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The past year was anything but dull for the higher education community, as the Trump administration found its footing in the first year of President Donald Trump’s term and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took the helm at the Department of Education (ED). The year was filled with many setbacks for the higher education community, including resignations, regulatory delays, and proposed cuts to aid programs in budget proposals. But perhaps the most anticipated news came as a mixed bag at the tail end of 2017 — the long-awaited release of the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

Meet Emily Osborn. She began her career in financial aid 24 years ago as a work-study student at Antioch College and now serves as the director of financial aid for Northwestern University's Chicago Office where she works with the law and medical schools, the School of Professional Studies, Kellogg School of Management’s evening and weekend MBA programs, and various allied health programs on the Chicago Campus. She is currently serving as the NASFAA graduate/professional caucus chair and has previously served on the NASFAA Graduate/Professional Loan Limits Task Force, the NASFAA Graduate/Professional Issues Task Force, and as chair of NASFAA's Examining the Lack of Graduate-Specific Data Task Force.

The Department of Education (ED) has released its Financial Aid Shopping Sheet for the 2018-19 award year. The sheet contains a line item for the Perkins Loan program, and the program is also listed in the glossary. ED has advised that — assuming Congress does not resurrect the program — schools should list "N/A" on the line item.

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.

In 2017, NASFAA hosted more than 20 live webinars on topics ranging from verification to citizenship issues to regulatory questions, and much more. If you missed out on the live events, not to worry! Ordering the on-demand webinar provides you, and an unlimited number of staff members at your institution, with full access to the webinar archive, handout, and Q&A document until the stated expiration date. Webinars cover a variety of topics, and last from 90 to 120 minutes. Take a peek at the full list of available on-demand webinars to see what great training opportunities await you.

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.

In January 2018, the Department of Education will begin a peak processing period for the 2017–18 Award Year.  

"Last summer's Pew Research Center and Gallup surveys showing sharply declining public support for colleges and universities -- especially among Republicans -- seriously rattled higher education leaders," Inside Higher Ed reports. "Understandably so: with the GOP running the federal government and two-thirds of the states, those trend lines can translate not just into fewer Americans willing to finance a college education personally, but also less favorable treatment of colleges and universities by politicians and policy makers."

"The D.C. government's efforts to protect residents from abusive practices in the student loan market could be undermined by the House Republican higher education bill," The Washington Post reports.

"Four Democratic attorneys general filed separate lawsuits Thursday seeking to compel Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to grant debt relief to students defrauded by for-profit colleges," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Thursday that she viewed the U.S. House of Representatives' update to the Higher Education Act as 'conceptually, a starting point,' although she declined to address specific provisions and said she hadn't had an opportunity to look at the details of the bill," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"The University of Minnesota is moving ahead with a 15 percent tuition hike for most out-of-state students despite concerns that it may scare away potential recruits," the Star Tribune reports.

"Every year, 1 million student borrowers default on nearly $20 billion in federal loans. New data present the best picture ever accessible of who these borrowers are, the path they took into default, and whether or not they were able to return their accounts to good standing," Ben Miller writes for the Center for American Progress.

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