By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Managing Editor
The Department of Education (ED) provided NASFAA 2026 National Conference attendees with a federal update presentation detailing how its regulatory agenda will impact the administration of federal student aid.
Three officials provided financial aid administrators with key insights into the department’s next negotiated rulemaking session, upcoming FAQs, implementation of Workforce Pell, updates to the FSA handbook, and developments concerning the rollout of several final rules.
To kick things off, Ashley Reich, deputy under secretary and chief of staff, noted that the department will hold another “catchall” negotiated rulemaking session in the spring of 2027, with topics still to be determined. During Tuesday’s session, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent noted that the department was considering topics related to the process for campus mergers, consolidations, and closures.
Reich also noted that ED has now processed over 14 million FAFSAs and that the department has recorded a 95% satisfaction rate, which officials credited to the form’s quicker submission times. Additionally, the department’s fraud-prevention efforts, including real-time identity verification, have resulted in over $200 million in savings for taxpayers. Reich noted that ED has seen very few instances of financial aid administrators setting the FAA Fraud Override field on ISIRs flagged by ED as potentially fraudulent overrides, citing that as proof that ED’s fraud prevention efforts are working to correctly identify fraudulent applications.
As new rules as a result of the OBBBA go into effect this July 1, ED provided an overview of recent negotiated rulemaking sessions that led to these rule packages: Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM); Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE); and Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD).
Reich explained that the department implemented OBBBA changes throughout the federal student aid (FSA) site and in ED systems this past weekend and that servicers have now also made the updates necessary to allow borrowers to apply to the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) and enable FSA to process these applications.
“Today is truly a historic day and one that many of us have been anticipating for quite some time. The team has been very busy implementing [OBBBA], and it’s really important to know that we have embarked on a lot of work over the past year,” Reich said. “As you heard the under secretary remark yesterday, in his remarks, what was implemented over this weekend and effective today is more monumental in full unit scale than when we moved from FFEL to full direct lending.”
Additionally, Reich highlighted that the new federal student loan Repayment Calculator is now live and available on StudentAid.gov. Previously called the “loan simulator,” the Repayment Calculator now reflects all eligible repayment plan options as of July 1, 2026, including RAP and the Tiered Standard Plan.
Reich also noted that details of the next FSA Training Conference will be announced “soon.”
The presentation then turned to Jeffrey Andrade, deputy assistant secretary for Policy, Planning, and Innovation, who provided an update on the latest developments concerning “professional students” and final Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) rules.
On Tuesday, a federal judge struck down the Department of Education’s (ED) final rule on PSLF employer eligibility, vacating it entirely. Andrade said the department was reviewing the judge's decision and weighing all available options.
In response to another federal court order temporarily halting (or “staying”) key parts of ED’s narrowed professional degree definition, Andrade said they will push forward with defending the rule to ensure the court better understands the nuance outlined in their rules package.
In the meantime, Andrade pointed to the recent electronic announcement clarifying how schools should treat professional degree programs for loan limit purposes.
On a similar topic, Andrade reminded institutions of their new authority, effective July 1, 2026, to establish lower annual loan limits for specific programs through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). He stressed that the purpose of the OBBBA was to reduce overborrowing.
David Musser, acting director of the policy development group, then walked attendees through developments in the workforce Pell program.
Musser also provided an overview of the new accountability rules and reminded institutions that their first reporting deadline for the Financial Value Transparency data is Oct. 1, 2026.
Our Today's News team is on the ground in National Harbor, keeping you up to date on NASFAA 2026 sessions and special events. Be sure to follow our social media channels, where you can share your experiences and connect with your colleagues. Check out all of our conference news coverage and stay tuned to Today’s News for more throughout the conference.
Publication Date: 7/2/2026
Peter G | 7/2/2026 2:51:04 PM
"Reich noted that ED has seen very few instances of financial aid administrators setting the FAA Fraud Override field on ISIRs flagged by ED as potentially fraudulent overrides, citing that as proof that ED’s fraud prevention efforts are working to correctly identify fraudulent applications."
Whoooooa there. That's quite a leap from what the evidence says. "Correctly" would require accuracy/precision along the scope of all false positives and false negatives. Unless I'm misreading the conclusion here derives only from the 357 flags, which is the narrowest tip of the false positive group.
While I wouldn't describe it as a crisis yet, we're definitely seeing false positives in the 354/355 group. I think one can say ED has done a good job in that particular subset of files but without claiming the overall system is a smashing success.
My biggest concern is we're still seeing a pretty wide swath of false negatives - files that are almost certainly fraud ring activity that ED is not flagging at all despite some very odd reported data.
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