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A blizzard that caused significant disruption to the federal government in January meant a quieter than usual month for the introduction of student aid-related legislation. Check out the latest edition of The Capitol Recap for a run-down of the bills introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate in January. As always, NASFAA's Legislative Tracker remains your source for a comprehensive list of legislation introduced in Congress.

You can keep your paid vacation days, employers. Today's job seekers are more interested in student loan reimbursement benefits, according to a recent survey from Beyond, a job-searching website.

NASFAA is thrilled to have best-selling author Jeannette Walls as the opening session speaker on July 10 at the 2016 National Conference in Washington, D.C. Walls is best known for her memoir, "The Glass Castle," which describes growing up in the desert of the American Southwest and then in a West Virginia mining town with her three siblings and her brilliant, unorthodox, irresponsible parents. Register today to join your colleagues for this exciting opening to the 2016 NASFAA National Conference.

Throughout the month of February, NASFAA is hosting a series of Twitter Q&A sessions to celebrate Financial Aid Awareness Month. Last week, we focused on issues with filling out the FAFSA. This week, we'll have two Q&As -- Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:00 pm ET, and Friday from 1:00 to 2:00 pm ET -- focusing on different types of financial aid. Help us spread the word, and let students know they can ask questions about where they can find different kinds of financial aid by tweeting at us, and using the hashtag #FinAidFeb.

Learn the answer to this question and learn how to instantly find credible and reliable solutions to your most pressing regulatory and compliance questions with NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase. The Knowledgebase guide and video tutorials highlight the many features of this tool.

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 Senate is in session Monday through Friday. The House is in session Tuesday through Friday.

Wednesday:

• Committee for Education Funding "Day After Budget" Briefing, 1:00 to 3:00 pm ET

Friday:

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Expanding Our Commitment to Emergency Aid, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm ET

The Department has posted the final 2016-2017 Application Processing System Specifications for Software Developers.

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.

"College completion rates have stagnated, and lower-income students in particular face long odds of getting to graduation. Two new studies, however, show that low-income students can graduate at high rates when they receive financial and academic supports from external groups," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"The U.S. Department of Education [last] week introduced several new requirements for accreditors, adding to the slightly beefed-up new rules it announced in November. The department has pushed more aggressive reforms to the accreditation process, including a request for the U.S. Congress to drop its ban on imposing specific standards on accreditors. But those ideas are unlikely to come to fruition during the Obama administration's final year," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Officials at Marinello Schools of Beauty announced Thursday that they are shutting down campus operations. This decision follows the U.S. Department of Education's announcement Monday that the institution lost the ability to participate in the federal student aid program," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Roughly one in four of the 1.9 million high school students who graduated in 2015 and took the ACT are from low-income backgrounds, meaning their annual family incomes are less than $36,000. This group continues to lag in college readiness, according to the latest version of an annual report from the testing organization and the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Kirby High School senior Kimberly London is the vice president of her class, president of the school's honor society, and active in numerous extracurricular activities. But even she needs help overcoming the burdensome task of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, to secure financial aid for college," Chalkbeat Tennessee reports.

"Chicago State University declared a financial crisis Thursday, laying the groundwork for a plan that could include significant cuts at the South Side public institution," the Chicago Tribune reports.

"Congratulations! You submitted your 2016–17 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®)! Wondering what happens next? Here are a few things to look out for," Sandra Vuong writes in the Department of Education's HomeRoom blog.

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