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today’s news for Monday, October 26, 2015

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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:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The Department of Education is announcing the release of the Updated GE Disclosure Template. Institutions must, no later than January 31, 2016, update disclosures for each of their GE programs to reflect information from the 2014-2015 award year using this updated Disclosure Template to meet their disclosure requirements under 34 CFR 668.6(b).

Institutions have asked for two clarifications on the certification requirements in 34 CFR 668.414(d)(2) and (d)(3) as they relate to programmatic accreditation.

This newsletter describes recent enhancements to the NSLDS Exit Counseling Submittal Functionality on the NSLDS Professional Access Web site, and to the Exit Counseling Submittal Template.

x - HEADLINES

National News

"A group of activists is asking the government to stop taking seniors’ Social Security benefits to pay back defaulted student loans," MarketWatch reports.

"The college experience that [Shannon] Travis and [Patrick] Robbins received was made possible with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which offers service members and their families some of the most comprehensive and generous benefits yet since the original iteration of the GI Bill. Under the Yellow Ribbon Program of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, military members can receive up to $21,084.89 of their tuition and fees at a private college or international school covered annually. Travis says that she would encourage all veterans or service members eligible for the GI Bill to make use of it, saying, 'If they don’t use it, they’re missing out on so, so much,'" Diverse Issues in Higher Education reports.

"Defaulting on your student loans can haunt you for the rest of your life, making it difficult to secure credit for other purchases and in some cases putting your Social Security benefits or tax refunds at risk. So when Lee Pele, saw that his credit report indicated he defaulted on tens of thousands of dollars in student loans that he claims he never took out or authorized, he took action," MarketWatch reports.

"You should save money for college expenses if you possibly can. And if you’re worried about how that savings might hurt your child’s financial aid eligibility, then you’re thinking about it wrong," The New York Times reports.

State News

"Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter on Thursday called on all three of Iowa’s public universities to develop some sort of mandatory financial literacy course in hopes of addressing the issue of mounting student debt," The Gazette reports.

Opinions

"A board member recently asked me, 'If you can do two-minute elevator speeches on why someone should give a million dollars to the college, why don’t you give me an elevator speech on the biggest challenges facing higher education? Skip the nuance. No laundry list. Just the top six. You have 120 seconds.' Here is what I said," Carl Strikwerda, president of Elizabethtown College, writes for Inside Higher Ed.

Blogs & Think Tanks

"As with the original hearing, there is the possibility that the pending decision will make it more difficult for universities to justify using race as a factor in admissions. Many fear that preventing universities from considering race in college admissions will drastically reduce diversity on college campuses. But universities in some states that have already banned affirmative action are using an alternative way of achieving diversity—extending preferences to students with disadvantaged economic backgrounds," Ben Backes writes in the Brookings Institution's Brown Center Chalkboard.

"With [Arne] Duncan following his family back to his hometown of Chicago, he might be able to escape the threat of shoppers stopping him in the supermarket to complain about student debt. If I saw him in the aisle at Stop and Shop I know that would be the first thing I would do," Bob Hildreth, founder and executive director of Inversant, writes in The Huffington Post

"Bernie Sanders loves to talk about Denmark's liberal policies, including free higher education. But for his plan to make tuition free at public colleges, there's a better comparison: Scotland, which abolished tuition fees in 2000," Libby Nelson writes for Vox.

"Over the last 25 years, more than two dozen states have adopted programs that give college aid to students based on their academic performance in high school. In the last 10 years, the money allocated to these merit aid programs has increased by almost 50 percent to about $2.5 billion a year. States with these scholarships, mostly in the south, say the goals for the programs are to reward student effort and keep talented students in the state. But evidence shows that these programs not only don’t meet the goals, they seem to have other negative consequences as well," Iris Palmer writes in New America's EdCentral blog.

x - INDUSTRY NEWS

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