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For more than two decades, NASFAA has conducted benchmarking surveys in an effort to keep tabs on how financial aid offices across the country compare on a number of factors–including staff size, salary, administrative capability, inter-campus relations, and more. The 2016 NASFAA Benchmarking Report, available at no additional charge to NASFAA members, presents findings from the 2015 NASFAA Benchmarking Survey (formerly NASFAA Salary Model Survey and NASFAA Staffing Model Report). These models produce a general measure of how much individuals with similar characteristics earn or how offices with similar characteristics are staffed.

With a little less than a year remaining in office, President Obama released his final budget proposal on Tuesday. The $4.1 trillion budget for federal fiscal year (FY) 2017, which affects award year 2017-2018, provided little surprises for observers, as key higher education initiatives had already surfaced in previous budgets or prior to Tuesday’s announcement. A focus on improving outcomes at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) stands as one of the broad themes of President Obama’s final budget.

In response to a Federal Register notice seeking feedback on the proposed centralized student complaint system, NASFAA’s comments stress the need for adequate due process for institutions and solicitation of stakeholder input on the complaint resolution process. The new complaint system, required by the Student Aid Bill of Rights that was issued in March 2015, will be operational by July 1, 2016. It gives students and borrowers a simple and straightforward way to file complaints and provide feedback about federal student loan lenders, servicers, collections agencies, and institutions of higher education.

The Department has completed the closeout of all 2014-2015 Campus-Based program awards based on the official reporting in a school's Fiscal Operations Report section of the Fiscal Operations Report for 2014-2015 and Application to Participate for 2016-2017 (FISAP).

"More than $2.7 billion in free federal grant money went unclaimed during the past academic year, according to a yearly analysis of incomplete or unsubmitted Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms by NerdWallet, the personal finance website," Diverse: Issues in Higher Education reports.

"There’s a lot of talk in P-12 learning about how exactly to best close the achievement gap or the space that separates traditionally advantaged students with those who have historically been at-risk where academics are concerned. By the time students get to college, the emphasis shifts slightly to focus more on the diversity of who is on a university campus and less on outcomes," according to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

"Lawmakers are considering a bill that would require students to repay state scholarships and grants if they fail to graduate within six years of starting their programs," The Associated Press reports.

"Borrower advocates are praising the Education Department’s new Student Aid Enforcement Unit, but they’re not optimistic about the prospects of Congress approving an accompanying $13.6 million budget request," POLITICO's Morning Education reports. "Financial aid administrators are hoping that regardless of whether Congress approves the funding that the shift really does help the department close program reviews and investigations faster, and in turn solve one of the most common problems that colleges report to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators."

"U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) accomplished something few of their colleagues in Congress could during the past year: pass bipartisan legislation," according to The Washington Post's Grade Point.

"The Apollo Education Group, the parent company of the for-profit University of Phoenix, will be sold to a 'consortium of investors' for $1.1 billion, the company announced on Monday. The purchase, made by three investment firms, will make Apollo a privately held company," according to The Chronicle of Higher Education's The Ticker.

"It's funny. Whenever someone asks what I do, I explain that 'I help students learn how to pay for college without taking on student debt.' ... I say it's funny because those that value what I do the most are the ones who feel the pain and the burden of student loans," Jocelyn Paonita Pearson, author and founder of The Scholarship System, writes in a blog post for The Huffington Post's The Blog.

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