Blue Icon is Ready to Assist with OB3 Federal Direct Loan Changes

We all know that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3) makes significant changes to federal financial aid administration beginning July 1, 2026. Financial aid administrators must communicate changes, reconfigure packaging, provide additional counseling to students, and train staff. NASFAA has developed several tools to assist schools implement the numerous OB3 federal student and parent loan changes, but you may need more help. Blue Icon Advisors has experienced financial aid professionals who are ready to assist you with these time critical tasks so you can be compliant and maintain student service. Here are some ways we can help:

Perform Student Outreach

Communication of OB3 loan changes are critical. Direct student outreach could prove beneficial instead of relying solely on your website, email, or texting campaigns. Engaging consultants proactively to counsel students and families directly about the loss of Grad PLUS, private loan options, Parent PLUS limitations, and less than full time enrollment reductions may prevent enrollment loss, or confusion and frustration once these rules go into effect. 

Serve as a Thought Partner

Blue Icon consultants are financial aid professionals familiar with the challenges you and your school face every day and what OB3 loan changes can mean for your students, staff, and institution. Our consultants will work with you to strategize changes to your packaging philosophy; develop a communication plan for students, families, and school leaders; and prioritize implementation of the changes while you focus on other competing initiatives.

Interim Staffing

Since your financial aid management systems may not be updated to automate packaging our consultants can provide that extra manual processing power for you. Our consultants can also check your system setup for efficient private loan setup and manually review NSLDS records for loan balances. Allow our consultants to perform these tasks and any others you deem appropriate, so that you can focus on other impacts of loan changes that are important to your campus. Let our consultants either continue regular operations and processing tasks or add to your workforce to address any increase workload your campus is experiencing.

Data Analysis in NASFAA’s Federal Loan Funding Gap Modeling Tool

NASFAA has created a tool to help institutions estimate potential future funding gaps for currently enrolled students resulting from the changes to student and parent loan limits from OB3. Blue Icon can take data from your internal systems to estimate loan funding gaps for Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional students. Having this information allows you to project potential enrollment changes, determine institutional loan program needs, and effectively communicate to students, families, and upper administration how OB3 loan changes will affect their aid now and in the future.

Contact Blue Icon Advisors today to explore options and request a proposal so you can receive the knowledgeable support you need to support student enrollment and maintain institutional compliance.