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The Department of Education (ED) on Friday announced it would grant automatic student loan discharges to borrowers who attended the American Career Institute (ACI) in Massachusetts, due to admissions of misrepresentation to students, misstated job placement rates, and employing instructors unauthorized to teach in the state. ED also announced that it has approved borrower defense claims for more than 28,000 former Corinthian Colleges students, and about 6,300 former ITT Technical Institutes (ITT) students.

A majority of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, support state programs that would make college tuition-free for certain students, according to a poll released last week. The poll, conducted by Penn Schoen Berland on behalf of the Campaign for Free College Tuition (CFCT) showed that more than three-quarters of Hillary Clinton supporters (88 percent) and more than half of Donald Trump voters (54 percent) supported state initiatives to make college tuition-free.

When it comes to graduate school, students with higher-income backgrounds are more likely to enroll, complete, and reap the financial benefits of an advanced degree, according to an issue brief from the Urban Institute.

In response to the great uncertainty about the future of the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Senators Graham (R-SC) and Durbin (D-IL) and Representatives Coffman (R-CO) and Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy (BRIDGE) Act last week. The bill would grant DACA recipients or those eligible for DACA temporary relief from deportation and work permits for three years, while Congress works on a permanent solution to their immigration status. The American Council on Education authored the letter signed by 20 different higher education associations, including NASFAA.

Learn the answer to this question and learn how to instantly find credible and reliable solutions to your most pressing regulatory and compliance questions with NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase. The Knowledgebase guide and video tutorials highlight the many features of this tool.

NASFAA’s Policies & Procedures (P&P) Builder is available for all NASFAA members to use free of charge until June 30, 2017. Use this period to do work in the tool, ask questions, and see for yourself how the online template can help to whip your policies and procedures manuals into shape. After June 30, Value Plus members will have continued access to the P&P Builder as part of their Value Plus membership package; Standard and Value members can add the P&P Builder to their 2017–18 membership dues renewal invoice for $99/year, per institution.

The COD Processing Update provides information related to COD System processing and includes the following sections: COD News and Updates, Current Issues (with a subsection for All Programs, Direct Loans, and Grants), and Reminders.

"The record of Betsy DeVos as an activist and advocate on K-12 education has been picked over for more than a month. But relatively little is known about her position on a range of issues that vex higher education policy makers," Inside Higher Ed reports. NASFAA President Justin Draeger is quoted in this article.

"The U.S. Department of Education has fixed a mistake in the data for its College Scorecard that substantially inflated loan repayment rates for most colleges," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"There has been no shortage of predictions about what to expect under the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. But any forecast of how a man with no experience in elected office, no demonstrated interest in the process of policy making, and a record of contradictory and dishonest pronouncements will govern should be read with caution," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

"In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump this week, two GOP senators called for the removal of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Josue Flores credits Tennessee's free community college program for allowing him to continue his education after graduating from Cordova High School last spring, only three years after immigrating to the United States," Chalkbeat Tennessee reports. "But it wasn't just the money. The state doesn't actually pay for Flores' education because federal grants cover his tuition at Southwest Community College in Memphis."

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to cut tuition at the University of Wisconsin and use taxpayer funds to pay for it is shaking up normal political alliances with some Democrats expressing support while skeptical fellow Republicans worry it could put the state on a path toward socialist Bernie Sanders' free college tuition plan," according to The Associated Press.

"My parents didn't attend college and when I was a student there was a time when I thought a four-year degree was out of reach. I now have both bachelor's and master's degrees and want every student in Michigan to be given the same message that changed the course of my life –– I want them to know they are college material," Brandy Johnson writes for The Detroit News.

"Repaying student loans is a huge concern for students after they graduate. But walking into college classrooms for the first time, a more immediate dilemma faces students: paying for their textbooks. When college students are asked about the obstacles they face in pursuit of a college education, they were quick to call out the extraordinary cost of textbooks and other educational materials required for the majority of their courses," according to New America.

"Every year, the U.S. Department of Education provides billions of dollars in Federal financial aid to help students enroll in college. Yet too many students––roughly two in five bachelor's degree-seeking students––leave school with no degree, often leaving them with debt, no job, and a high risk of default. In recent years, the Department has made strides toward improving these odds, yet more work remains," Lynn Mahaffie writes for the Department of Education's HomeRoom blog.

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