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today’s news for Friday, October 23, 2015

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NEWS FROM NASFAA

Can a school retroactively pay a Federal Pell Grant after a student has been approved for a total and permanent disability (TPD) discharge? The student attended the spring 2015 term, but the discharge was not approved until after the semester ended and NSLDS has not been updated with the discharge. Read on to see if you got the answer right.

NASFAA recently asked members how they got their start in financial aid careers. Most of those who responded - just over one-third of respondents (34.3 percent) - said they started off as a work-study student while in college. The two next most frequent responses were that they began in admissions or another college administrative office (22.4 percent), or needed a job and saw an advertisement (21.6 percent). Another 14.2 percent listed "other" as their start, while 5.6 percent said they started in banking or the student loan industry. If you have yet to chime in, take the poll and peruse past Poll the Pros questions and results.

Leadership Conference

If you're a current or aspiring financial aid association leader, don't miss a track geared just toward you at NASFAA's 2018 Leadership & Legislative Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C. in February. In addition to sessions that will provide you with the tools you need to build your governance skills and address legal and financial issues that come your way, attendees will have the option to spend the third day of the conference on Capitol Hill. Register by January 12 to save $100.

Do you know a former student who received financial aid and went on to graduate and do something special with his or her life? If so, please submit that story for possible inclusion in the next Student Aid Success Stories publication, which is being compiled as part of NASFAA's 50th Anniversary Celebration. One or two stories will be selected from every state for publication. Up to five individuals will be invited to speak at the 2016 NASFAA Conference to share their stories with conference attendees. Submissions are due by February 1 - share your story today.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The Department provides the community with preliminary information about a Web-based application that it will implement later this year, to support the gainful employment (GE) challenges and appeals process. 

The purpose of this Electronic Announcement is to provide answers to some questions the Department has received since publication of Dear Colleague Letter GEN-15-09.

x - HEADLINES

National News

"Roughly 10 hours be­fore a pop­u­lar form of need-based col­lege aid was to sun­set, Sen. Lamar Al­ex­an­der took to the Sen­ate floor and ob­jec­ted to un­an­im­ous con­sent. And with that, the Sen­ate could no longer ap­prove a House-passed, one-year ex­ten­sion of the Per­kins Loan pro­gram that had garnered some bi­par­tis­an sup­port in the up­per cham­ber," according to The National Journal.

"Are the farmers who grow the nation’s food public servants? Not according to the government — but some advocates and bipartisan legislators are trying to change that, pushing a proposal to add farming to the list of public service fields entitled to student debt forgiveness," MarketWatch reports.

"As the cost of college in the U.S. soars to record levels, more American students are enrolling in schools abroad, where tuition fees are substantially lower — and in some cases nonexistent," MarketWatch reports.

"Apollo Education Group, the parent company of The University of Phoenix, announced its fourth-quarter earnings Thursday morning, and things don't look great for the for-profit college," Business Insider reports.

State News

"A former financial aid director for an Idaho college who prosecutors say offered scholarships to students in exchange for sex has been sentenced to 107 days in jail after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the case, court officials said," Reuters reports.

Opinions

"The U.S. Department of Education recently released a proposed rule that turns back the clock on the disbursement of federal financial aid refunds to students to a time when the process was slow, costly, vulnerable to fraud and burdensome. Schools, students and financial aid administrators across the country have urged the department to fix the rule. Congress should do the same," Linda S. Williams, financial aid program manager at Sierra College and president of the California Community Colleges Student Financial Aid Administrators Association, writes in an opinion piece for Roll Call.

"The rising cost of college has become a fixture of national conversation, with 2016 presidential candidates on both sides floating ideas for tackling it, and thought leaders debating whether mounting student debt constitutes a 'crisis.' This could lead students and parents to wring their hands about whether the payoff from college merits the price tag," Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, writes in an opinion piece for Money.

Blogs & Think Tanks

"According to a report from Bloomberg, the United States Supreme Court may take up a case on whether federal student loans should have more lenient bankruptcy provisions," Alexander Holt writes in New America's EdCentral.

"It’s been almost a year since student debt collector ECMC Group purchased dozens of campuses from Corinthian Colleges, the bankrupt company that ran Everest, Heald College and WyoTech schools. The new owner had lofty ambitions of turning the for-profit colleges into premier nonprofit schools, so has it?" The Washington Post's Grade Point asks.

"How’s 75 sound for a retirement age? Too far away? That could be the reality for today’s college graduates, according to NerdWallet research released today," according to NerdWallet.

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