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CampusLogic. "Our old [award letter] process was 85% manual," says Neumann University's DFA. "The setup, template creation, mail-merge, Excel spreadsheets, those things were nothing compared to how overwhelming all of the information was for our students." Learn how different things are since Neumann maximized Colleague with AwardLetter by CampusLogic

In an opinion piece published by The Hill, NASFAA President Justin Draeger writes about how verification is just one more obstacle preventing many low-income students from obtaining the necessary funds to pursue a college degree or certificate, and how the solution to the problems verification causes for both students and schools is to fix the FAFSA. "A one-size-fits-all application for financial aid is not realistic given the diversity of today's student population," he writes. "Low-income students already face incredible challenges when it comes to preparing for and being accepted into college. Securing the financial means to pay for that education should not be one of them."

Democratic lawmakers reintroduced companion bills in the House and Senate Thursday in an effort to tackle student loan debt by helping students understand the implications of taking out private loans. The legislation, supported by higher education groups including NASFAA, would require institutions to counsel students and inform them of their options for federal financial aid before they can take out private loans.

In this week's Forward50 blog post, Chuck Knepfle, associate vice president for enrollment management at Clemson University, shares how the transparency subgroup of the Forward50 is working to be proactive in higher education policy. "What in the world do the World Cup and Cristiano Ronaldo have to do with the Forward50 initiative?" Knepfle writes. "I found the common idea to be forward. I've worked in higher education for 26 years and have had a variety of positions in administration. One common trait we all seem to have, which seems to be especially true for those of us in financial aid, is that we are often called to react to something that just happened. To play defense. ... My goal as a member of the Forward50 has been the same as Ronaldo's was when he took the pitch against Uruguay: to play offense." Read on for more from Chuck and catch up on any past Forward50 blog entries you may have missed.

Schools participating in the Perkins Loan Program will be notified in December of the federal share of their revolving fund that must be returned to the Department of Education (ED), according to an electronic announcement issued last week. As the program winds down, NASFAA has advocated for ED to compensate institutions for unreimbursed service-related cancellations of Perkins loans, but recent ED guidance issued on May 4 has stated: “Schools are not permitted to use funds from the Revolving Fund to reimburse themselves for cancellations.” However, the Senate Labor-H FY 2019 appropriations bill recently included report language on Perkins that “encourages the Secretary to use any authority granted for reimbursing colleges and universities for cancelled loans for which no reimbursement has been provided.” NASFAA and its higher education association colleagues will continue to impress upon lawmakers and the administration the importance of ensuring colleges and universities receive appropriate reimbursement. 

No. We have received guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), which states that if the student is completing the last day in module 1 when the classes in module 3 are dropped, the student is not considered a withdrawal for return of Title IV funds (R2T4) purposes. View the answer to this question for information about recalculating a student's grant funds, and search for answers to your other pressing regulatory and compliance questions in NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase.

The Fiscal Operations Report for 2017–18 and Application to Participate for 2019–20 (FISAP) has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). We have posted the FISAP Form, Instructions, and Desk Reference to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website. The FISAP will be made available on the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Web Site by August 1, 2018.

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