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today’s news for Monday, November 2, 2015

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NEWS FROM NASFAA

Ben Burton

Meet Ben Burton, chief student financial resources officer at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana. Ben began his 28-year long career with Ivy Tech as an internal auditor and later moved to oversee the state-wide Internal Audit Department. During that time he performed in-depth compliance audits of financial aid and now he has nearly 10 years of direct management responsibility over Ivy Tech's financial aid operations. Ben was a member of NASFAA's Task Force on Award Notification & Consumer Information and is currently serving on NASFAA's Policy Rapid Response Network.

Another income-driven repayment is on the way, according to one of two sets of final rules that were officially released last week. The REPAYE repayment plan will be available to borrowers beginning in December 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:

NASFAA TRAINING

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Did you miss one of the NASFAA Webinars from the 2015-16 series? It’s not too late to watch the on-demand version. Webinars are available for purchase for on-demand viewing up to one year from the original broadcast date. If you registered for the live webcast but want to go back for another look, you can still use your original webinar link to access the webinar and all handouts. Register now.



U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The Department a pre-publication copy of the Federal Register notice that invites postsecondary educational institutions to apply to participate in a new institutionally-based experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI).

On Friday, the Department published in the Federal Register final regulations establishing tougher standards and greater transparency surrounding agreements between postsecondary institutions and companies in the rapidly expanding college financial products marketplace.

The Department published in the Federal Register the final regulations for the Title IV Student Loan programs that resulted from the negotiated rulemaking sessions held between February and April of 2015.

The Department announces the availability of the initial 2016-2017 Federal School Code (FSC) List of Participating Schools on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site. 

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.

x - FEDERAL REGISTER

The Secretary amends the cash management regulations and other sections of the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations issued under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

The Secretary amends the regulations governing the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program to create a new income-contingent repayment plan in accordance with the President's initiative to allow more Direct Loan borrowers to cap their loan payments at 10 percent of their monthly incomes.

This submission is for the ninth cycle in the series, NPSAS:16, which will also serve as the base year study for the 2016 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) which provides data on the various paths of recent college graduates into employment and additional education.

x - HEADLINES

National News

"No consensus exists in American society about the practice of colleges considering race in admissions decisions. ... But among higher education associations, a consensus strongly backs the right of colleges to consider race in admissions," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"The money the federal government provides to help low-income students pay for college will soon be available to some students as early as high school," MarketWatch reports.

"Performance-based funding, developmental education reforms and student completion incentives are a few of the initiatives states have launched in the last few years as ways to invest in their higher education systems while maintaining quality. And the Lumina Foundation has helped encourage these -- sometimes controversial -- policies," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"As the U.S. continues to reckon with a widening income gap between the wealthiest Americans and marginalized communities, politicians and advocates have often cited education access as one of the greater contributors—and potential solutions—to the problem," The Atlantic reports.

State News

"Dade Medical College, the homegrown for-profit school that rose from humble origins to become an educational juggernaut, announced Friday it is closing its doors, effective at the end of the day," The Miami Herald reports.

"Germany’s commitment to higher education is so strong that even Americans can get a free college degree in the country," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Meanwhile in California, the Cal State University system might soon consider annual tuition hikes, a further reversal of the state’s 1960 education master plan that established access to tuition-free college for California students."

"In 1975, a Virginia student could work just 9.9 hours a week during the academic year and cover 100 percent of the average charge for in-state undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees. This year, those hours have escalated along with costs to a 44.4-hour workweek," The Daily Progress reports.

"Earlier this week, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced to the world that Louisiana had a balanced budget during a nationally televised GOP presidential debate," The Times-Picayune reports. "... Several state legislators and budget officials back home in Baton Rouge see things differently. Just one quarter of the way into the current fiscal cycle, Louisiana is already short between $412 million and $622 million in funding, depending on how you count it."

Opinions

"Gov. Kasich’s task force on affordability and efficiency released its recommendations to the General Assembly recently, and the results are to be expected," John McNay, president of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors, writes in an opinion piece for the Dayton Daily News. "The task force was headed by Geoff Chatas, Ohio State’s CFO and the architect behind the Ohio State parking privatization deal; so it is no surprise that one of the key recommendations is to have colleges and universities lease or sell what the members of the task force refer to as 'non-core assets' and 'non-academic operations.'"

"This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau won a lawsuit against a company that no longer exists. It wasn’t exactly their most arduous victory. But it could mean that millions of students defrauded by the for-profit college chain Corinthian will finally get relief in a saga that has stretched out far too long," David Dayen writes in an opinion piece for The Fiscal Times.

Blogs & Think Tanks

"If you earn a paycheck, you know that you’ll never see 'all' of that money. Your employer withholds some of it for taxes. Not even the most vehement advocate of personal responsibility argues this is paternalistic, or that employees should instead write a check each month to the federal government for their tax payments. So why not use the same approach for repaying federal student loans?" Alexander Holt and Jason Delisle write in New America's EdCentral blog.

x - INDUSTRY NEWS

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