) volume of the FSA Handbook does. According to guidance NASFAA has received from ED, this verification exclusion applies only to the parent or parents whose information is required to be reported on the FAFSA. If only one parent is reported on the FAFSA, then only that parent needs to be deceased to be excluded from verification. If both parents are on the FAFSA, then both parents need to be deceased to be excluded from verification. View the full answer to this question to learn more and search for answers to your other pressing regulatory and compliance questions, in NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase.

No. Under current U.S. Department of Education (ED) guidance, students cannot continue to be paid Federal Work-Study (FWS) while they are not working in an FWS position for the upcoming 2020-21 award year. ED has not extended the March 5, 2020 Electronic Announcement and April 3, 2020 Electronic Announcement guidance to cover the 2020-21 award year, including a summer crossover payment period that is attached to the 2020-21 award year. View the full answer to this question to learn more and search for answers to your other pressing regulatory and compliance questions, in NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase.

Tending to mental health is of the utmost importance for those on college campuses today — not just for the student body, but for staff, as well — as it can have far-reaching effects on our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. NASFAA members can attest to the fact that financial aid is a high-stress profession, but some may lack emotional support or have additional external stressors that foster an environment for less-than-ideal mental and emotional wellness. Join us today, August 5, at 1:00 p.m. ET, for NASFAA’s pop-up webinar where presenters Dr. Mike Ronsisvalle and Alana Sadhu, both of the Florida Counseling Centers' LiveWell Coaching program, will provide evidence-based solutions you can use to reduce your stress level. This webinar is free to NASFAA members, but you must register in advance.

The NASFAA U Satisfactory Academic Progress online course is a four-week interactive online course which focuses on an overview of the required and optional elements of an institutional satisfactory academic progress (SAP) policy. The course begins September 22 and includes topics such as calculating pace, student appeals, the impact of transfer credits, and the use of academic plans. Live instruction, discussion topic collaboration, and assessments throughout the course will reinforce key concepts. Upon passing the course, you will receive complimentary access to the credential test. The course is filling quickly, so register now.

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