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In a wide-ranging conversation on college access and affordability, President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan formally announced, at a town hall meeting held yesterday in Des Moines, the simplification of the FAFSA application through the use of prior-prior year income data. By moving the application date up to October 1, Obama said, students and families won’t have to wait months for information from W-2 forms to arrive in order to apply for federal aid.

The purpose of the PPY Implementation Task Force is to proactively identify implementation issues and collaborate with the Department of Education to ensure a successful rollout of prior-prior year (PPY). Among other things, task force members will solicit and deliver feedback from the NASFAA membership and board of directors on PPY rollout; identify best practices, Q&As, and trainings related to PPY for the NASFAA membership; identify and address any issues impacting financial aid computer systems during a PPY transition; and deliver final recommendations on the evolution of PPY going forward. Review the complete task force charter for more details and, if interested, complete the volunteer form.

NASFAA is committed to doing all we can to ensure a smooth transition to prior-prior year (PPY) for schools and students. Last week, we asked you to share your thoughts on what processes and procedures throughout the campus will be affected, what consumer information will need to be updated, and how this will affect our financial aid management systems and we've received 26 comments so far. Take a look at what your peers had to say and, if you haven't already, share your own thoughts in the comments section.

The Minority College Cohort Study recently released the first of three reports discussing the psychological costs of going to college for black and Latino students. The report looks at financial distress, which the authors describe as the “students’ perception of the adequacy of their finances rather than the actual amount of debt and unmet need—and its effects on student well-being via diminished feelings of belonging and commitment to educational goals, heightened doubt about the benefits of college, and stress and depression.”

Class starts in less than one month, so register now for NASFAA University’s Online Course Verification 2016-17 and learn with the best! This 100% online course focuses on the principles of verification, information subject to verification, acceptable documentation, processing data corrections, how to verify applicant files in accordance with Title IV verification requirements, and options for institutional verification. Passing this online course provides a NASFAA University Professional Credential.

Through the Pell for Students who are Incarcerated experiment (also known as Second Chance Pell) the Department of Education will provide selected eligible postsecondary institutions with a waiver to the current statutory ban on incarcerated individuals, who are otherwise eligible, from receiving Federal Pell Grant funds to attend eligible postsecondary programs.

The meeting will be held on October 28, 29, and 30, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. until approximately 5:00 p.m., at the U.S. Department of Education, Eighth Floor Conference Center, Office of Postsecondary Education, 1990 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20006.

"College-bound students will be able to get earlier estimates of their eligibility for federal grants and loans next fall as the White House moves to simplify the way the government determines financial aid," The Washington Post reports. "Letting students use family income from two years earlier could push the reform movement in the right direction, said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Aid Administrators."

"There is big news today for prospective college students and their parents. It comes from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who is in Iowa with President Obama for his annual Back to School Bus Tour," according to NPR. "'It's really a win-win for everybody,' says Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. 'Ultimately, this is gonna mean less work for [students] and less work for schools.'"

"Plenty of questions remain unanswered after the White House announced Sunday a rejiggering of when and how students apply for federal financial aid," Inside Higher Ed reports. "Starting in 2016 for the 2017-18 academic year, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid will be available earlier, in October rather than January, and applicants will be able to use income information from two-year-old completed tax returns rather than sometimes incomplete information from the previous year." NASFAA President Justin Draeger is quoted.

"Federal officials are making it easier for students and their families to apply for federal loans and grants for college, allowing them to complete the forms starting in October, rather than January," The Detroit News reports. "The White House says the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators whose members serve 90 percent of undergraduates, expects hundreds of institutions to adjust their financial aid processes to align with the changes before the 2017-18 academic year."

"Applying for financial aid can be a pain. But the federal government will start allowing students to file their applications three months earlier, aiming to make the messy process a little easier to handle," CNN reports.

"Families should be able to estimate sooner how much they'll need to come up with to send students to college under a change President Barack Obama announced Monday," Investment News reports. "'It is a single change that will create a ripple of positive implications for students,' said Justin Draeger, chief executive of NASFAA."

The Obama Administration on Saturday released a new database of information on college student outcomes and loan repayment, as well as an updated College Scorecard designed to help students and families make better-informed decisions about choosing a college. The revamped College Scorecard includes a trove of data that was previously unavailable to the public, or extremely difficult to obtain. NASFAA provides a roundup of news, reactions, and insights into the new tool.

"Like many students at the College of Southern Nevada, Brenda Romero goes to class, studies regularly and finds time for extracurricular activities. ... But unlike many other students, Romero has faced obstacles when trying to pursue higher education while being undocumented," The Las Vegas Review Journal reports.

"The goal is instantly familiar to any parent (and most children): the hope that one day, your kids will be able to make a better life for themselves than the one you were able to live, and, in turn, that they will provide greater opportunities for generations yet to come," Molly Banta writes in an opinion piece for The Wilson Quarterly.

"Imagine you are adrift in a small, overcrowded lifeboat that is quickly taking on water. Calmly, the captain stands. 'Don’t panic,' he urges, 'I have this under control.' He then proceeds to drill a few holes in the bottom of the boat, 'to let the water out.' Ridiculous as it sounds, that picture captures President Obama’s plan for dealing with the student loan crisis," John E. Sununu, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, writes in an opinion piece for The Boston Globe.

"President Barack Obama is expected to visit North High School in Des Moines on Monday to talk about the affordability of higher education. He said he’s looking forward to having a conversation with college-bound students and their parents who 'are trying to figure out how to pay for it,'" according to an editorial in the Des Moines Register.

"Our current higher education system is outdated and fundamentally broken," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is running for president, writes in an opinion piece for The Des Moines Register.

"The White House made two higher education announcements over the weekend, and you can expect to hear more on higher ed today as U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan embarks on his annual bus tour," according to Politico's Morning Education. "The action opens the door to other changes that would simplify and improve the FAFSA, a goal for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators."

"President Barack Obama is announcing some changes to the notoriously difficult process students and families must go through in applying for federal financial aid, using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA," Education Week's Politics K-12 reports. "The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators is a fan of the change, known in higher-ed circles as 'prior-prior,' as you can see from this wonky policy brief it wrote on the issue." 

"Applying for federal financial aid can often mean a serious time crunch. Students must file their taxes for the previous year in order to know how much help they'll get. But taxes aren't due until April 15 — and many colleges expect students to make a decision by May 1. The Obama administration has decided to change the rules," according to Vox. "A study from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators found that students from the lowest-income families were the least likely to have their incomes change from year to year, meaning they'd benefit most from being able to use earlier income data."

"Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will introduce legislation this week aimed at increasing students' awareness of their ability to pay back federal loans," The Hill's Floor Action reports.

"Jessica King, 33, is a single mother who works as a bartender and bookkeeper while she participates in the Debt Collective, on offshoot of Occupy Wall Street that is working on a process with the U.S. Department of Education to forgive debt for graduates of for-profit colleges. King has been working with them for several months and going to meetings with education officials in Washington D.C.," according to ThinkProgress.

"There’s plenty we already know about student debt: We all tend to have a lot of it (trillions of dollars are owed in the U.S. alone), it’s tough to pay back (especially when you don’t owe a lot) and it obviously makes us all cry a lot," according to MTV News.

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