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At Edfinancial, getting your students to the finish line is what matters most. Whether it’s answering questions about enrollment, explaining financial aid processes or preventing student loan default, we can help your students succeed. Find out how we do it by visiting us at www.edfinancial.com/HES/Casestudies

As college tuition and fees continued to inch up slightly, trends in student aid reflect a nation beginning to climb its way out of the Great Recession, according to the College Board’s annual reports on college pricing and student aid.

Final rules posted to the Federal Register on October 30 introduce a new income-driven repayment plan and make several other regulatory changes, including a new Participation Rate Index challenge and appeals process for cohort default rates. The rules finalize a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published on July 9, 2015, which was the result of negotiated rulemaking sessions held from February to May 2015.

How certain schools treat Title IV credit balances will change on July 1, 2016, due to final rules published by the Department of Education (ED) on October 30, 2015. These rules finalize a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published on May 18, 2015. In short, schools that are not eligible for the advance payment system to draw down Title IV funds must pay applicable credit balances before requesting funds from ED, and cannot hold credit balances, even with a student or parent’s written authorization. 

With ever increasing college costs, over the past few years enrollment management has become more important than ever to higher education institutions. New this year, NASFAA's 2016 Leadership & Legislative Conference & Expo will include an enrollment management pathway so financial aid administrators can learn the ins and outs from peers practicing enrollment management. Complete the poll and see how your knowledge of the subject compares to that of your peers. Want more? Peruse past Poll the Pros columns for other Q&As.

Wondering how to resolve student name discrepancies? Have questions about whether a parent's information should be included on the FAFSA if they are incarcerated? Curious about whether you can disburse Perkins loans to 2015-16 first-time borrowers after September 30, 2015? Take a look back at last month's top Q&As. If you have a question that's not on the list, you can find a credible and reliable answer on the AskRegs Knowledgebase site by browsing or searching the answers provided by our Training and Regulatory Assistance staff. You may also submit your own question using the Request Support feature.

Federal Student Aid is developing an area within the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site where it will consolidate links to key loan servicing and collection resources. FSA anticipates launching the new Loan Servicing and Collection Information page by January 2016.

As published in the Federal Register Notice on January 12, 2015 (80 FR 1495), “Subject: Federal Work-Study, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant programs; 2015-2016 award year Deadline Dates,” any changes, corrections or edits to the Fiscal Operations Report for 2014-2015 and the Application to Participate for 2015-2016 (FISAP) must be submitted to the Department of Education (the Department) by midnight on Tuesday, December 15, 2015.

This letter announces two instructor-led, online training sessions that will provide information about the GE Completers List that will be pushed to schools later this year from NSLDS, including how to interpret the data and how to submit a challenge to the data.

The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations regarding the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards in order to require that all Department grantees awarded direct competitive grant funds openly license to the public all copyrightable intellectual property created with Department grant funds.

The objectives of this experiment are to learn about how Federal Pell Grant funding can expand opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds to participate in dual enrollment, explore how Pell Grant funding can expand access to rigorous coursework for high school students, and provide the Department with information regarding the number and characteristics of Pell-eligible students who would likely participate in dual enrollment programs.

"The Lumina Foundation this week released the first four of 13 papers it plans to roll out in coming months on performance-based funding in higher education," Inside Higher Ed.

"Marketplace rolled out a poll this week with Edison Research about how much anxiety people are feeling about the state of the economy and their finances," MarketWatch reports.

"Despite the generous benefits of the latest GI Bill, military veterans attending college are taking out substantial student loans, raising concerns among veterans' organizations that they are unnecessarily diving into debt," the Los Angeles Times reports.

"Abigail Anderson had it all figured: With multiple loans, a work-study job and scholarships, she could pay for Immaculata University for all four years. Not anymore," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "Anderson, a freshman majoring in fashion merchandising, found out recently that after this year she will lose her federal Perkins loan, which amounts to almost $2,000."

"There are plenty of ways to make college more affordable that don’t involve increased state funding, Gov. Rick Snyder told education leaders in Lansing Monday," the Detroit Free Press reports.

"Rising student debt is a trend that needs to stop," the LNP Editorial Board writes in an opinion piece in LancasterOnline. "Going to college — getting some sort of post-secondary degree — is an important part of the American dream, of attaining a life in which homeownership is possible and in which one’s standard of living is at least as good, but hopefully better, than one’s parents."

"What if federal aid for college students were focused exclusively on those who are truly ready for college? What if we stopped subsidizing remedial courses on campuses and insisted that students pursuing higher learning be prepared for college-level courses (none too strenuous nowadays in many places)? And what if those courses were also made available to young people even before they matriculated to a four-year program?" Chester E. Finn, Jr., writes for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's Flypaper blog.

"This election season has brought much attention – at least among the Democrats – to increasing college enrollment. Proposals have ranged from making community college loan-free to making it completely free. But we know that simply getting more people started in college has little impact, if they fail to earn a degree or certificate. It’s completion – not enrollment – we should care about, especially when it comes to four-year degrees," according to the Committee for Economic Development.

"It’s not exactly a surprise that student loans and the debt they create for young people is a growing problem in America. According to a new study, however, student loan debt negatively affects American women more than it does men, both financially and emotionally. An extensive new poll by Fusion found that women with student loans owe more money on average than their male counterparts, are more likely to have student loans to begin with, and are disproportionately affected by the stress caused by mounting debt payments," according to Bustle.

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