Department of Education staff discussed the very latest news from Washington and recapped the year at the closing session of the 2009 National Conference in San Antonio. The panel included Jeff Baker, Director Policy Liaison & Implementation, Federal Student Aid; David Bergeron, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, and Innovation; and Dan Madzelan, Director, Forecasting and Policy Analysis, Office of Postsecondary Education.
The panel reviewed developments in student aid over the last year, including:
- President Obama's most recent program, the American Graduation Initiative, which aims to graduate 5 million additional community college graduates
- The Higher Education Opportunity Act and its Technical Amendments
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill)
- FY 2009 Appropriations Act
Dan Madzelan discussed the president's FY 2010 budget proposal and emphasized the administration's desire to ensure stability and availability of funds in the critical student aid programs. He also elaborated on details of the administration's proposal to "modernize" the Perkins loan program, revise the allocation model, and change the funding mechanism. "It's going to look more like Direct Lending, in terms of the financing, than it does the current Perkins program", said Madzelan. The allocation of funds to a school would be based on a scheme that gives credit for graduation of low-income students, he said. Schools would also be rewarded for maintaining affordability, including perhaps a reward for providing need-based aid.
Madzelan and Bergeron discussed the upcoming Negotiated Rulemaking process and outlined the committee process as well as some of the topics that will be considered by the committees. Program integrity issues, said Madzelan, are receiving special attention in this agenda.
Highlights of the exciting new IRS Data Share initiative were presented by the group, including screenshots of the new functionality once it is integrated into FAFSA on the Web. The presentation concluded with the panel taking questions and answers from the audience.
Posted 08/14/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
