Here are the topics available for NASFAA Speaking engagements. Learn more about the speakers, review our Tips for Hosting a NASFAA Representative, and request a speaker for your upcoming event.

• Administrative Capability
• Advancing in Financial Aid
• Advancing the Profession—Getting to Know NASFAA's New Toolkit
• Advocacy and You
• Awarding Summer Federal Work Study
• Basics of Academic Calendars
• Building your skills as a Leader: Emotional Intelligence 101
• Care and Feeding of Yourself and Your Career
• Career Path Awareness for Financial Aid
• FAFSA Simplification Trivia
• "I'm Just a Bill, and I'm Sitting Here on Capitol Hill": How a Bill Really Becomes a Law
• Inside the Beltway Update
• Managing Up: 10 Tips for Earning Your Seat at the Leadership Table
• NASFAA Update
• Prison Education Programs
• Professional Association Involvement: You CAN Do it! (And We Can Help)
• Professional Judgment Best Practices
• Recognizing and Addressing Bias in the Student Aid Experience: A Research-Practice Conversation
• Staying in Love with Financial Aid Even When It's Hard (And It's Usually Hard)
• Talk's Not Cheap: Improving Communication to Serve Students and Boost Efficiency
• The Federal Budget and Student Aid
• The Light We Carry: Finding and Protecting Your Light
• The New FAFSA: Where are We?
• The Top Five Issues in Financial Aid: Navigating Today's Challenges
• Top AskRegs Questions
• Using NASFAA Tools
• Why Weaponize When You Can Disarm? Building Alliances for Compliance(s)

What's New in Administrative Capability

This session looks at administrative capability requirements with discussion on:

• Adequate Resources
• Automation and Electronic Processes
• Privacy and Security Safeguards
• Conflicting Information
• Consumer Information
• Separation of Functions
• Other Requirements
• General Evidence of Administrative Capability

Speaker: Dana Kelly

Advancing in Financial Aid 

Do you have a plan for your growth in the financial aid profession?  Do you know what it takes to make it to the next level?  Kristi Jovell, NASFAA National Chair and Assistant Vice President for Student Financial Services and Enrollment at Middlebury College will share her tips and lessons learned through a career in financial aid and higher education.  Develop your strategy for improving upon what you know, who you know, how you show up, and where you want to go. 

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

Advancing the Profession—Getting to Know NASFAA's New Toolkit

Do you worry about your office's ability to meet compliance requirements and provide excellent service to your students? If so, you're not alone--80% of respondents to a 2022 NASFAA survey of 500 institutions indicated that they had concerns about their aid offices' ability to maintain "administrative capability" standards required to participate in the Federal Student Aid programs, and 56% expressed concerns about their ability to adequately serve students. The NASFAA Board of Directors discussed these findings and convened a task force to develop a toolkit that financial aid directors can use to ensure they have a seat at the institutional decision-making table. The resulting Advancing the Profession Toolkit is now available and focuses on effective communication recommendations for c-suite executives on campus; media training to "be a spokesperson" on campus; professional development pathways; tips and training on interviewing for professional advancement; using data to effectively advance the institution's goals; and relationship and coalition building. Join this session to familiarize yourself with these valuable tools to help advance the financial aid profession!

Speaker: Helen Faith

Advocacy and You

This session will touch on the main principles of successful advocacy strategies. An overview will be given of how NASFAA enacts those strategies at the federal level through relationships with congressional staffers, the Department of Education, and the presidential administration. In addition to highlighting useful NASFAA tools and resources, the session will cover tips and strategies on how to successfully advocate at the grassroots level, and outline how you can plan your own advocacy event.

Speaker Options: Rachel Rotunda or Karen McCarthy

Awarding Summer Federal Work Study

Whether you are looking to implement a summer federal work-study program, update an existing program, or get the facts on the regulations for awarding FWS during the summer, this session is for you!  Topics will include developing summer cost of attendance budgets, enrolled versus non-enrolled students, impact on payroll, and FISAP reporting.  A school example will be provided.   

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

Basics of Academic Calendars

Is academic innovation happening on your campus that may impact how you award aid? Understanding federal student aid requirements for defining an academic year and academic calendar for degree programs is a necessary first step in administering Title IV financial aid which then determines how aid must be awarded. This session will provide an overview of the basic requirements and how to review your existing programs as well as new programs proposed at your institution. 

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

Building your skills as a Leader: Emotional Intelligence 101

Want to learn more about Emotional Intelligence and how to regulate your own emotions and help to cheer up or calm down another person. You will gain skills to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. Learn how to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking, behavior and problem solving. Be prepared to participate by taking your own Emotional Intelligence Assessment and share with others as we learn together.  

