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CampusLogic. Higher ed economist Carlo Salerno, PhD, hosts Mastermind Sessions to discuss higher ed's most complex questions. No slide shows, no boring script. Just real data and solutions. Join us on March 4 to uncover why some schools operate like fitness clubs while others operate like factories, and if there are benefits to either. Register today.

NASFAA today published its newly updated National Student Aid Profile: Overview of 2020 Federal Programs. The 2020 National Profile is a timely resource that NASFAA members, lawmakers, congressional staffers, and the public can rely on to gain background on the basics of the federal student financial aid programs, how they have been funded over time, and how many students are reached each year. The document details the six prominent federal financial aid programs, outlines recent trends in federal appropriations for the Title IV programs, and provides updated data on the number of recipients, total volume of awards, and average aid amount for each program. New to this year's National Profile is data broken down by state for each of the major federal student aid programs.

Prior to institutions of higher education having to adapt to the novel coronavirus, a number of regulatory changes related to distance education were slated to, and have since, taken effect this summer. In the latest session of NASFAA’s 2020 Summer Training Series, a group of higher education policy experts discussed the Department of Education’s (ED) negotiated rulemaking sessions, conducted from January to April of 2019, on topics intended to promote greater access for students to high-quality, innovative programs, a number of which began taking effect on July 1 of this year.

NASFAA yesterday distributed a call to action encouraging all members to contact their representatives in the United States Senate urging them to provide additional funds for higher education institutions and students in the next COVID-19 relief bill. While the Senate-introduced HEALS Act and the the House-passed HEROES Act would provide $29 billion and $37 billion for higher education, respectively, both bills fall short of providing the estimated $120.4 billion needed by students and institutions in the coming year to cover the costs of emergency financial aid, safely reopening, and lost revenue. NASFAA is urging its members to write to their senators and explain why providing additional dollars for higher education is important for students and institutions in your state. For resources to assist in your advocacy, including a sample letter that can be customized with your information, additional talking points, and more information on how to contact your senator, visit this webpage.

Yes, unless you will entirely remove the income data elements using PJ. Generally under 34 CFR 668.53(c), if the student is selected for verification by either the Central Processing System (CPS) or by the school, verification must be completed before the financial aid administrator may exercise PJ to adjust any data element used to calculate the student's expected family contribution (EFC) or a cost component of the student's cost of attendance (COA). You must therefore follow all verification documentation requirements (i.e., these are not different just because it's PJ). View the full answer to this question to learn more and search for answers to your other pressing regulatory and compliance questions, in NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase.

The 2020-21 NASFAA webinar series gets underway on September 16 at 2:00 p.m. ET with 2021-22 Verification Basics. Verification can be a very complicated and time-consuming task. If you are a new financial aid administrator who has never completed verification, or perhaps an experienced financial aid administrator who has not completed verification in a while, this webinar will provide you with the tools you need to build your knowledge. Join NASFAA's Tiffany Gibbs and Kochie Vaughan as they discuss the basic elements of verification and what is required. Register now.

The Department of Education (ED) announced the posting of the updated version of the 2021-2022 Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) Technical Reference. The EDE Technical Reference provides programmer specifications, record layouts, and other detailed information for schools or other organizations that need to design software systems to interface with Federal Student Aid’s application processing system.

The Department of Education, Office of Inspector General updated Dear CPA Letter CPA-20-01 to extend the timeframe for the site visit exemption described in the March 10, 2020 letter, to audits of fiscal years ending through December 31, 2020.

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