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Higher education stakeholders gathered Monday to begin debating the merits and drawbacks of a draft regulation put forth by the Department of Education (ED) that would outline under which circumstances a borrower could have his or her loans discharged as a result of misrepresentation or school closure.

While many students use a combination of earnings from employment and federal loans to finance their graduate and professional education, there are large discrepancies in how heavily students in different types of programs rely on these funding methods, according to a new paper by the Urban Institute.

If you missed the Cash Management: Disbursements webinar that aired on the Jan. 10, 2018, you can still take advantage of this learning opportunity by ordering the on-demand event. You'll receive full access to the webinar archive and handout. In addition, you will be provided with the Top 20 Most Frequently Asked Questions document compiled from questions submitted by attendees during the live webcast. If you attended the live event, you can still use your registration link to access the on-demand event and FAQ document. Order it today.

To ensure that Today’s News is providing members with the news and information they want, and not expending time and energy on issues, topics, or resources that aren’t of interest, NASFAA held two focus groups and conducted a survey of NASFAA members. As a follow up to those efforts, the TN Feedback Working Group will provide input that NASFAA’s communications staff can use to definitively make and implement changes to Today’s News in the first quarter of the 2018 year. Review the task force charter for more details, and, if interested, complete the volunteer form.

A new group of volunteers will begin work this week to assist students whose college or career school closed while they were enrolled, or shortly after they withdrew. These administrators will assist students with the process of determining their eligibility for closed-school federal loan discharge, filing fraud/universal borrower defense to repayment claims, and understanding Pell Grant restoration regulations, as well as assisting with general financial aid questions. This effort, funded by a Lumina Foundation grant, will continue for the duration of 2018 with one more volunteer opportunity starting in June 2018. If interested in joining this working group, please watch out for a call for volunteers later this spring.

"Students seeking to lower their college tuition bill may be eligible for 'free money,' but tracking it down requires some homework," the Wall Street Journal reports. NASFAA's Megan Coval is quoted in the article. 

"As the deadline for the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals nears, each week hundreds of young people who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents are losing the permits that allow them to legally work and stay in the country. While leaders in Congress have vowed to find a fix, a concrete plan still hasn’t materialized—and some immigration advocates are beginning to worry that nothing will happen before the March 5 cutoff," Education Week reports. 

"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Republicans on Capitol Hill are advocating a fundamental rethink of higher education, pushing for more vocational programs and shorter pathways to credentials. With a House bill aimed at rewriting the 52-year-old Higher Education Act introduced late last year and a Senate version expected in the spring, lawmakers have helped fuel a national discussion over who should be on the path to a college degree—and who’s there now," the Wall Street Journal reports. 

"To churn out more workers with marketable skills, an increasing number of states are offering residents free tuition to community colleges and technical schools," according to Stateline. "The move also is a reaction to fast-rising tuition costs — increases that stem, in part, from states reducing their financial support of public colleges and universities."

"Politicians and reporters often trot out recent college graduates struggling to pay off their student loan debt to illustrate the dangers of runaway college costs. But usually ignored in the outcry over student loan debt — which has doubled since the Great Recession to nearly $1.2 trillion — is that it is disproportionately the result of going to graduate school," Jeffery Selingo writes in an opinion article for The Washington Post. 

"As we ring in 2018, college seniors around the U.S. are returning to school, focusing more on the frantic job search than on their last semester of classes. Sadly, however, many will find themselves underprepared when they graduate," Krista Tuomi and Paul Jeffries write in an opinion piece for The Hill. 

"The passage of a massive tax bill and a reauthorization proposal of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 by congressional Republicans consumed postsecondary education circles at the end of 2017. But while all eyes were on Congress, the U.S. Department of Education announced two programs that could dramatically change how millions of Americans access and repay their federal student aid. It is important that these drastic changes not get lost in the shuffle of the new year, as they will have repercussions for years to come," according to the Center for American Progress.

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