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Sessions held at the 2015 National Conference in New Orleans allowed attendees to get updates directly from Department of Education (ED) officials about myriad topics, including the 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit and Verification for 2016-17. Get a quick take of what was covered in these two sessions and for highlights and summaries of key events and other sessions that were held at the 2015 National Conference in New Orleans, see our summaries page.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Wednesday held its eighth hearing on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), this time turning its focus to finding opportunities to improve student success.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Access to Fair Financial Options for Repaying Debt (AFFORD Act) on August 5, which would replace all current Direct Loan repayment plans with two: an income-based repayment (IBR) plan that is modeled on, but differs from, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and a fixed repayment plan that would provide up to 25 years to repay depending on the amount borrowed. The bill would add a new element to entrance counseling, to give affected borrowers information about the two available plans. It would also provide an opportunity for annual loan counseling, as a borrower choice.

As the summer comes to an end, many college campuses across the country are preparing for the return of students. And while the majority of students’ tasks involve last-minute things like financial aid paperwork and decisions about classes, financial aid offices have been planning for weeks, and in some cases months, on ways to help set  students up for success ahead of the fall semester.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reintroduced a bill on August 5 to require more transparent disclosures by private education loan lenders. The Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act (Christopher’s Law) mostly amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), but also affects the Higher Education Act (HEA). NASFAA has expressed support for this bill in the past.

This announcement explains how 2015-2016 supplemental award funds for each of the Campus-Based programs will be distributed and how schools will be notified of supplemental awards.

Subsequent to a May 27, 2015 publication, the Department of Education discovered that the Education Savings and Asset Protection Allowance tables (often referred to as the "APA Tables") included in that notice were incorrect.

"Senators and representatives on their respective chambers’ education committees are having a big year. The 14-year-old No Child Left Behind finally got a rewrite in July when House Republicans — plus one Democrat — and a bipartisan coalition from the Senate approved dueling versions of a bill that expired in 2007. Figuring out how to combine those bills, with their distinct policy goals, is its own monster, but Congressional leaders hope to figure out a way by the end of the year," Education Dive reports. "The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has come up with an alternate solution that would provide more nuanced information."

"Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation into an Education Department report that cleared agency contractors of cheating military servicemen and women on their federal student loans, accusing the department of conducting a deeply flawed review," The Washington Post reports.

"Only a small number of top-performing high school students from low-income backgrounds get admitted to elite colleges. This so-called undermatching problem has gained the attention of academic researchers, the White House and the news media in recent years," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"For the past 30 years, U.S. colleges and universities have been increasing tuition costs by 2% to 5% per year. But that doesn’t mean all those dollars are allocated for increased school spending on student education. Despite the tuition hikes, education spending is flat or falling at many public and private institutions. With revenue streams like state subsidies drying up, colleges aren’t relying as heavily on those means to pay for the cost of education—they’re making students and families pay for more of it themselves," Forbes reports.

"Students hitting the college bookstore this fall will get a stark lesson in economics before they've cracked open their first chapter. Textbook prices are soaring. Some experts say it's because they're sold like drugs," NBC News reports.

"Significantly more Maryland high school students are earning college credit before graduating high school, according to the Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC)," Community College Daily reports.

"The White House plan announced last week to award federal education funding to prison inmates spotlighted a population that is often an afterthought in the national discussion on college access," the Los Angeles Times reports.

"Shaw University's decision to change how its financial aid money is distributed prompted an outcry Tuesday from students and families," WRAL reports.

"Citing declining student enrollment, officials with Mount Washington College announced Tuesday the school has stopped accepting new students and will close its Manchester campus in April 2016," the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.

"When a certain college that already costs in excess of $60,000 a year announced a tuition increase of $10,000 for next year, that was the last straw — at least for my family. Higher ed doesn’t have to mean higher debt loads," Emil Guillermo with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund writes in an opinion piece for Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

"As politicians grapple with the issue of student debt, a few have turned to a novel financing option called income-share agreements (or ISAs) as one part of the solution on this issue. Presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who introduced ISA legislation in 2014, and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey both mentioned ISAs in major campaign speeches recently. And last week, Reps. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Jared Polis, D-Colo., introduced bipartisan legislation on this idea," Kevin James writes in U.S. News & World Report's Knowledge Bank blog.

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