2024 Year in Review: NASFAA’s Policy, Grant, and Advocacy Efforts
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
2024 was a hectic year for many financial aid professionals, with the 2024-25 FAFSA launching in late December 2023 – causing a myriad of issues, technical glitches, and delays for financial aid offices, students, and their families.
While the 2025-26 FAFSA experienced a smoother launch in November, NASFAA spent much of the year advocating and creating resources for financial aid professionals to understand and track the FAFSA rollout.
Beyond the FAFSA, NASFAA’s policy, grant, and advocacy efforts expanded to other initiatives from the Department of Education (ED), including negotiated rulemaking. A key cornerstone of NASFAA’s 2024 advocacy work was urging ED to extend the institutional reporting deadline for gainful employment (GE) and financial value transparency (FVT) to July 2025.
NASFAA also supported legislation introduced by the 118th Congress, including the Affordable Loans for Students Act, the FAFSA Deadline Act, the Student Loan Servicers Accountability Act, and more.
NASFAA hosted seven Advocacy Pipeline events with Capitol Hill staffers, enabling financial aid administrators from across the country to make their voices heard.
NASFAA also hosted a number of timely, policy-focused webinars highlighting the latest administrative policies and financial aid topics like How a Bill Becomes A Law (with Regulatory Guidance), Finding and Welcoming PEP Students: Continuing the Conversation, Academic Advising in Prison Education Programs: Strategies for Successful Implementation, FAFSA Data and Federal Tax Information (FTI), Annual Business Meeting & Policy Update: Spring 2024, and Graduate and Professional Community Update.
Additionally, NASFAA worked to further analyze economic trends impacting the financial aid profession, provided up-to-date coverage and new resources on all things related to FAFSA simplification, and explored new initiatives to promote transparency in higher education financing. That includes the 2024 Staffing Model and a new report co-authored with the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).
As the 2025 year brings a new Congress and a new presidential administration, NASFAA’s policy, grant, and advocacy efforts will continue to focus on increasing students' access to federal student aid.
Read on for a comprehensive list of other actions NASFAA and its members took in 2024.
Advocacy Activities and Materials
NASFAA continued its Advocacy Pipeline efforts, both virtually and in person, by hosting seven separate events for financial aid administrators to connect with lawmakers and their staff to discuss financial aid reform, doubling the Pell Grant, FAFSA simplification, and more.
NASFAA’S Call to Action Advocacy Campaign
NASFAA developed a Call to Action advocacy campaign to protect student aid funding. The campaign included resources that members could use in their outreach with representatives and senators in Congress to share how potential fiscal year 2025 appropriation cuts would impact their students.
Throughout the year, NASFAA reported and kept track of legislation introduced by the 118th Congress on topics such as campus-based programs, consumer information and transparency, FAFSA simplification, and more, such as the College Cost Reduction Act. NASFAA also supported bills introduced by both the Democratic and Republican parties. That includes the FAFSA Deadline Act, which President Joe Biden recently signed into law, making October 1 the official launch date of the FAFSA. As 2025 approaches, with a Republican-led Congress and presidency, NASFAA is committed to working with both sides of the aisle to increase access to student financial aid.
NASFAA covered the latest stages of the negotiated rulemaking process with recaps of the rulemaking sessions and followed the ongoing rollout of final rules from ED. With daily committee recaps and deep dive articles, NASFAA provided guidance and additional context for the finalized rules coming from the work of a variety of negotiated rulemaking committees, including Student Loan Debt Relief and Program Integrity and Institutional Quality.
Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency
As the institutional reporting deadline for gainful employment (GE) and financial value transparency (FVT) nears January 15, 2025, NASFAA has repeatedly urged ED to extend the deadline to July 2025. Additionally, NASFAA has released many articles, updates, and other resources to keep members up to date with changes regarding GE and FVT reporting.
Continuation of the Double Pell Campaign
Throughout 2024, NASFAA continued with its commitment to the Double Pell campaign, and called on Congress to make key investments in the program. Throughout the year, NASFAA participated in a number of events with members and federal officials to continue highlighting how federal aid has served as a lifeline to generations of students seeking to pursue higher education.
2024 was a challenging year for many financial aid professionals due to the tumultuous rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA. Throughout the year, NASFAA has continued to update its web center with timely news, analysis, and tools to help keep financial aid administrators up to date on both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA cycles.
