NASFAA in the News

• Race on Campus: Rooting Out Bias in Financial Aid
  July 27, 2021 - "In his first year as a financial-aid counselor, Michael Birchett was skeptical when a student cited a flat tire as a reason he’d been forced to drop classes and had lost eligibility for aid. 'Coming from a middle-class background, I almost lau...
• Clearing Ledgers, Setting New Paths
  July 22, 2021 - "When Annissa Young, a junior at Trinity Washington University, saw an email from the institution on her phone with the subject line 'Financial planning with a fresh start,' she didn’t think much of it. She thought maybe the private institution...
• Students Favor Free College, Oppose Admissions Preferences
  July 20, 2021 - "Politicians often purport to represent the interests of students when they propose education policies. So do college leaders and associations when they take stands in response. But do they truly know what students want and need?," Inside Higher Ed r...
• NASFAA Creates Toolkit to Reduce Implicit Bias in Financial Aid Policies
  July 20, 2021 - "When Michael Birchett first started reading Satisfactory Academic Progress appeals as a financial aid administrator, he came across one student who was unable to attend class for an extended period due to a flat tire," Diverse: Issues in Higher Educ...
• 5 Ways Colleges Can Ensure More Effective Emergency Aid Outcomes
  July 15, 2021 - "Administrators at postsecondary institutions experienced little trouble drawing down Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) during the past year but were entangled by reams of red tape and complex guidance, according to a new study released...
• Federal Aid Verification Will be More Targeted for 2021-22 Award Year
  July 14, 2021 - "The Department of Education is temporarily changing its federal student aid verification process to focus only on identity theft and fraud for the 2021-22 application cycle. The change is intended to help alleviate challenges students face in access...
• Two Dozen Organizations Launch #DoublePell Campaign
  July 13, 2021 - "A coalition of 24 higher education associations, organizations and advocacy groups launched a national campaign today in support of doubling the maximum Pell Grant by the program's 50th anniversary, which will be next June," Inside Higher Ed reports...
• U.S. Education Department Will Relax Aid-Verification Rules in 2021-22
  July 13, 2021 - "A major burden for students and colleges alike has been lifted, at least for one year. The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that it will waive verification requirements for most of the information that federal-aid applicants must pr...
• Feds Aim to Boost Access by Removing Financial Aid Barriers
  July 13, 2021 - "The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday installed temporary changes to the federal aid verification process for the 2021-22 award year that could help millions of low-to-moderate-income students seeking to enroll or remain at institutions of hig...
• Education Department Eases Federal Student Aid Verification, for Now
  July 13, 2021 - "The Education Department enacted a significant but temporary change to how it reviews federal student aid applications on Tuesday, marking a shift that could ease burdens advocates say fall hardest on low-income and minority students," Politico repo...
• A New Higher Ed Coalition Forms to Push for Doubling of Pell Grants
  July 13, 2021 - "A new coalition of higher education organizations has formed to press the case for doubling the Pell Grant, the federal program that provides financial aid to low- and moderate-income students to attend college. The Double Pell Alliance is laun...
• Chipping Away at the Borrower-Defense Backlog
  July 12, 2021 - "The Department of Education is continuing to address its backlog of claims from borrowers who contend they shouldn't have to repay their student loans, announcing Friday that it has delivered another $55.6 million in relief to students of three clos...
• The Plan to Resume Federal Student-Loan Repayments in October Just Hit an Obstacle
  July 8, 2021 - "One of the handful of organizations that has a contract to service federal student loans announced today that it would not renew that agreement at the end of the year," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.   
• NCAA Athlete Pay Confounds Financial Aid Forms and Pell Grant Awards
  July 6, 2021 - "Starting at midnight on July 1, when name, image and likeness rights officially went into effect, college athletes across the country began announcing a flurry of deals—ranging from social media endorsements to paid autograph-signing sessions....
• You Got a College Scholarship. Now Make Sure It Doesn’t Reduce Your Financial Aid.
  July 1, 2021 - "For many college students, receipt of a private scholarship is reason to rejoice. But the rejoicing may be unexpectedly short-lived," The Wall Street Journal reports.
• The New Rules on Paying for College
  July 1, 2021 - "Paying for college is a challenge in the best of economic times. So when the worst of times come, as they did for millions of Americans during the pandemic, affording a degree gets dramatically harder," Consumer Reports reports.
• Student Loan Payments to Restart; Here's How to Get Help
  June 24, 2021 - "For 42.9 million student loan borrowers , it’s been 18 months without a payment. That ends in October — ready or not. The interest-free federal student loan payment pause, known as a forbearance, was extended three times after it initial...
