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today’s news for Friday, July 31, 2020

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Inceptia. Students have plenty on their minds. Add the stress of repayment deadlines and it is the critical decision-making moments that are the difference between if, when, and how they take their next educational steps. Inceptia can extend your reach to reduce repayment concerns and melt with targeted plans to help deliver specific messages to current and prospective students.

TRENDING IN FINAID NEWS

NEWS FROM NASFAA

The way the higher education community thinks about student debt, and student debt of Black borrowers in particular, needs reimagining to no longer blame the individual, but instead focus on what problems within the system lead to such discrepancies in education outcomes and debt loads. That was the conclusion of a panel of experts present Wednesday for a webinar hosted by the Lumina Foundation.

"Multiple times a week, I set off on a 20-mile bicycle ride into work, which is made all the more grueling because I know I’ll also have to do 20 miles in the afternoon heat to make it back home," NASFAA President Justin Draeger writes in a post on Medium. "Why? Perspective. Each day I’m at risk of being pulled into a million different directions. Inquiries from reporters, questions from NASFAA members, a note from a board member, incoming questions from Congress, or federal agencies. Each of these is important, but there are also waves of administrative minutiae that have to be done each week, which threaten to steal from me, and my organization, the things I’m mostly paid to do: strategic thinking, connecting dots, developing staff, working with volunteers, and enacting change for the public good."

x - COVID-19 ASKREGS

AskRegs

This AskRegs Knowledgebase Q&A has been updated to place this guidance on hold until we hear back from the Department of Education (ED). The following response represents NASFAA's understanding on this issue based on a strict reading of the CARES Act. However, upon further review, the mention of Emergency FSEOG in the April 3, 2020 Electronic Announcement gives us pause. We have sent this question over to ED and ask that schools hold off on awarding Emergency FSEOG for 2020-21 until we hear back from ED and post an update in Today's News. 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.

AskRegs

Yes. As described in the May 15, 2020 Electronic Announcement, the U.S. Department of Education has exercised its authority under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act to extend by six months the deadlines for submission of financial statements and compliance audits under the OIG Audit Guide. 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.

AskRegs

This AskRegs Knowledgebase Q&A has been updated to clarify that we remain uncertain about the ability to use an electronic signature for the Statement of Educational Purpose. 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.

NASFAA UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Blue Icon

New Director Group Coaching from Blue Icon Advisors is perfect for financial aid directors with less than one year of experience at the director level, offering a virtual professional development opportunity to maximize your time and budget. "New Director Group Coaching was a great support group in my first year as a director. The weekly discussions and materials touched on key topics that will help me be successful,” said Marie Fico, director of student financial services at St. John Fisher College. Over the course of six weeks, you’ll join a small group of peers covering key topics like remaining in compliance, developing an operational calendar, and identifying and supporting staff professional development needs. Register by September 18 for our next group coaching session beginning September 21.

NASFAA U

Back by popular demand, the NASFAA U Satisfactory Academic Progress online course is a four-week interactive online course which focuses on an overview of the required and optional elements of an institutional satisfactory academic progress (SAP) policy. The course begins September 22 and includes topics such as calculating pace, student appeals, the impact of transfer credits, and the use of academic plans. Live instruction, discussion topic collaboration, and assessments throughout the course will reinforce key concepts. Upon passing the course, you will receive complimentary access to the credential test. The course is filling quickly, so register now.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) will be unavailable on Friday, July 31, 2020, from 9 p.m. Eastern time (ET) until 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, as we complete a system upgrade. During this outage period, file transmissions via the SAIG will be interrupted. EDconnect, TDClient, and TDCM applications will be unavailable and SAIG users will not be able to transmit files or access their SAIG mailbox content. Data must be transmitted at a later time, after the outage is complete.

As part of the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System implementation planned for Aug. 2, 2020, the Department of Education (ED) will make changes to the COD System to support the reporting requirements for withdrawn students who qualify for a Title IV waiver under the CARES Act. 

The Department of Education (ED) announced the availability of the updated 2020-2021 Federal School Code (FSC) List of Participating Schools. The Federal School Code List contains the unique codes assigned by ED for schools participating in the Title IV federal student aid programs. Students enter these codes on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form to indicate which postsecondary schools will receive the processed application results.

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