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Student Connections: Students face challenges and opportunities before, during and after college. That’s why Student Connections offers responsive tactics and proactive strategies for promoting success in the classroom-to-career journey. Success Center offers an interactive, m-learning platform that empowers students with nonacademic skills critical to retention and completion. Learn more at https://www.studentconnections.org.

As calls for simplification within the nation's financial aid system have grown, many policymakers have been drawn to the idea of a "one grant, one loan" system that would streamline the many existing federal grant and loan programs into one each for students. But while the idea may seem appealing on the surface, finding a way to balance simplicity with access may prove difficult moving forward.

NASFAA's Compliance Engine includes a series of checklists from the NASFAA Self-Evaluation Guide, allowing administrators to evaluate their programs in a centralized, shared online space. These checklists, which have been updated to include information from the 2016-17 year, guide you through self-assessment considerations in more than 20 financial aid areas. Compliance Engine checklists are complimentary for all NASFAA members, included with your dues. Watch our Accessing Checklist Video Tour to learn how to find checklists matching topics of interest to your institution.

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.

We'll be heading to Orlando, FL next June for the 2019 NASFAA National Conference and we need your great ideas for engaging, relevant, and interesting conference sessions. All types of session proposals are welcome, from those focused on advocacy, training, and professional development, to sessions structured as open-forum discussions. All proposals must be received by Wednesday, October 24. Refer to our Presenters and Moderators page for more information.

Join the U.S. Department of Education's Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) and FSA's Senior Advisor of Cybersecurity for a virtual meeting on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 from 3 to 5 pm, Eastern. Federal Student Aid as well as representatives from ED's privacy office will discuss data security and breach requirements, and share best practices. Additionally, they will review and share the latest guidance from ED regarding data sharing, and the use of financial aid data for program evaluation and research. The webinar is open to 3,000 attendees.

"There has hardly been an easier target for disdain in higher education circles than the federal graduation rate produced through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The federal government's primary data collection vehicle for higher education is both essential and subpar, particularly when it comes to measuring how students move into and through the postsecondary ecosystem," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"When the number of students at Hawaii Pacific University started to fall at an alarming rate, the university embarked on an ambitious plan to attract more," according to The Hechinger Report. "Among other things, it spent $54 million to buy Honolulu's iconic Aloha Tower and convert it into an anchor for its downtown campus by adding dorm rooms, community spaces, a fitness center and venues for concerts and lectures."

"Containing college costs and streamlining financial aid must be at the forefront of the nation’s higher education agenda, University of North Carolina system president Margaret Spellings said Tuesday at a gathering meant to forge a more bipartisan approach to federal higher education policy," Diverse: Issues in Higher Education reports.

"The University of Maine System is eliminating out-of-pocket tuition and fees at four of its campuses next fall for any first-year Maine student who qualifies for a need-based federal Pell grant," the Press Herald reports.

"Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous wants Maryland to become the second state after New York to provide public higher education free of charge," The Washington Post reports.

"Our nation needs the best-educated workforce in the world to succeed in the ever more competitive global economy. Sadly, we are moving further and further away from that goal. As recently as 1995, the United States led the world in college graduation rates, but today we have fallen to 11th place. We are now behind such countries as Japan, South Korea, Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, and Switzerland. Eleventh place is not the place for a great nation like the United States," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) writes for VICE.

"'You have no greater friend to FAFSA completion than me,' Dr. A. Wayne Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office, told members and others at an NCAN event on Capitol Hill today. He spoke to about 80 attendees who also came to hear about new research about how poverty impacts FAFSA completion, and a panel discussion on the impact of federal financial aid policy changes," Shelbe Klebs writes for NCAN.

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