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With the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, members of Congress unveil new proposals for the future of higher education on a continuous basis. NASFAA's new series, The Capitol Recap, will provide monthly updates on new pieces of legislation introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to provide aid administrators with most up-to-date information for their offices and their own administration.

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:

• Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Meeting for Borrower Defense, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm ET
• State of the Union Address, 9:00 pm ET

Wednesday:

• Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Meeting for Borrower Defense, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm ET

Thursday:

• Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Meeting for Borrower Defense, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm ET

"Many college freshmen arriving on campus this month have no idea how big of a bill they will be footing when they finish up their first year of school," NBC News reports. "Another study by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators found that a tenth of students underestimated how much they owe in loans by $10,000 or more, made worse by the fact that financial aid isn't always spelled out in clear terms."

"Work colleges, including one in the St. Louis region and another in south central Missouri, could get more attention from Congress in the coming months," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

"Louis Blackmon was 11 when the floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Katrina churned through his family’s East New Orleans home, filling it with brackish water and plastering the ceiling with mud and mold," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. "Few of his friends and relatives made it back to the poor, mostly black neighborhood where he grew up. Far fewer had found their way to college a decade later."

"Arizona unexpectedly ended the 2015 fiscal year $325 million in the black. As a result, some lawmakers are discussing restoring the funds cut from the state’s three public universities in the current budget," Arizona Public Radio reports.

"Eastern Oklahoma State College has been ordered to repay more than $1 million to the federal government after the U.S. Department of Education said some students at the institution received student aid when they weren't eligible," the McAlester News-Capital reports.

"University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel said in a recent sit-down meeting with The Ann Arbor News that one of his top priorities is finding a way to increase diversity among faculty and students, and he didn't limit diversity to race or ethnicity," The Ann Arbor News reports.

"More students than ever are going to college in the United States. In 2013, degree-granting higher education institutions in the U.S. enrolled 17.5 million students, which is an increase of more than 45 percent over the last 25 years," according to the Brookings Institution. "There are a number of reasons that more students are going to more school. While some are continuing their education because it’s expected of them, millions more are doing so because they’ve been told a degree will open doors that would otherwise remain shut."

"National student loan debt now clocks in at a staggering $1.2 trillion. Just four in ten Americans possess a college degree. To boot, a third of college graduates aren’t ready for the workforce, says the business community," according to the Committee for Economic Development. "It’s unequivocally clear: once the envy of the world, America’s higher education system isn’t up to par on several fronts."

"...Every year, hundreds of thousands of students go to college uncertain of the value of the degree they'll eventually earn. Some of them land at unscrupulous colleges that put tuition revenue first and foremost. Many of them will transfer before graduation. Most of those will worry about whether their credits will come with them. that are supposed to protect them. And many students graduate with crushing amounts of debt," Libby Nelson writes for Vox. "Most of those students don't become national politicians with the ability to change the face of higher education."

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