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The College Board. For more than six decades, the College Board has been a leader and innovator in financial aid. College Board’s fully integrated financial aid solutions are designed to help your institution develop equitable, effective, and efficient financial aid policies and processes. Visit us at collegeboard.org. 

What do CUNY-New York City College of Technology, SUNY-Maritime College, Harvey Mudd College, and Emory University School of Law all have in common? They fall at the top of the list of colleges with the highest earnings for alumni of all higher education levels, according to a new analysis from PayScale. 

The amount of student loan debt reported by borrowers is significantly lower than the amount reported by lenders, according to a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY).

Whether you’re the financial aid director or an understudy rehearsing for the leading role, "You’re the Director: A Guide to Leadership in Student Financial Aid (2nd edition)" can help. This book is a must-have for new and aspiring financial aid professionals, as well as for seasoned financial aid directors seeking to improve their leadership skills. Order your copy today.

New for the 2015-16 program year, the Satisfactory Academic Progress Self-Study Guide provides an overview of satisfactory academic progress (SAP) concepts and guides the learner through evaluating SAP, appeals, and additional policy considerations. Quick quizzes, learning activities, and reflection questions help reinforce content and help individuals understand SAP. Completion of this self-study guide qualifies individuals to take the NASFAA University credential exam on satisfactory academic progress.

This is a reminder of the upcoming deadline for submitting the Fiscal Operations Report for 2014-2015 and the Application to Participate for 2016-2017 (FISAP) for the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan), Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs.

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.

The Department's federal offices as well as its Title IV processors and contact centers will be closed on Monday, September 7, 2015 to observe the Labor Day federal holiday.

"A recent hacker attack against the Internal Revenue Service has created a hurdle for some Pell Grant recipients this summer," according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. NASFAA's Justin Draeger is quoted.

"Parents of college-bound students may fret about the amount of money they've saved for college. But the type of investments they choose also factor into deciding how much financial aid their child will get for school," according to U.S. News & World Report. "'What I do say, when we're talking about assets – because I do think that people get very concerned about assets and the impact on financial aid – is that assets are much less a factor in the whole formula then income is,' [NASFAA's Karen McCarthy] says."

"Some of the student activists who are urging the U.S. Department of Education to grant more sweeping loan forgiveness for debt incurred at the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges campuses are set to receive $4 million to continue to press their case -- and possibly haul the department into court over the issue," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Thanks to a new bill veterans won't have to worry about paying out-of-state tuition at any public university. Provisions in the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 will require all public universities to offer in-state tuition to veterans making use of their GI Bill," The Shreveport Times reports.

"A government program that allows student-loan borrowers to significantly reduce their monthly payments is growing in popularity—and increasingly eating into federal coffers," The National Journal reports.

"A number of state and federal agencies are objecting to the broad releases of liability in defunct for-profit college operator Corinthian Colleges Inc.’s chapter 11 liquidation plan ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing Wednesday to consider approval of the proposal," The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Four-year public colleges and universities have increased their education-related spending even as overall funding has declined," Inside Higher Ed reports. "The revenue declines are due to lowering state contributions. And while public universities have raised tuition rates to make up for large state funding losses, they have not fully offset the difference with tuition hikes."

"Sunday, August 9th, marked one year since Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. ... To a lesser but related extent, it has also brought the issues of race and concentrated poverty to the forefront of public dialogue," Pacific Standard Magazine reports.

Forbes recently interviewed three higher education experts on ways to improve college pricing and paying for higher education. Below are excerpts from their interviews.

"The financial aid program at Penn — touted as one of the best in the country — has been rebranded as an 'all-grant' policy. Prior to the change made this summer, the program was referred to as a 'no-loan” policy,'" The Daily Pennsylvanian reports.

"Call it a humane form of higher-ed financing or a shameless play for millennial votes: The message is taking hold in Congress, and on the presidential campaign trail, that more Americans should be able to repay college and grad-school debts according to their income — not in fixed payments — and be forgiven if their earnings fall short," Dante Ramos writes in an opinion piece for The Boston Globe.

"Total student loan debt and the average per-student debt are at record highs. The percentage of student loan defaults is too: almost 15%. But, is college still worth the investment?" Laura Shin asks in an opinion piece for Forbes.

"As the economy continues to recover and social movements directed at addressing inequality continue to gain steam, one field of philanthropy that is in ascent is asset building, which helps low income people build up savings to expand their economic opportunity," according to The Chronicle of Social Change.

"Teacher pay ranks among the most contentious education issues for policy leaders and the public. ... But a far less controversial issue about teachers and money also deserves public scrutiny: teacher loan forgiveness," Ellen Sherratt, senior researcher for the American Institute for Research, writes in the group's InformED Blog.

"We recently devoted an entire post to explaining all the details, facts and myths surrounding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. If you're a regular reader, you know that we talk about loan forgiveness a lot, but that's because we get asked about it – a lot," according to U.S. News & World Report's Student Loan Ranger.

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