 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
What's New at VASFAA
EASFAA Training - Transitioning to Direct Lending
The next phase of EASFAA training is available for registrants!
Subject: Transitioning to Federal Direct Lending
| Although federal legislation has not been passed at this date to mandate 100 percent participation in the Federal Direct Student Loan Program, many schools are preparing for this possibility by at least being informed of how FDL operates and how it differs from FFELP. To that end, EASFAA will be providing a number of one day seminars on “Transitioning to Direct Lending” across the EASFAA region. Your guides on this journey will be those familiar with making this programming conversion and all of the various aspects of your operations that will change. Each of the sessions offered will focus on one particular Financial Aid Management System (FAMS) so that you can attend the site that would be most beneficial to you with your processing system. The first segment of the training is devoted to general Direct Loan transitioning issues. This will be helpful even if the nearest site to you isn’t focusing on your FAMS. Don’t forget that a communication plan with your students, parents, and campus community is also vitally important. The cost for each session is $50 for EASFAA members and $100 for non-EASFAA members who then also receive EASFAA membership. Registration begins at 9:30 am with the program beginning at 10:00 am. Lunch is own your own from noon to 1:00 pm when the seminar will reconvene. The program ends at 3:00 pm. In our “go green” policy, materials will be emailed to participants before the day of the event. Workshop Schedule:
|
Complete details can be found at:
http://www.easfaa.org/docs/toc_trainingworkshops.html
DL Training & VASFAA Conference Scholarship App
Please complete and submit the "Conference Scholarship" form (below) and submit via e-mail to Jill King (Jill.King@UVM.edu) for consideration. You will be notified of the status of your request within 10 days.
Link to Federal Direct Loan Training Agenda
This Week in IPEDS ~ 10/19/09 ~ NPEC Report Released
The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) has released a new report titled: “Information Required to Be Disclosed Under the Higher Education Act of 1965: Suggestions for Dissemination.” The purpose of the document is to help colleges and universities successfully identify and meet their obligation to disclose information as required under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended by the HEOA. The link to the report is below.
General and Non-Loan Program NPRM
Federal Relations News - Need to comment on Year Round Pell and other Items in General and Non-Loan Issues NPRM
From Pam Chisholm:
HEOA was full of many nuggets for us on our campuses, most of them around additional reporting requirements. The one nugget that was good for students was the year round Pell. However, you are probably aware that the Department is taking a slightly (!) more conservative interpretation of Congress’s legislative intent in year round Pell beginning with the 2010-11 award year (they couldn’t get it into place for this year) and will require the student to have advanced to the next academic year before receiving the second scheduled award of Pell. Here’s an example for a student with an EFC = 0 with the summer semester as a header: For 2009-10, brand new student enrolls in 6 credits in the summer, full time (12 credits) fall and spring. Under the current year round Pell, this student would get $1338 Pell in the summer, $2675 in the fall, and another $2675 in the spring. Under the Department’s proposal, the student would get the same amounts for summer and fall, but only $1337 in the spring (Pell full time entitlement of $5350 minus the summer and fall amounts) because the student had only earned 18 credits by the start of the spring semester. In order to get the full time Pell for spring, the student would have needed to have earned 24 credits. Consequently, only full-time students will be able to take advantage of the year round Pell, or students for whom we go back in to double check their earned credits in mid year – sounds like ACG and SMART all over again! The non-federal negotiators on the neg-reg Team V did not agree with this interpretation of the statute, feeling the statute was intended to encourage students to accelerate their program and get additional grant assistance with the existing SAP policies and the 9 semester FT limitation on Pell sufficient to limit abuse. The Department does not agree ( and they say so in the NPRM: “We don not agree”). If you do not agree with the Department on this or other issues in the Team V NPRM (General and Non-Loan Issues), I strongly encourage you to post a quick comment on the Department’s website. Here is a link to the NPRM http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-18550.pdf ; at the beginning of the NPRM is a summary of all the issues addressed in the document. Comments must be submitted by September 21, 2009. Don’t worry about the profundity of your statement; a clear, brief, professional, calm (I had to take a few deep breaths!) few sentences will help. You can take a look at few of the other comments to get a feel for the content. To submit a comment, here’s what you do: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov to submit your comments electronically.Information on using Regulations.gov,including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is
available on the site under ‘‘How To Use This Site.’’ You have to include the docket number, which is ED-2009-OPE-0005. When I submit the docket number, I see all the other comments that were submitted; I click on “submit a comment” on one of them, and within that, am given the option to submit my own comment rather than piggy back on that person’s. I’m still learning my way around this tool; anyone who is more savvy on this site, please share your wisdom!
Federal Relations News - Meeting with Peter Welch
Update from Pam Chisholm
On Wednesday, September 2, Congressman Peter Welch invited Vermont college presidents, directors of financial aid and any interested citizens to a roundtable discussion at Vermont Technical College on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA). The Congressman wanted to hear from the attendees how this legislation would change higher education financing in Vermont, what impact the bill would have on access to college for Vermont students, and what other priorities Congress should consider in making college affordable for all students. Vermont post-secondary education was extremely well represented, as it was standing room only! College presidents and financial aid staff from at least 8 of Vermont’s independent colleges and all six of our public institutions were present, along with two students who had been served by VSAC’s outreach staff. Two of the Congressman’s staffers were present (Bob Rogan, DC office chief of staff and Tricia Coates of his Vermont staff), a member of Senator Leahy’s staff, and Don Vickers, Scott Giles and Carol Bocan of VSAC were all there to listen. We were limited to an hour due to the Congressman’s schedule, and much of the time was dominated with consistent and unanimous support for VSAC’s outreach services(beginning with middle school through adult services), financial aid nights and FAFSA completion support, loan counseling, and the myriad of other professional, local services they provide above and beyond loan disbursements. To quote the Congressman, “It’s clear one size does not fit all” , in that Direct Lending cannot provide those same services. In my opinion, I think he knew about all these services, but I think he was surprised at how much the colleges value them. He was also very interested in the power of the students’ stories. He also heard our “anticipatory administrative angst” with regard to the switch to Direct Lending, particularly for the smaller schools – nothing is ever that easy, and increased staffing needs are anticipated for loan origination, exit counseling, and default prevention. Remarks were also made about: · although we appreciate the Pell increases, they are limited in comparison to the cost of college for many families. · Interest rates not being reduced for Grad PLUS is harmful for graduate/professional students who are not headed into lucrative fields· Concern expressed with funds targeted for community colleges I apologize if I’ve left out any salient points. I hope others who were in attendance will jump in and add to this with their comments/opinions.
The outcome? He listened attentively, welcomes our further feedback, and I expect will reach out to us as a community when he needs additional input. He indicated he will speak with Chairman Miller (chair of the House Education Committee) and I hope will convey the “one size does not fit all “ sentiment and help carve out a role for state non-profits such as VSAC and the other issues we discussed with him…stay tuned!