"As colleges and universities race to implement the largest overhaul to federal student aid policy in more than a decade, financial aid administrators don’t want to be penalized by the Education Department if they get something wrong," Inside Higher Ed reports.

... "Administrators are worried the quick turnaround could lead to unintentional errors in how institutions award financial aid. Because of those errors, colleges could be dinged on program reviews, which could lead to other penalties. So aid staffers are asking for a bit of wiggle room in upcoming compliance audits."

"'ED has asked institutions for patience and grace as the Department fine-tunes the details of these sweeping changes and crafts final regulations,' the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators wrote to Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent Monday. Now, 'we ask that ED grant the same grace to institutions and provide for explicit flexibility in consideration of the exceptionally short time frame provided for implementation.'"

... "Without final rules for all the changes, aid officers are preparing to implement these policies with limited guidance that has often proven “inconsistent and unreliable,” NASFAA says."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 5/13/2026