• A Tuition Gamble That Is Paying Off
  June 24, 2021 - "St. John’s College leaders took a counterintuitive but calculated risk three years ago when they decided to slash the cost of tuition and turn to donors to help replace the lost revenue. Some observers considered the move reckless; others dism...
• Questioning Colleges’ Role in Bad Loans for Boot Camps
  June 17, 2021 - "A report released last week by the Student Borrower Protection Center shed light on public colleges and universities that have been promoting high-risk loans for short-term programs, but in several respects, the report prompted just as many que...
• Dems Reintroduce Pell Grant Bill, Get Support of Education Leaders
  June 17, 2021 - "A day after a team of leaders from the Democrat Party reintroduced a bill called the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act of 2021, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) also called for a similar push to ...
• U.S. Education Department Announces Loan Forgiveness for 18,000 Cases Related to ITT
  June 17, 2021 - "Students whose financial and academic trajectories may have been jeopardized by the abrupt 2016 closing of controversial for-profit ITT Technical Institute will be getting some relief from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Education (ED...
• Quantifying COVID Impacts
  June 17, 2021 - "About 40 percent of undergraduates experienced a financial disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 8.2 percent either withdrew (4.4 percent) or took a leave of absence (3.8 percent) from their institution, according to ...
• Major FAFSA Overhaul Will Be Delayed by a Year, Education Department Says
  June 11, 2021 - "The Biden administration has notified Congress that it needs more time to implement a bipartisan law overhauling how students apply for federal financial aid, citing challenges with decades-old technology at the Education Department," Politico repor...
• Can Student Loan Forgiveness Still Happen?
  June 11, 2021 - "Each passing day brings 43 million federal student loan borrowers closer to resuming the payments that have been paused since March 2020 — and further from the chance that life-changing loan forgiveness is coming anytime soon. Borrowers had re...
• Mobile Credentials for a Contactless Campus Experience
  June 8, 2021 - "Credential technology has come a long way since the first electronic card access system was developed in 1968. For decades, universities have used some form of campus card. Yet many campuses have made few changes to the legacy technology they a...
• Pandemic Fuels Increase in Financial Aid Appeals
  June 3, 2021 - "Institutions are reporting an increase in the number of financial aid appeal requests they've received since last March, pointing to the financial impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to have on students' ability to pay for college, accor...
• Bill Would Waive Taxes on Student Loan Forgiveness
  June 2, 2021 - "If you have student loan debt, you’re probably aware of how loan forgiveness affects your taxes. Right now, forgiven loans are considered as income on tax day. But a new bill in the Michigan House of Representatives is looking to change that,"...
• Financial Aid Appeals Remain High Due to Pandemic, NAFSAA Survey Shows
  June 2, 2021 - "Despite the promise of widespread vaccination and the further reopening of businesses across the U.S., students and families largely are not in better financial positions than they were last fall," University Business reports. 
• How to Go to College For Free
  June 2, 2021 - "In a country where it’s common to have tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, getting a college education for free is a radical idea. Unless a full scholarship is on the table, most people may not consider it an option to go t...
• ‘Financial Aid Rock Star’ Alex DeLonis Advocates for Students
  May 24, 2021 - "Like so many other kids, Alex DeLonis didn’t think college was a possibility," Wabash College reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Education Dept. Will Use Lengthy Process to Restore Student-Debt Accountability
  May 20, 2021 - "The gainful-employment regulation, which seeks to hold colleges accountable for their students’ earnings compared with their students’ loan debt, will go through the federal rule-making process, again, more than a decade after it was fir...
• NASFAA Mention: Delaware College Using COVID-19 Relief Funds to Forgive Over $700K in Student Debt
  May 15, 2021 - "Delaware State University announced it will cancel up to $730,655 in student loan debt for recent graduates who have struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic," Fox 5 reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: US: Int’l Students Eligible for Covid-19 Support Under Gov’t Relief Fund
  May 13, 2021 - "The US Department of Education has announced more than $36 billion in emergency grants for postsecondary education under the American Rescue Plan Act’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF III). For the first time, international...
• NASFAA Mention: Cardona Opens Emergency Grants to Undocumented and International College Students
  May 11, 2021 - "Undocumented and international college students will now be eligible to receive pandemic relief grants after Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday lifted a controversial ban imposed by his predecessor, Betsy DeVos," The Wa...
• NASFAA Mention: Nontraditional Students: How to Manage Student Loans
  May 10, 2021 - "Many resources geared toward college students focus on traditional students, who enroll after high school and live on campus. But they’re not the only attendees. For a large percentage of students enrolled at universities across the country, t...