Speaker: Heidi Carl

Care and Feeding of Yourself and Your Career

Where do you see yourself in one, three, five, even ten years? Do you know how to build your skills to prepare for your next steps? In this interactive session, engage with fellow audience members and NASFAA Past National Chair Helen Faith to learn about the career paths your colleagues have traveled, explore opportunities in financial aid that could best suit your strengths and interests, and discover the range of professional development and training tools and options that will help you develop your career in the directions you most want to grow.

Speaker: Helen Faith

Career Path Awareness for Financial Aid

Who are we as a profession and why do we do the work we do? Come hear some of the work of the recent NASFAA Career Path Awareness Thought Force and learn how to fall in love with financial aid all over again. Recognize that change in our profession is constant so how do you survive and build your stories that lead to your WHY! The work of a financial aid professional is wide and varied so how do we find something for everyone to be satisfied and fulfilled and lifelong financial aid professionals. 

Speaker: Heidi Carl

FAFSA Simplification Trivia

Join your host Kristi Jovell, NASFAA National Chair, for a fun game of FAFSA Simplification Trivia.  Test your knowledge of all things FAFSA Simplification. Trivia participants and spectators are both welcome! The presentation will include resources for more information on each answer.  

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

"I'm Just a Bill, and I'm Sitting Here on Capitol Hill": How a Bill Really Becomes a Law

Schoolhouse Rock!'s iconic "I'm Just a Bill" video only had it partially right. It didn't cover authorization vs. appropriation legislation, regulatory vs. statutory guidance, mandatory vs. discretionary spending, or negotiated rulemaking. In financial aid, how does a bill really become a law? And how do we implement it once it gets signed? To quote Schoolhouse Rock!, "While a few key congressmen discuss and debate whether they should let me be a law. How I hope and pray that they will, but today I am still just a bill." How do we help bills cross the finish line and, more importantly, what happens once they do?

Speaker: Rachel Rotunda

Inside the Beltway Update

This NASFAA Federal Update will provide an overview of the latest happenings in Washington, including a high-level landscape of the current political climate in D.C. with a focus on federal financial aid policy and how it has impacted students and institutions in recent years. Overall trends in student aid will be discussed including recent legislative and regulatory activity, reauthorization proposals and predictions for how student aid funding will fare in upcoming budget negotiations. Movement within the Department of Education concerning negotiated rulemaking and updates from Federal Student Aid (FSA) will also be discussed. The session will also provide an overview of NASFAA-led projects, services, and advocacy efforts.

Speaker Options: Rachel Rotunda, or Karen McCarthy

Managing Up: 10 Tips for Earning Your Seat at the Leadership Table

Do you desire to be heard but haven’t developed your strategy for what to do when they’re listening? Learn what senior leaders and college presidents have shared about their expectations and communication preferences.  You often have few opportunities and limited time to get your message delivered and make your point effectively.  Follow their advice to advance your agenda and career.

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

NASFAA Update

Get an update on association activities, professional development and training opportunities, and the volunteer and public policy work of the association. Learn how you can get involved.

Speaker Options: National Chairs, NASFAA Board Members  

Prison Education Programs

Access to federal financial aid, including Pell Grants, was returned to students who are incarcerated as of July 1, 2023. The initiation of these Prison Education Programs (PEPs) is a complex process. Consideration of partnerships, authority, processes, and financials can be overwhelming. Schools that are already committed to operating a PEP face an interesting clash of changes, as PEP initiation coincides with FAFSA Simplification, creating a complex process and ecosystem to navigate. NASFAA provides national technical assistance to both financial aid and prison education administrators and is available to address the creation and operation of PEPs.

Speaker Options: Sheila Meiman or Rachel Rotunda

Professional Association Involvement: You CAN Do it! (And We Can Help) 

Join NASFAA National Chair Kristi Jovell and leaders in your region for a discussion on how to get involved, or how to continue your path of service, with your financial aid professional association.  Move from volunteering in your state, to your region, and with NASFAA.  

Note: To promote volunteerism within the association, this session format could function as an informal breakfast or lunch discussion with interested conference attendees at designated tables. 

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

Professional Judgment Best Practices

Professional judgment (PJ) is sometimes viewed as one of the more challenging aspects of Title IV program administration. There are both explicit and implicit guidelines that must be followed in relation to other aspects of Title IV federal student aid administration. This session will explore guiding principles and best practices that can be applied on your campus.