Grant & Research Initiatives
College Cost Transparency (CCT) Initiative
NASFAA, along with leaders from nine other higher education associations representing college presidents, financial aid offices, and admissions and school counselors, continued their work with the College Cost Transparency initiative. The goal of the initiative is to improve the clarity, accuracy, and consistency of student financial aid offers by producing a set of guiding principles and minimal standards to be used when developing aid offers. So far, the CCT initiative has 648 partner institutions and has served over 6 million students.
2024 National Student Aid Profile
NASFAA’s National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. The profile provides an overview of: the Federal Pell Grant Program; the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program; the Federal Work-Study Program; the Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loan Programs; the Federal Direct PLUS Loan Program. Additionally, the profile outlines the most up-to-date data and information on the number of recipients, total volume of awards, federal funding levels, and distribution by family income for each program, as well as an appropriations update on Title IV program funding for the 2024-25 award year.
Consumer Testing the New FAFSA
NASFAA retained ASA Research, LLC (ASA) to collect feedback on the 2024-25 FAFSA process. As a result of this testing, NASFAA offers six considerations in our full report for ED to take into account when developing future years' FAFSAs. That includes: revisiting wording of new demographic information questions on gender, race, and ethnicity; increasing availability of customer support to students and financial aid practitioners; reducing burden on students and institutions; ensuring communications with FAFSA contributors clearly indicate they are official communications from ED for purposes of their child’s or spouse’s financial aid eligibility; and more.
FAFSA simplification implementation policy, advocacy, marketing, communications, research, community-building, and training efforts were generously funded by grants through the 2024-25 year.
Prison Education Programs (PEP)
NASFAA’s efforts surrounding preparing for prison education programs have been created to keep financial aid administrators updated on tools, training, and news related to the implementation of financial aid in carceral settings. That included multiple webinars led by Sheila Meiman, NASFAA’s Prison Education Specialist, such as Finding and Welcoming PEP Students: Continuing the Conversation, Academic Advising in Prison Education Programs: Strategies for Successful Implementation, Academic Advising in Prison Education Programs: Opening the Conversation, and Completing the Paper 2024-25 FAFSA with Students Who Are Incarcerated Workshop. During the 2024 National Conference, NASFAA facilitated a in-person three-day convening for financial aid administrators and prison education program administrators.
NASFAA released its 2024 Staffing Model which allows financial aid offices to compare their staff size to similar institutions and get an analysis of where they stand. Additionally, NASFAA co-authored a report with the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), which explores the higher education financial aid workforce, including pay and pay equity, staffing, representation, and retention.
NASFAA On the Record
Letters
NASFAA Calls on ED to Extend GE and FVT Institutional Reporting Deadline to July 2025
December 13, 2024 - NASFAA, along with dozens of other higher education organizations, signed onto a letter calling on the ED to extend the gainful employment (GE) and financial value transparency (FVT) institutional reporting deadline to July 2025.
NASFAA Supports the Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act
November 26, 2024 - NASFAA, along with over a dozen higher education organizations, signed onto a letter in support of the Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act. However, the letter makes several suggestions to clarify language.
NASFAA Signs Onto Letter in Support of FAFSA Deadline Act
November 12, 2024 - NASFAA, along with other higher education organizations, signed onto a letter to House leadership in support of the FAFSA Deadline Act. If enacted, the legislation would make October 1 the official launch date for the FAFSA each year. (President Joe Biden signed this legislation into law in December 2024.)
NASFAA Calls on ED to Clarify and Provide Resources to Institutions on GE/FVT
November 12, 2024 - NASFAA signed onto a letter to the Department of Education outlining several issues institutions have faced as the institutional reporting requirements for gainful employment and financial value transparency deadline nears.
July 23, 2024 - NASFAA, along with several higher education organizations, on Tuesday sent a letter to the Department of Education (ED) urging the department to make sure it releases a reliable 2025-26 FAFSA with end-to-end functionality.
NASFAA Requests Technical Amendments to the FAFSA Simplification and FUTURE Acts
June 12, 2024 - NASFAA on Wednesday submitted a letter to Congressional education and finance committee leadership asking for technical amendments to fix issues NASFAA members have identified in the FAFSA Simplification and FUTURE Acts.
NASFAA Signs Onto Letter Opposing Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act and DETERRENT Act
June 12, 2024 - NASFAA, along with dozens of other higher education organizations, signed onto a letter urging lawmakers from the House Rules Committee to oppose efforts to add the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act and the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
NASFAA Urges ED to Commit to October 1 FAFSA Launch Date
June 11, 2024 - NASFAA, along with other higher education organizations, signed onto a letter urging the Department of Education (ED) to commit to the traditional FAFSA launch date of October 1, 2024.
