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today’s news for Monday, July 20, 2015

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NEWS FROM NASFAA

Nearly 2,500 financial aid professionals convened in New Orleans, LA Sunday for networking and professional development at the 2015 NASFAA National Conference. Read on for summaries of selected sessions and follow along with conference happenings in real time on Facebook and Twitter using #NASFAA2015.

Welcome to another edition of NASFAA’s Partners in Policy, an occasional series in which we profile colleagues at the associations, foundations, and think tanks that NASFAA works with to advance higher education and financial aid policies. In this installment, we profile Kim Cook and Carrie Warick with the National College Access Network (NCAN).

The Department of Education (ED) announced Friday that, in an effort to increase completion rates among low-income and first-generation college students, it will be providing $270 million to 968 institutions to be spent on "academic and other support services they need to succeed in college." The funding will "provide critical support to students who can benefit from extra help and encouragement along their college journey, enabling them to reach their personal goals and contribute to the economic vitality of our nation," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in the press release. Refer to the release for a list of the grantees and the amounts they have been awarded. 

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NASFAA is here to help you stay up to date on the top policy events occurring throughout the week in Washington, D.C. and, when applicable, across the country. Make sure to check back in to Today's News each morning for coverage of some of the events, and email us at [email protected] if you're aware of upcoming policy events that could be of interest to the financial aid community.

Congress:
The House is in session Monday through Wednesday. The Senate is in session Monday through Friday.

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The COD Processing Update provides information related to COD System processing and includes the following sections: COD News and Updates, Current Issues (with a subsection for All Programs, Direct Loans, and Grants), and Reminders.

This Electronic Announcement is an important reminder that the creation of an FSA ID must only be accomplished by the individual who owns the FSA ID and only that person may use the FSA ID.

x - FEDERAL REGISTER

The Secretary is publishing the following list of correspondence from the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to individuals during the second and third quarters of 2014. The correspondence describes the Department's interpretations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or the regulations that implement the IDEA.

x - HEADLINES

National News

"Is free college the answer for surging tuition and the crippling burden of student loan debt?" NBC News reports.

"Ms. [Janet] Roth, 68, worked in many jobs over the years, but she never made quite enough to pay back the $33,000 she borrowed years earlier for an education degree she couldn’t afford to complete, and certainly not the $95,000 it ballooned to in default," The New York Times reports.

"When Jesse Lambert lost his job in December, he was about a level seven for panic. After paying rent in Arlington, Va., the 33-year-old’s student loans for his undergraduate and master’s degrees were the next-biggest expense, at around $450 per month," Reuters reports. "Lambert’s first step was the one experts advise: He called his lender."

"A study published July 8 in the scientific journal PLOS ONE that found people who receive higher education outlive those who do not. What’s more, it also found that failing to obtain a high education could be as detrimental to a person’s life as smoking cigarettes," according to USA Today.

State News

"A decision from Motlow State Community College to opt out of a federal student loan program has led some of its students to scramble to find new ways to pay for their next classes," the Daily News Journal reports.

"California is poised to be the next domino to fall in offering 'free' two-year college to students. But questions remain over whether or not that domino will fall," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Legislation on community college tuition that's captured the nation's fancy — offering waivers to some needy students as soon as next year — will receive Gov. Kate Brown's signature Friday, the governor's office has announced," The Oregonian reports.

Opinions

"Earlier this summer, the Department of Education proposed new regulations addressing the management of Title IV funds and the distribution of financial aid refunds. As a system with 32 community college campuses that serves nearly 200,000 students, Ivy Tech processes on average 155,000 financial aid balance disbursements each year," Thomas J. Snyder, president of Ivy Tech Community College, writes in an opinion piece for Inside Higher Ed.

Blogs & Think Tanks

"In the push to get more young people from poor households to attend college, some schools have taken an aggressive approach: Enroll them in college classes while they are still in high school," Moriah Balingit writes in The Washington Post's Grade Point blog.

"As a number of scholars have pointed out, on average, college still pays—even in light of the relatively high debt levels we see today. ... But very few studies have asked whether this is also true in the rapidly-growing for-profit sector," according to the Brookings Institute's The Brown Center Chalkboard.

x - STATE & REGIONAL NEWS

The Institute, held October 7-9, 2015, is geared toward senior-level financial aid administrators. You must be a SASFAA member to attend.

x - INDUSTRY NEWS

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