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ED Announces New Resources for FAFSA Simplification

Federal Student Aid COO Rich Cordray send a letter to leaders at all institutions of higher education alerting them to the changes and potential impacts on their campus because of implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act and the FUTURE Act. You can preview the letter in the Knowledge Center and get more detailed information on the NACAC FAFSA Simplification Topics page.  In addition, FSA has announced a webinar series for June and July on the new FAFSA. You do not need to register for these webinars, but participation will be available on a first come first-served basis for up to 10,000 attendees in each session. A video recording and transcript of the Q&A portion of the webinar will be available the week following each live session. 

ED Postpones Third-Party Servicer Guidance

In an April 11 blog post, Undersecretary James Kvaal announced that the Education Department would postpone its proposed guidance on third-party servicers. NACAC submitted comments in support of eliminating a loophole in the incentive compensation ban related to so-called ‘bundled services’, while also encouraging ED to carefully examine the effects of the proposed guidance on college access and success programs, application screening at large institutions, and other activities that could be affected. 

NACAC Joins 100+ Organizations Urging Congress to Double the Pell Grant

NACAC joined The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) and more than 100 organizations to encourage the current U.S. Congress to double the Pell Grant. With divided control of Congress, budget and appropriations measures will be difficult to pass, particularly those containing requests for increases. NACAC believes that investments in education are investments in our future and wants to ensure that Congress understands the breadth of support for doubling the Pell Grant. To get involved in the effort to #DoublePell, visit the Double Pell coalition web site. 

More FAFSA Information from Department of Education

The draft 2024-2025 FAFSA package is on public inspection in the Federal Register, and you may submit comments before the period closes on 5/23. FSA is preparing for the launch of the new FAFSA with a Knowledge Center Electronic Announcement, the Roadmap (containing a preview of trainings and other resources for stakeholders), and updated language on our FAFSA Simplification page.  

NACAC members invited to provide feedback on standards for financial aid offers

In November 2022, NACAC joined the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) and the American Council on Education (ACE) in the Paying for College Transparency Initiative, which aims to improve the clarity, accuracy, and consistency of student financial aid offers by producing a set of guiding principles and minimal standards to be used when developing aid offers. A set of draft principles and standards are ready for association members to review.

For review:

Comments can be submitted by email to legislative@nacacnet.org.

NACAC members are invited to provide comments by June 1.

Also, please review three illustrative examples of aid offers that meet the proposed principles and standards, including the long-standing example of the U.S. Department of Education. These examples are provided so that you can better see how the principles and standards would work in practice.

A recent report of the federal Government Accounting Office (GAO) is highly critical of postsecondary student aid offers. In response to these concerns, Congress has repeatedly introduced legislation that would prescribe in detail student aid offers. Also, The U.S. Department of Education has just announced that they will begin the “use of secret shopping to protect students.” One of the specified items that will be looked at is “cost of attendance,” a consumer information item that the federal government requires be made available to prospective students.

The leaders of 10 national higher education associations organized the task force to better understand the situation and develop guiding principles and minimum standards for student aid offers. The 10 associations represent colleges and universities, financial aid offices, and admissions and school counselors.