Speaker: Dana Kelly, or another designated NASFAA TRA staff member dependent on timing

Recognizing and Addressing Bias in the Student Aid Experience: A Research-Practice Conversation

Financial aid administrators are committed to providing all students with the opportunity to improve their lives with education through access to an affordable education. We navigate through a sea of complex and ever-changing federal and state laws, regulations, and regulatory guidance to accomplish this important work, and we do so as fairly and equitably as we can. Drawing on financial aid research findings and NASFAA's Diversity Toolkit, this session will help uncover ways that bias exists in the financial aid system and processes, while providing opportunities to engage in discussion on how to identify and address these biases in our offices on campus.

Speaker: Helen Faith

Staying in Love with Financial Aid Even When It's Hard (And It's Usually Hard)

Financial aid isn't easy work—the past several years have proven incredibly challenging, and the trajectory of rapid change will persist in coming years as we  continue to experience FAFSA Simplification, support borrowers in navigating the ever-changing landscape of loan repayment and debt relief, respond to Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency requirements and implications, and the list goes on. If you're overwhelmed and even discouraged, that's hardly surprising—so how can we keep our hearts in this work through it all? Join this session to reconnect with the reasons we became financial aid professionals, be reminded of the tremendous impact we have, and share strategies to manage the stress of constant change and continue to be re-inspired even in the most difficult moments.

Speaker: Helen Faith

Talk's Not Cheap: Improving Communication to Serve Students and Boost Efficiency

Does your team spend an inordinate amount of time answering the same questions over and over again? Are you convinced that nobody reads the emails and letters you send them? Well, as the old saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results—if what you're doing isn't working, it's time to try a different approach. Come to this session to learn about evidence-based practices that have transformed aid offices from coast to coast (well, from coast to Midwest) at both a community college and a public flagship. Pick up tips you can put to use at your school and learn about innovative approaches to centralize communications to maximize effectiveness and free up capacity to focus on high-priority needs.

Speaker: Helen Faith

The Federal Budget and Student Aid

Between fiscal years, sequestration, and continuing resolutions, the federal budget process can seem a bit overwhelming. This session will cover the nuts and bolts of the federal budget process with special attention given to how the process impacts funding of the federal student aid programs. In addition to highlighting the basics of the process, the session will also feature predictions for future funding!

Speaker Options: Rachel Rotunda, or Karen McCarthy

The Light We Carry: Finding and Protecting Your Light 

Modeled after The Light We Carry, Overcoming in Uncertain Times. Michelle Obama wrote this book referencing the pandemic as an uncertain time. Let’s use her lessons to keep us motivated and moving forward amid the challenges facing financial aid administrators.  Learn what tools Michelle Obama used to help her overcome uncertain times in her life and discuss how we can apply them to our environment to support ourselves, our colleagues, and our students. 

Speaker: Kristi Jovell

The New FAFSA: Where are We?

The biggest changes to the FAFSA in history are being implemented in the 2024-25 application cycle - it’s been a bumpy start. Learn about the progress on outstanding 2024-25 issues, the latest information on the rollout of the 25-26 FAFSA, and possible changes for the future.

Speaker Options: Dana Kelly, or Karen McCarthy

The Top Five Issues in Financial Aid: Navigating Today's Challenges (General Session)

This essential session will explore the most pressing challenges in financial aid, including workforce dynamics, student loan debt and forgiveness, the value of higher education, the ever-changing landscape of regulations and legislation, and the latest updates from inside the beltway.

Speaker: TBD

Top AskRegs Questions

Updated for 2024-25! NASFAA's AskRegs service fields thousands of questions from aid administrators each year. This session takes a look at the top questions submitted over the last year, as well as those rated as most useful by the NASFAA membership. Find out what your colleagues are asking and if your practices align with NASFAA responses.

Speaker: Dana Kelly or another designated NASFAA TRA staff member dependent on timing

Using NASFAA Tools

Membership has its privileges! Remember this slogan from the '90s?  It is very applicable to the tools NASFAA offers its members. From compliance and policy insights to training and "Beltway" insights, make sure you are making the most of your benefits and staying on top of what's happening in the aid community.

Speaker Options: Dana Kelly, or National Chairs

Why Weaponize When You Can Disarm? Building Alliances for Compliance(s)

Do you find that the aid office is often the last to know about campus developments that have major impacts on us? Do you feel like the wet blanket at every academic innovation brainstorming shindig? Does your office struggle to get the resources needed to be successful? Hmmm, ever wonder why? Let's be honest—we've probably all been guilty of brandishing the FSA Handbook like a weapon, or going straight to "No" without passing start. Join this session to talk through these and other challenges we've experienced and discuss approaches to support greater success for our offices and ultimately for the students we serve.

Format: 60-minute breakout session; also available as a 90-minute workshop format with increased audience involvement.

Speaker: Helen Faith

Request a NASFAA Speaker

For more session options, check out Blue Icon's offerings.