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Inceptia's SAP Advisor is a fully automated online solution that provides students, faculty and the financial aid staff with the tools to effectively manage Satisfactory Academic Progress appeals quickly and seamlessly. SAP Advisor increases efficiency and empowers students to actively engage which improves the opportunity for successful outcomes. Visit Inceptia.org to learn more.

The Trump administration on Monday released its fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget request, which proposed steep cuts to federal education funding, including $3.8 billion to the Department of Education (ED), and proposed to eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) programs, as well as cut funding for the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program. The budget request also proposed expanding Pell Grant funding to students in short-term programs.

In the "An American Budget" proposal for federal fiscal year (FY) 2019, which affects award year (AY) 2019-20, President Donald Trump again reiterated his support for hard-hitting cuts to the federal student aid programs, similar to the cuts outlined in his budget proposal last year. Congress largely rejected the proposed cuts as they continue to iron out details for final FY 2018 (AY 2018-19) funding. This article provides a more detailed description of how Trump's budget proposal would affect specific student aid programs and benefits.

Negotiators reconvened in Washington, DC this week for the third and final session of negotiated rulemaking for borrower defense to repayment. While the goal of the negotiated rulemaking process, or neg reg, is for the committee to come to a consensus on regulatory language, the group got off to a slow start as discussions stalled on recurring points of contention.

As the Higher Education Act reauthorization process continues moving forward in 2018, there is a particularly strong need for thoughtful and innovative ideas for the future of federal student aid that come from institutional voices. The Forward50 members that will be sharing their perspectives from student affairs offices include Cheryl Green of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Jade Agua of the University of California–Irvine, Normah Salleh-Barone of Moraine Valley Community College, and Sofia Pertuz of Hofstra University. Learn more about them, and the other members of the committee at http://forward-50.org/members.

The 2018 Conference Mentor Task Force has been hard at work developing events for our first-time attendees, with Amy Berrier from the University of North Carolina Greensboro serving as the task force chair. The task force is currently seeking NASFAA members who will attend the 2018 conference to serve as conference mentors to ensure first-time attendees have a positive conference experience. If you want to serve in this capacity, please review the task force charter and complete this short online form by June 11. The task force will contact mentors with their mentees assignments in mid-June.

The House education committee's comprehensive bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, known as the PROSPER Act, contains a number of provisions that bolster college access and simplify student loan borrowing and repayment processes. Unfortunately, the PROSPER Act would also eliminate a number of critically important federal student aid programs. Check out NASFAA's newest policy issue brief for more on the noteworthy changes to the federal student aid programs that deserve the support of the higher education community, others that raise questions, and others that should be abandoned altogether. 

The Direct Loan established data submission (closeout) deadline for the 2016–17 Program Year is Tuesday, July 31, 2018. This is the last processing day of the program year, so all school data must be received and accepted by this date to be included in a school’s final Ending Cash Balance for the year.

"A new analysis finds that students enrolling in certificate programs are more likely to experience economic gains from enrolling in programs at public institutions, generally community colleges, than at for-profit institutions. Further, the analysis finds that people may be better off economically by not pursuing any postsecondary education than by enrolling in a certificate program at a for-profit," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"President Donald Trump warned early Tuesday morning that the present round of immigration negotiations over the DACA program 'will be our last chance' to reach an agreement on the issue and called for a bipartisan deal," according to POLITICO.

"Soon after the federal government shut down, at the stroke of midnight on Friday, Congress passed and President Trump signed a two-year, bipartisan budget deal that not only keeps the government running until late March but also provides more funding for higher-education programs," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

"Educational-attainment levels in the United States continued to grow in 2016, according to data being released on Monday by the Lumina Foundation, but the pace of that increase is not enough to put the nation on track to meet the goal of the foundation, and of many states, of having 60 percent of adults with a degree or credential of value by 2025," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

"When Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. was named president of Purdue University in 2013, I sent him an email saying, 'Welcome to the revolution!' My email explained that higher education is changing in terms of whom we teach, what we teach, when we teach, and where we teach it. Last year, speaking on a panel at a higher-education symposium in my role as president of Career Education Colleges and Universities, I said that higher education had transformed itself, but I went on to suggest that the failure of the federal government to update its policies — especially the Higher Education Act — limited the ability of all educators to fully seize this moment," Steve Gunderson writes in a commentary for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"As policymakers stand back to witness the impacts of tax reform on the American economy, the dark days of the Great Recession seem to be in the rearview mirror. And while the nation has rebounded in many ways since the 2008 downturn, some institutions—such as higher education—have been slow to heal," Dr. Robert E. Anderson writes in an opinion article for The Hill.

"The administration’s budget proposal, like the PROSPER Act, puts an end to PSLF, a popular program that allows borrowers to have their loan balances forgiven after making 120 consecutive payments while working for nonprofit or government agencies," Student Loan Hero reports. "...'Eliminating PSLF would be an acknowledgment that we will be burying those who work in the public and not-for-profit sector in even more debt,' said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)." 

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