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On Friday, the Department of Education (ED) released both guidance on the Sept. 30, 2017 expiration of school authority to make new Perkins loans, as well as a response to a June letter from NASFAA requesting an orderly and equitable wind-down of the Perkins Loan program in the event that Congress did not take action to extend the program beyond its expiration.

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 accepting volunteers for the Assisting Displaced Students Working Group, which will assist students whose college or career school closed while they were enrolled, or shortly after they withdrew. Duties include responding to student submitted tickets on financial aid topics in a timely manner and providing NASFAA staff liaisons with questions for the Office of Federal Student Aid. View the working group charter and volunteer today.

Overview of the Financial Aid Programs introduces attendees to basic financial aid concepts, categories and types of financial aid, the Title IV aid programs, and other federal sources of assistance to students. This course is not only an effective training tool for new financial aid staff, it also offers your institution's non-financial aid staff a basic understanding of financial aid programs and requirements. Class starts Nov. 27, 2017. Register Now.

Congress requires ED to perform program reviews of all schools on a systemic basis. So if it's been a while since your last program review, you may get the call sooner, rather than later. "The Standards of Excellence Review (SOE) experience prepared us by closely mirroring a federal review, right down to the entrance and exit interviews with our president,"according to one SOE client. If you'd like to have a "practice review" before you get the call from ED, complete our information request form to learn more about NASFAA's peer review services.

Summary: This letter provides additional information on the wind-down of the Federal Perkins Loan Program as provided in the Perkins Loan Program Extension Act of 2015 (Pub.L. 114-105) (Extension Act), enacted on December 18, 2015, and as previously described in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-16-05, published on February 17, 2016.

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.

On September 13, 2017 officials from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) presented a webinar to institutions impacted by Hurricane Harvey. This webinar provided an overview and update of ED's guidance and ongoing assistance related to Hurricane Harvey. Since this information could be beneficial to others impacted by subsequent hurricanes, ED has posted the video, transcript, and presentation slides from that webinar on the IFAP Disaster Information web site located at https://ifap.ed.gov/natural-disaster-information.

The updated 2018-2019 Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) Technical Reference provides programmer specifications, record layouts, and other detailed information for schools or other organizations that need to design software systems to interface with Federal Student Aid's application processing system.

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is asking the Education Department to skirt its rules and make an exception to provide federal dollars to a college in his home state –– even though a high percentage of its graduates defaulted on their students loans for the last three years," CQ Roll Call reports. NASFAA's Justin Draeger is quoted.

"Students and families seeking financial help for college will notice some possibly confusing changes this fall when they fill out an important federal form known as the Fafsa," The New York Times reports. NASFAA's Justin Draeger is quoted.

"More than half of students read less than 25% of their student loan documents, according to a new study. Many skipped reading them altogether," USA Today reports.

"Three higher education associations issued a joint statement Friday on student transfer and the awarding of college credits -- an area that has drawn increasing criticism in recent years," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Career and technical education (CTE) has traditionally played an important role in U.S. secondary schools. The first federal law providing funding for vocational education was passed in 1917, even before education was compulsory in every state," Brian A. Jacob, senior fellow at the Brooking Institute, writes in a blog post.

"New York Life has added a new benefit to help its employees pay down their student loans," Employee Benefit News reports.

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