Research Committee Meets to Discuss NASFAA's Research Activities

The NASFAA Research Committee recently met in Washington to discuss its various projects and to hear updates on a number of research activities. At the meeting, the Committee completed its review of a draft of a new monograph that will provide advice and information to aid administrators who need help completing the financial aid sections of the Common Data Set. This guide to completing Part H of the Common Data Set will be presented to NASFAA members at the NASFAA National Conference in July. The CDS Guide will be just one of nine research-related sessions that the Committee has organized for the 2006 NASFAA National Conference. The Committee finalized these sessions at its meeting. The other research sessions that will be conducted at the NASFAA Conference include:

• Recent Results from the NACUBO Tuition Discounting Survey
• National Profile of Student Financial Aid Programs and Recipients
• Non-Researchers Using Research: How Aid Administrators Can Use Research in Their Everyday Jobs
• Barriers to College: The Role of Tuition, Financial Aid, Scholarship Preparation, and College Supply on College Enrollments
• From Dream to Implementation: Developing New Financial Aid Programs to Increase Access to College for Low-Income Students
• Using National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Databases to Answer Your Financial Aid Questions
• Update of the NASFAA Staffing Model
• Early Warning System: Targeting Campus Initiated Default Prevention Activities Based on Statistical Modeling

• Dai Li, Pennsylvania State University, "How Student Loans Affect the Academic Performance of Dependent Students in Public and Private Four-Year Institutions"
• Kristan Venegas, University of Las Vegas at Reno, "What They Know and How They Know It: Assessing the Financial Aid Knowledge of Nevada High School Seniors"
• Illinois Student Assistance Commission, "Financial Aid for Distance Learners at Selected Illinois Institutions"

Committee members also heard updates on NASFAA's research projects and on federal appropriations and reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Other speakers at the Research Committee meeting included: Elise Miller from the National Center for Education Statistics, who spoke about possible new financial aid reporting requirements that may become a part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reporting procedures; Derek Price and Ryan Davis, who discussed their new upcoming report on the links between institutional need- and merit-based grants and college completion rates; Jessica Shedd of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, who reviewed NACUBO's Tuition Discounting Survey results; Courtney McSwain of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, who discussed IHEP's report on privately funded scholarship programs; and Eleanor Schiff from the Department of Education, who provided an overview of the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

The Research Committee has enjoyed a very productive and rewarding year. The products and services we created will help serve NASFAA Members for a number of years. It has been our pleasure to serve the Association in this way. Committee members would be very happy to discuss these initiatives with interested NASFAA members.

By Barry W. Simmons, Sr.
NASFAA Research Committee Chair and
Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, VA

Posted April 27, 2006 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Copyright 2006.
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