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Inceptia's SAP Advisor is a fully automated online solution that provides students, faculty and the financial aid staff with the tools to effectively manage Satisfactory Academic Progress appeals quickly and seamlessly. SAP Advisor increases efficiency and empowers students to actively engage which improves the opportunity for successful outcomes. Visit Inceptia.org to learn more.

The large gap in completion between students who start their postsecondary education at two-year schools and those at four-year schools can be partly explained by difference in peers, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

NASFAA's "Title IV Eligibility Checklist for Domestic Institutions: Considerations for Adding New Programs and Locations" highlights the major areas an institution should review when adding new academic programs and locations and serves as a checklist to guide institutions through the process. The tool also includes a flowchart, which illustrates when an institution must obtain approval from and/or notify the Department of Education before awarding and disbursing Title IV aid to students enrolled in a new academic program. NASFAA suggests an institution conduct a comprehensive review of all Title IV institutional and program eligibility regulations and requirements prior to implementing a new program or additional location.

This collaborative course will teach you how to handle a student's Title IV funds when they withdraw from school before completing the payment period or period of enrollment. This is one of our most popular NASFAA U courses and sold out when offered last year. This class, beginning Jan. 30 , 2018, will be the only offering during this season. Register Now.

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

This announcement informs Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) Program lenders and lender servicers of new HEAL Program interest rates.

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.

The Department of Education regulations at 34 CFR 668.49 require institutions to collect statistics on fires occurring in on-campus student housing facilities, including the number and cause of each fire, the number of injuries related to each fire that required treatment at a medical facility, the number of deaths related to each fire, and the value of property damage caused by each fire.

Institutions participating in the Federal Perkins Loan program use the assignment form to assign loans to the Department for collection without recompense, transferring the authority to collect on the loan. This request is for continuing approval off the paper based assignment form and for approval of the electronic process being finalized.

"'It can be a very confusing and intimidating process for certain students, especially those whose parents aren't as financially savvy as some and haven't gone through it themselves,' said Megan McClean, a director at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators," the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports.

"'Free' has been the higher education buzzword of the year, as Democrats have proposed a range of plans to infuse billions of federal dollars into public institutions to lower tuition to zero or close to zero," Inside Higher Ed reports. "But as politicians pitch debt-free and tuition-free college, some are also pushing another narrative: that they expect students to work in exchange for those new benefits."

"Unlike cheerleading, ultimate frisbee and flip cup, one feature of US higher education that has struggled to cross the Atlantic is the concept of small, campus-based, liberal arts colleges," The Guardian reports.

"Students at Lynn University soon will be able to earn 15 credits by completing a 16-week academic program in technology design at a distant campus of General Assembly, the largest of the coding boot camps," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"The U.S. Department of Education has released college-by-college graduation rates for low-income students receiving federal grants, for the first time ever—information advocates, and Congress, have long demanded," according to The Hechinger Report. "But there turns out to be a problem: A lot of the numbers are wrong."

"Pennsylvania's state-owned universities [on Thursday] waded more deeply into 'pricing flexibility,' an experiment supporters say helps campuses better align tuition and fees with market conditions, but opponents say makes the schools less affordable," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

"The 2016 presidential campaigns have begun to focus on higher education in some important ways, with candidates like Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio underscoring the rising cost of college, the impacts of student debt, and how to make college more affordable. Those are critical issues, to be sure, but there’s another way the government could use its resources to help students get exactly the education they need," the Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis writes for Politico.

"The U.S. Department of Defense has put the University of Phoenix on probation and prohibited it from enrolling new students who are using the department’s Tuition Assistance Program, which provides financial aid to active-duty servicemembers. While on probationary status, Phoenix can continue to serve previously accepted active-duty servicemembers using their Tuition Assistance funds, but it cannot enroll new servicemembers who pay with those funds," according to The Chronicle of Higher Education's Ticker blog.

"The financial crisis has contributed to a major rise in student debt in America. In my testimony today, I will discuss the opportunities and challenges with private capital participation, including the emergence of new products, such as those that obligate future income. While investigating alternative models of financing higher education through private capital sources is worthwhile, this must be informed by a careful examination of past problems in the marketplace. The emergence of new products is a reminder of the need to modernize our student loan consumer protection framework and ensure fair competition," said Rohit Chopra, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, in a testimony before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee last week.

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