• NASFAA Mention: Innovations in College Aid: The FAFSA Maze Now Includes Drive-Thru
  May 6, 2021 - "A drive-thru is simple: Pull up in a car, roll down the window, and leave with what you need. Filing for college financial aid is anything but simple," The Christian Science Monitor reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Cordray Named COO of Federal Student Aid
  May 4, 2021 - "The Education Department announced Monday that Richard Cordray will serve as the next chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid," Inside Higher Ed reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Richard Cordray to Head Federal Student Aid Office
  May 3, 2021 - "Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Monday named Richard Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to head the federal aid office that oversees the government’s $1.5 trillion student loan portfolio," The Wa...
• NASFAA Mention: Biden’s Plan Would Make Community College Free. It Could Also Have Unintended Downsides.
  April 30, 2021 - "President Biden’s plan to make two years of community college free, which could make college more affordable and accessible to millions of Americans, is being praised as a long-overdue step forward. But depending on how it’s structured, ...
• NASFAA Mention: Research Shows FAFSA Completion Rate Declining; Michigan Down 12.2%
  April 29, 2021 - "This Saturday, May 1, is the deadline for prospective college enrollees in Michigan to fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. That’s a requirement for all sorts of scholarships, grants, work study and federal loans....
• NASFAA Mention: California Looks for Aid from Biden's Plans for Tuition-Free Community College and Higher Pell Grants
  April 29, 2021 - "As one of the leaders in offering free community college tuition to qualified low-income students, California is looking to get more federal assistance from President Biden’s proposals to make community college free and increase the federal Pe...
• NASFAA Mention: Simplified FAFSA Financial Aid Form Could Help More Fort Worth Kids Go to College.
  April 29, 2021 - "Yuliana Perea spent hours last fall sifting through her parents’ tax paperwork as she struggled to understand the technical language in her federal financial aid application," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: How Biden’s $1.8T American Families Plan Could Help Higher Ed
  April 28, 2021 - "The Biden Administration officially rolled out its $1.8 trillion American Families Plan on Wednesday, unveiling 'transformational' initiatives designed to help both higher education institutions and students," University Business reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Washington Pumped $35 Billion Into Emergency Grants for College Students. Here’s How It’s Going.
  April 25, 2021 - "It had been almost five months since Virginia Commonwealth University sophomore Brittany Ofori lost her part-time job at a substance abuse center when she received an unexpected offer of help," The Washington Post reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: You Still Have Time to Ask Colleges for More Financial Aid
  April 23, 2021 - "Many colleges have reinstated May 1 as the deadline for newly admitted applicants to declare that they will enroll and submit deposits. But with about a week to go, students still have time to appeal to a college for more financial aid, if they need...
• NASFAA Mention: ASM Passes New Legislation Regarding Student Aid, Student Role Clarifications
  April 15, 2021 - "The Associated Students of Madison advocated for better implementation of student aid efforts and clarified their bylaws regarding student government positions at their Tuesday night meeting," The Daily Cardinal reports.
• NASFAA Mention: Disproportionate Burden: Estimating the Cost of FAFSA Verification for Public Colleges and Universities
  April 13, 2021 - "The institutional compliance costs of the FAFSA verification mandate in 2014 totaled nearly $500 million, with the burden falling disproportionately on public institutions and community colleges in particular," PHYS.org reports.
• NASFAA Mention: New Financial Aid Hub Targets All Students
  April 12, 2021 - "Financial aid statistics indicate that 86 percent of college students benefit from some form of financial aid and that the percentage of students who accept financial aid grows by an average of 0.09 percent each year," eCampusNews reports.  &n...
• NASFAA Mention: Getting Married? It Could Increase Your Student Loan Payments
  April 8, 2021 - "Wedding invitations? Check. Marriage license? Check. See how tying the knot can affect your student loan payment… You probably didn’t see that one coming, did you? Student loans may be one of the last things on your mind when you’...
• NASFAA Mention: For Higher Ed, Stimulus Relief Offers Flexible Spending
  April 7, 2021 - "The American Rescue Plan includes almost $40 billion for community colleges, four-year schools and universities. It’s less than the sector says it needs, but there are options with how the funds can be used," GOVERNING reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Did You Get Federal Relief Money From December? Depends Which College You Go To
  April 6, 2021 - "Despite being separated by just 24 miles and operating within the same college system, California State University, Los Angeles and Cal State Long Beach have one key difference for students right now: Students in Los Angeles started getting relief m...
