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today’s news for Wednesday, February 22, 2017

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NEWS FROM NASFAA

It’s a commonly heard argument in the higher education community—state disinvestment is a major, if not the only, contributor to the rapid rise in college tuition, as public institutions have fought to maintain level funding. But is this actually the case?

The cost of attending college is a concern for many students across the country, particularly for those attending community colleges, where more than 1 in 3 receive a Pell Grant. But community college students are struggling to pay for things outside of tuition – such as food, housing, and other basic needs – which may contribute to their troubles completing college, according to a new report.

The Department of Homeland Security yesterday released two memos implementing a pair of executive orders signed last month by President Trump. The orders direct immigration agents, customs officers and border patrol officials to remove anyone convicted of any criminal offense and call for an expansion of expedited removals from the country. Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are reporting that the directives issued do not impact the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides a grant of deferred action to certain undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as minors. NASFAA has joined many others in advocating that DACA remain intact and will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as they become available.

NASFAA receives many requests each year for operational aid calendars. However, given the range of school sectors and school types, one size does not fit all. We invite you to share your operational calendars with your NASFAA colleagues. We will remove any identifying information about your institution before publishing the calendars and making them available to the membership to use as examples. Take this opportunity to share what you do on an annual basis to stay on top of required regulation and reporting.

NASFAA U

This is your last chance to register for NASFAA U’s Consumer Information Online Course. Focusing on institutional disclosure and reporting, when and how reports and disclosures are to be made, as well as best practices for compliance, Consumer Information is an ideal foundational course for new staff and a great regulatory refresher for experienced staff - Register Now.

NASFAA U

We are seeking your help to choose a mascot for NASFAA U. Two concepts are being considered. Wise Owl is smart, stealthy, thoughtful, and powerful. Captain Credential is equally intelligent and strong, yet fiercely protective. Both are prepared to defend the tough regulations spreading across the galaxy, however we can only have one. Vote now to help us choose. Voting closes Friday, March 3.

NASFAA UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

NASFAA's Board of Directors is here to represent you and is seeking your input. Please email any questions or comments you might have directly to a member of the NASFAA Board by clicking on their name on our Board Member Bios page. Questions or feedback may pertain to NASFAA products and services, membership benefits, policy issues, and advocacy efforts, or any other topic you would like to bring before the Board. The Board will compile feedback and discuss at the June 23-24 Board meeting. We welcome your insight.

x - HEADLINES

National News

"...Progressive policy groups, organizations advocating for student access and higher ed institutions themselves would oppose proposals to eliminate PLUS loans entirely, even if they would be open to reevaluating the programs," Inside Higher Ed reports. "Justin Draeger, president and CEO of [NASFAA], said there’s an ideological assumption that the private loan market can better address the needs met by the PLUS loan programs now. But NASFAA and other advocacy groups argue that the PLUS loan programs provide subsidies to low-income and minority students to attend college and graduate programs who wouldn't otherwise."

NASFAA's 2004-2005 National Chair George Chin was included in a list of recent appointments, resignations, and deaths compiled by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"Student loans were the leading cause for a substantial increase in household debt last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday," The Christian Science Monitor reports.

"Some people say the United States higher education system is the best in the world. But the cost of a college education in the U.S. can be very high -- about 70 percent of students graduate with some debt. In 2014, the total amount of that debt in the U.S. reached about $1.2 trillion," Voice of America reports.

"In a move that has been generating some buzz and attention in recent weeks, the White House is said to be preparing an executive order on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU)," according to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

State News

"Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s 'Excelsior Scholarship' program aims to make more residents eligible for a tuition-free college degree at the state’s public two-year and four-year schools. But higher education experts, faculty and student leaders statewide, and State University of New York officials — while endorsing the governor’s cornerstone proposal as a dramatic step in reducing students’ cost burden — stop short of calling it free public college, as it was framed last month when Cuomo announced it at LaGuardia Community College with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at his side," Newsday reports.

Opinions

"I was 7 when my family moved to Texas. I didn’t have much say in the matter — my parents decided it would be the best place for me and my sisters to grow up, so we built our lives there. I went to school, made friends, studied hard and earned admission to the University of Houston. I worked my way through college and began my career in Texas, a place that had long since become my home. Those memories arise every time I meet students enrolled in the federal program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,"  Margaret Spellings, U.S. education secretary from 2005 to 2009 and president of the University of North Carolina, writes in an opinion article for The Washington Post.

"The National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) forecasts slow growth in state revenues across the U.S. through 2018. The prediction for further drought in state funding does not bode well for public colleges and universities — especially those already receiving less funding, including minority-serving institutions (MSIs)," Marybeth Gasman, director of the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions, and William Casey Boland, a research assistant at the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions, write in an opinion piece for The Hill.

"Each year, 31,000 of New Jersey's graduating high school seniors -- more than half of our college-bound seniors -- pack their bags and head to college out of state, many never to return," Brigid Callahan Harrison, professor of political science and law at Montclair State University, writes in an opinion piece for The Star-Ledger.

"The first duty of a legislature is to protect the rights of its citizens. Speech at public colleges and universities already falls under the protection of the First Amendment, while most private colleges explicitly promise a high level of free speech rights to prospective applicants (which courts generally take as a contractual pledge)," Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, writes in an opinion piece for the National Review.

x - INDUSTRY NEWS

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