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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.

Federal Student Aid (FSA) on Thursday released updated quarterly data showing the state of the federal student loan portfolio, with much of the data significantly impacted by the pause on payments and interest accrual due to the coronavirus pandemic. Notably, fewer than 500,000 borrowers with loans in the Direct Loans (DL) program are in active repayment, as nearly 25 million borrowers with a total of $1 trillion in outstanding loans are taking advantage of the pause in payments and have their loans in an administrative forbearance status. The report covers the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2021.

On the heels of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) taking action against a student loan servicer for alleged deceptive practices to borrowers about their potential eligibility for forgiveness and repayment options available to them, Federal Student Aid (FSA) Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray put servicers on notice that FSA doesn’t believe this is an isolated incident. 

There won’t be a new episode of “Off The Cuff” this week, but we have plenty in store for April, where we will kick things off with a new episode next Friday covering the latest financial aid news from Capitol Hill. In the meantime, catch up on past episodes diving into the student loan servicing landscape, statewide FAFSA completion policies, and more! Be sure to stay tuned for new episodes this month from our regulatory and policy teams, plus special episodes featuring more higher education experts.

In this Financial Aid Business Solutions (FABS) webinar on Tuesday, May 3 at 2:00 p.m. ET, hear directly from Lassandra Brice, associate director of student financial aid at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, on the institution's vision to transform the student aid experience and how increased process automation and transparency with Oracle Student Financial Planning (SFP) helped the university make progress on its goal to swing wide the campus gates for more students. In fact, in its first year of using Oracle SFP, FAMU was able to increase its FAFSA submissions by 26% and its financial aid awards by 47%. The session will also include a product demo from Oracle and audience Q&A. Register now.

Please join us in congratulating Tayler Kreutter, FAAC®, formerly the executive director of student financial services at Roberts Wesleyan College, who is now the executive director of student financial services at Mount Holyoke College. Celebrate your own career developments by completing the "Movers and Shakers" form to share the news with your colleagues.

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