NASFAA Submits Letter for Congress Urging Delay of GE/FVT Institutional Reporting Requirements
June 10, 2024 - On Monday NASFAA submitted a letter to House and Senate education committee leadership requesting their assistance in securing a delay until July 2025 of the GE/FVT institutional reporting requirements, currently due on October 1.
NASFAA Signs Letter Urging Congressional Appropriators to Increase Maximum Pell Grant Award
June 4, 2024 - NASFAA, along with dozens of higher education organizations, signed onto a letter urging top Congressional appropriators to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $13,000, which is double the maximum award over FY 2021 levels.
NASFAA Signs Onto Letter Urging Congress to Strengthen the FAFSA Process
May 24, 2024 - NASFAA on Wednesday signed onto a letter calling on Congress to consider specific proposals that would improve the financial aid system by strengthening the FAFSA process and ensure that implementation of these provisions do not cause future FAFSA delays.
NASFAA Signs Onto Letter Requesting ED to Further Delay GE Reporting Requirements
April 24, 2024 - NASFAA signed onto a letter this week in response to the Department of Education's (ED) information collection request on gainful employment (GE) and financial value transparency (FVT) reporting requirements.
NASFAA Asks ED to Delay Implementation of FVT and GE Reporting Requirement
March 15, 2024 - NASFAA signed onto a letter urging ED to delay reporting requirements, beyond the July 31, 2024 deadline, associated with the implementation of the department’s final rule for gainful employment (GE) and financial value transparency (FVT) framework.
NASFAA Signs on to Letter Expressing Opposition to Section 6 of the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act
February 27, 2024 - NASFAA, along with several higher education organizations, urged House leaders to postpone the consideration of their bipartisan short-term Pell Grant legislation, taking issue with the bill’s offset language.
January 26, 2024 - NASFAA shared feedback on provisions of the bill that focuses on college cost transparency, affordability, access, and accountability.
Comments to ED
NASFAA's Comments on Loan Repayment Plan Interim Final Rule
December 17, 2024 - On Monday NASFAA submitted comments to the Department of Education (ED) on its plans to resurrect the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay as You Earn (PAYE) student loan repayment plans.
NASFAA’s Comments on Proposed Hardship Provisions of Student Loan Debt Relief Regulations
December 2, 2024 - NASFAA is pleased to share our comments on proposed regulations that would grant loan cancellation to borrowers experiencing financial hardship.
NASFAA Comments on 2025-26 FAFSA
September 13, 2024 - On Friday NASFAA submitted comments to the Department of Education (ED) in response to its Request for Information on the 2025-26 FAFSA. NASFAA’s comments focused on the need for clear language in both question and help text wording.
NASFAA Comments on Proposed R2T4, Distance Ed, and TRIO Regulations
August 26, 2024 - On Friday NASFAA submitted comments responding to ED's request for feedback on its proposed regulatory changes resulting from negotiations held earlier this year covering topics related to program integrity and institutional quality.
NASFAA Comments on Master Promissory Note Form
July 30, 2024 - NASFAA submitted to the Department of Education (ED) its response to the department's request for comments on its Master Promissory Note (MPN) form.
NASFAA Submits Comments on GE/FVT Reporting Requirements
June 17, 2024 - On Monday NASFAA submitted to the Department of Education (ED) its response to ED’s second request for comments on its Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency (FVT) institutional reporting requirements.
NASFAA Submits Comments on ED’s Student Loan Debt Relief Proposal
May 20, 2024 - On Friday NASFAA submitted comments to the Department of Education (ED) on its student loan debt relief proposal.
NASFAA Comments on Proposed Changes to IPEDS Reporting
May 10, 2024 - On Friday NASFAA submitted comments to the Department of Education (ED) in response to proposed changes to IPEDS data reporting.
April 22, 2024 - On Monday NASFAA submitted to the Department of Education (ED) its comments on ED’s proposed Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency institutional reporting requirements.
NASFAA Submits Comments on ED Process for FSA ID Without SSN
February 26, 2024 - NASFAA submitted comments to the Department of Education (ED) related to its authentication process for individuals without a Social Security number (SSN) applying for an FSA ID.
Publication Date: 1/3/2025
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