• NASFAA Mention: Unused Student Loans? Here’s the Smart Thing to Do
  April 5, 2021 - "You’ve borrowed more than you need for college. What do you do? Many borrowers don’t realize they can return unused federal-loan dollars. Or why they would want to," The Wall Street Journal reports.
• NASFAA Mention: How to Get Financial Aid for College When Your Parents Make Too Much
  March 31, 2021 - "Are you wondering how to get financial aid if your parents make too much? If this question plagues you, you’re not alone," Student Loan Hero reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Why Expected Family Contribution (Student Aid Index) Matters for College Aid
  March 30, 2021 - "To understand what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is, it helps to first understand what it isn’t," Student Loan Hero reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: FAFSA Reform Will Simplify Applications to Benefit Low-Income Families and Help Reduce Student Debt
  March 24, 2021 - "Loan applications are complex technical documents that require a massive amount of personal information. However, the process of students seeking federal dollars to fund their education can be particularly daunting. In recent years, digitization and...
• NASFAA Mention: Ideas for Getting Loan Borrowers Back Into Repayment
  March 17, 2021 - "Five groups have issued a set of recommendations on 'successfully transitioning federal student loan borrowers back into repayment,'" Inside Higher Ed reports.
• NASFAA Mention: COVID Tax Break Could Open Door to Student Loan Forgiveness
  March 16, 2021 - "The tax break on college debt cancellations in the COVID-19 relief package signed last week by President Joe Biden has removed a potential roadblock to forgiving student loan debt: taxes," NerdWallet reports.
• NASFAA Mention: This Time, the Stimulus Package Helps More College Students
  March 11, 2021 - "In the third round of COVID-19 relief, college students and their families could see more money in their pockets than before," NerdWallet reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: What Does the $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Bill Mean for Loan Forgiveness, Financial Aid and College Students?
  March 11, 2021 - Congress passed the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief legislation Wednesday, which provides about $40 billion for higher education including provisions for financial aid and student loan forgiveness. Here’s what college students and parents need to...
• NASFAA Mention: If You Could Reform Admissions…
  March 8, 2021 - "What if admissions could be done in a totally new way? Without tests? Without the many parts of the process -- think of legacy admissions -- that favor wealthier applicants? The National Association for College Admission Counseling has just created&...
• NASFAA Mention: NACAC Creates Committee to Improve Financial Aid and College Admissions Systems for Racial Equity
  March 4, 2021 - "The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has announced a committee to reimagine financial aid and college admissions in the pursuit of racial equity in postsecondary education. The committee – a product of NACAC’...
• NASFAA Mention: Covid Relief Legislation May Trigger Higher Student Loan Fees—But Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry Just Yet
  March 2, 2021 - "On Feb 27, the House Democrats passed a $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill and sent the legislation to the Senate," CNBC reports. "The American Rescue Plan increases the child tax credit, provides $30 billion for emergency rental assistance, funds a th...
• NASFAA Mention: Going Back to School? Apply for Scholarships, Grants and Loans With the FAFSA
  February 22, 2021 - "Let's try a thought experiment: You are over 50 and thinking about additional schooling — maybe to burnish your credentials, maybe to pivot careers and pursue a second act, or maybe because a pandemic-related layoff has given you little choice...
• NASFAA Mention: What Financial Aid Offices Need to Know About Legislative Changes Ahead
  February 19, 2021 - The government spending package passed at the end of 2020 included several provisions intended to extend federal financial support to more college students," Education Dive reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Webster Students Explore Their Financial Aid Options
  February 18, 2021 - "Webster offers a variety of scholarships to freshman, transfer and international students. For some students, a scholarship from Webster is the deciding factor between attending here or another university. Although, not all scholarships are clearly ...
• NASFAA Mention: Aging Out of Foster Care During COVID-19 Pandemic Brings Additional Challenges
  February 18, 2021 - "Fall is Spencer Llewelyn’s favorite season, but the triple-digit October temperatures in Phoenix made it feel like an extension of last year’s blistering summer, the hottest on record. So, on a Wednesday morning, Llewelyn, 19, sat at his...
• NASFAA Mention: Millions of Americans Are Behind on Their Student Loans — How It Impacts Debt Forgiveness
  February 18, 2021 - "U.S. student debt has ballooned for decades, but this year, legislators appear to be more serious about student debt forgiveness than ever before — prompting bold proposals and vigorous debate about potential impacts and costs," CNBC...
• NASFAA Mention: How to Ask for More Financial Aid for College (and Hopefully Get It)
  February 17, 2021 - "Any financial aid is something to be grateful for — but you can be grateful and still ask for more. If you’ve done the math and your financial aid isn’t enough to cover college costs, you might consider doing just that," Student Lo...
