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Ellucian. The University of Pittsburgh needed a streamlined scholarship management process that would reduce staff stress and maximize student award dollars. Learn how ScholarshipUniverse helped Pitt's financial aid office enhance the scholarship process for students and staff.

As the Institutional and Programmatic Eligibility Committee hit the midpoint of the week's negotiations, members wrapped up discussions concerning the Department of Education's (ED) gainful employment (GE) issue paper and began work on the financial responsibility regulatory text.

The Department of Education (ED) announced the approval of $415 million in borrower defense claims on Wednesday, citing new findings that come as a part of a continuing review of claims from institutions that have demonstratively misrepresented their course offerings and outcomes for graduates. According to ED, this action — which includes nearly 16,000 borrowers — brings the total amount of approved relief under borrower defense to repayment to approximately $2 billion for more than 107,000 borrowers.

A school has a student who entered the country under a Special Immigration Visa. Special Immigration Visa status is not listed in the approved eligible noncitizen visas for Title IV aid. However, the Department of State website indicates that legal permanent residency status is granted to these individuals upon admission to the US. The school wants to confirm that as long as these students have documentation to show their permanent residency status, will these students be eligible for Title IV aid? Think you know the answer? Read on to see if you got it right!

This AskRegs Knowledgebase Q&A was updated on February 11, 2022 to include long-awaited IRS guidance related to Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF I) student grants under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), HEERF II student grants under the 2021 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA, Section 314 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021), and HEERF III grants under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP). View the full answer to this question to learn more.

Interested in attending the FAAC® Forum next year? Get certified! The next testing window will be open from Wednesday, February 23 through March 9, 2022. Exam dates and times can fill up quickly, so be sure to schedule your exam session soon. Learn more about the testing process and make sure you meet all of the technical requirements. Check your eligibility and then complete your certification application online.

February kicked off Financial Aid Awareness Month, and central to the financial aid process is filling out the FAFSA. The sooner students know their aid eligibility, the better equipped they are to make vital college-going decisions. With more people completing the FAFSA earlier, many have wondered whether schools would get financial aid offers out earlier. According to a new NASFAA survey, they are. Also in February, Sen. Bob Casey’s (D-Pa.) office held a webinar on the student loan landscape for borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Meanwhile, ED introduced a number of updates to the College Scorecard, in an attempt to help students to make more informed choices about prospective programs. Check out the 23 new resources added to the Ref Desk in the last month — including new chapters from the Federal Student Aid Handbook, electronic announcements from the Department of Education, and articles and reports from a variety of sources — and read more in this month's release notes for a look at some other helpful, timely references.

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