• NASFAA Mention: FAFSA Application Changes Are Coming – What They Mean for Middle- and High-Income Families
  February 2, 2021 - "College students and their parents should mark their calendar because July 1, 2023, will be a big day. It’s the day that many new financial aid rules go into effect thanks to a funding bill signed into law at the end of December to avoid a gov...
• NASFAA Mention: Biden Rolls Out Major Shifts in Higher Education Policy in First Days
  February 1, 2021 - "Less than two weeks into office, President Joe Biden has signed several executive actions on higher education, a move experts say is a signal of a major shift in higher education policy coming over the next four years," The GW Hatchet reports.
• NASFAA Mention: How College Students Can Get An Emergency Covid-19 Grant
  January 29, 2021 - "If you’re a college student dealing with new expenses due to Covid-19-related changes at your school, a one-time Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grant could help," Forbes reports. 
• NASFAA Mention: Changes in FAFSA May Reduce College Aid for Some Families
  January 29, 2021 - "A new, shorter version of the federal student aid form is aimed at encouraging more families to complete it and qualify for financial help. But tweaks to its underlying formula could reduce aid for some families, particularly more affluent ones with...
• NASFAA Mention: Education Department Encourages Financial-Aid Adjustments for Students’ New Financial Realities
  January 29, 2021 - "In light of the Covid-19 crisis, financial-aid administrators can and should adjust students’ eligibility profiles to reflect realities such as job losses, an Education Department official said in guidance published on Friday," the Chronicle o...
• NASFAA Mention: Federal Student Aid System Undergoes Overhaul
  January 28, 2021 - Several policy changes were included in the recently approved 2021 Omnibus spending bill that will ease the federal student aid application process and expand Pell Grant eligibility, industry observers here say," the Spokane Journal of Business repor...
• NASFAA Mention: A Simpler FAFSA Could Increase Applicants
  January 22, 2021 - "Financial aid officers have been asking for years for a simplified federal financial aid form, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). After much work by financial aid advocates and, in particular, by outgoing Sen. Lamar Alexander...
• NASFAA Mention: 5 Steps Forward Financial Aid Leaders Want From Biden
  January 21, 2021 - "Financial aid leaders are calling on President Joe Biden to take five big step to provide students with more assistance as higher ed recovers from COVID. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ policy recommendations ...
• NASFAA Mention: Didn't Get Enough Financial Aid for College? You Can Ask for More Money
  January 17, 2021 - "Last spring, the pandemic stole Maddie Harvey's job on campus in the Dean of Students office. She was finishing up her senior year at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minn., and without the income from her job, she wasn't going to have enough mone...
• NASFAA Mention: Billions in Aid Head to Colleges
  January 15, 2021 - "The Education Department on Thursday made available the $21.2 billion in help to higher education included in the coronavirus relief legislation Congress and President Trump approved in December, but undocumented students could be left out of gettin...
• NASFAA Mention: Colleges, Students Will Have Easier Access to Second Round of Stimulus Funds, But Bureaucracy Remains
  January 14, 2021 - "Colleges and universities that received federal stimulus dollars last year will have an easier time accessing the second round of relief, but higher education experts say it will still take work to get money into the hands of students," The W...
• NASFAA Mention: Opinion: The Pros and Cons of Professional Judgment
  January 13, 2021 - "On Oct. 1, students and families across the country began using their 2019 tax information to start filling out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the fall of 2021, which institutions will use to calculate how much financial ...
• NASFAA Mention: What to Expect When Paying for College in 2021
  January 11, 2021 - "Families in the challenging position of having college-age children during the coronavirus pandemic aren't just facing the prospect of continued virtual courses in the new year. Prospective and current students are also making what's often one of ...
• NASFAA Mention: Students Affected by the Pandemic May Face Extra Hurdles for Financial Aid. Here's What They Should Know
  January 5, 2021 - "As college-bound students await news of acceptance to schools for this Fall, most will get financial aid offers based largely on their family's pre-pandemic income. For many, that's a relic from a more financially stable past that could cost student...
• NASFAA In the News: 2020 Archive
  December 31, 2020
• NASFAA in the News: 2019 Archive
  December 31, 2019
• NASFAA in the News: 2018 Archive
  December 31, 2018
• NASFAA in the News: 2017 Archive
  December 31, 2017
• NASFAA in the News: 2016 Archive
  December 31, 2016
• NASFAA in the News: 2015 Archive
  December 31, 2015