No Sleep ‘Till (DUM DUM DUM DUMMMMM) IRS Data Retrieval!*

*Read to the tune of the Beastie Boys “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”

          The field of financial aid is filled with selfless people. We work hard to provide access and affordability in higher education, and while we all know what we signed up for (or maybe you didn’t, but you sure know now!), we forget that sometimes students can be grumpy, stressed, or just plain mean. Thank yous are rare from students, but we love what we do, and have a passion to make the financial aid process better (even if we complain endlessly to our significant others and/or mom). This has never been as prevalent as the last six or so months when this crazy, amazing financial aid horde banded together in the name of advocacy. The advocacy efforts made by financial aid administrators have been amazing to behold. Until this advocacy mob swept across the nation, I thought financial aid was static. Changes were made at the federal level, and then immediately embraced by our field without any fight. And then, there was a change. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool went down with no warning or information, but verification requirements stayed the same. We struggled to help students complete verification, and sent so many 4506-Ts that we could fill the form out in our sleep (get that line 5 filled in, baby!). I had phone calls with parents sobbing because they just didn’t know how they would be able to get us their tax return transcript, but their student had a 399 code with a deadline before aid would be cancelled. As these stories came up across the country, it was like a jet engine revving up. Calls to action were sent out across the country. #IRSDRT was tweeted out. I had students writing letters to their congressmen and women. I was writing letters, everybody was writing letters! Calls were made and we stood up as a profession and refused to let these burdens weigh on our students. 

            And let me tell you, before I realized that I could participate in this advocacy mob, I had NO interest in politics, and honestly, I was a little sketchy on how the government worked… Fifth grade was so long ago! But I jumped in, got the basics from listening to other people talk, said a few stupid things in big groups (once I asked how many Senators there are…SO embarrassing), but I have learned a ton in just the last few months about how not only legislation is proposed and passed, but also the best ways to advocate for my students. It starts with those stories! All of those people we have met, all of those students and families we have helped, and all of those ridiculous issues we have encountered really open legislators eyes to what we deal with on a daily basis. It also gives our positions and ideas clout: this needs to be changed because it is negatively impacting my students in this way, etc. And look what we accomplished! Getting to the bottom of the IRS DRT shutdown. Verification relief. Year-round Pell. I give credit to my mob friends with a shout out to our NASFAA godfather! Advocacy on the behalf of our students and their families has made a huge difference, and I am excited to see this horde of financial aid administrators continue to improve the federal aid process.

            Come join the advocacy mob! Reach out to your Legislative Committee. Google “how the government works” (or at least watch this quick video even if it’s a little outdated:).

 Read NASFAA’s daily newsletter. Ask questions. Write letters. Make calls. And definitely don’t sleep until the DRT is back online.


Post written by Keri Gilbert, Financial Aid Advisor at University of Missouri-Columbia
Keri was the recipient of the NASFAA regional scholarship - and as you can see, she's still "Weirdly Passionate." -jj

Federal Issues - Election Update

Federal Issues - Election Update

With less than a week to go before the election, most of us probably can’t wait for it to be over. Every election is important and it is important that everyone exercise their constitutional right by taking the time to vote. Sometimes it is hard to know who to vote for; the media tends to focus on the personal tit-for-tat that goes on between the candidates instead of spending the time going over the issues and the stance of each candidate on those issues. So to save you some time, below is a summary of each presidential candidate’s stance on higher education and college affordability. This is not an endorsement of one candidate over another but a summary of their position as stated on their web sites.

Clinton wants families with income up to $125,000 to pay no tuition at in-state public four year colleges and universities and all community colleges will offer free tuition. All borrowers will be able to refinance loans at current rates. She also wants to help those in default protect their credit and cut interest rates on student loans. Clinton wants to develop a payroll deduction portal for employers and employees to simplify the repayment process of student loans. Aspiring entrepreneurs will be able to defer their loans with no payment or interest up to 3 years. Lastly, Clinton will use executive action to offer a 3-month moratorium on all federal student loan payments.

Trump wants to work with Congress on reforms to ensure universities are making a good faith effort to reduce the cost of college and student debt in exchange for the federal tax breaks and tax dollars. He wants to ensure that the opportunity to attend a two or four-year college, or to pursue a trade or a skill set through vocational and technical education will be easier to access, pay for, and finish. Most of Trump’s plan for education focuses on school choice at the K-12 level.

I would encourage each of you to look into the positions of each candidate when deciding who to vote for come Tuesday and to make every effort to get out and cast your vote.

Brian Weingart

MASFAA Federal Issues Chair

Thoughts for 2016 - Federal Issues

Brian Weingert

MASFAA Federal Issues, 2016 Chair

December is normally a great time of year to reflect back on the past year on both the successes and failures. This year seems to be different as I find myself thinking a lot about the upcoming year and what is lurking around the corner. I’m sure everyone has talked about PPY; I guess we are supposed to call it early FAFSA and specified tax year. So I’m thinking about if the updates to our financial aid management system will be ready to begin processing early? When will the cost of attendance be set? When will award letters begin to be sent? How is it going to impact our outreach efforts, when we offer financial aid nights, FAFSA workshops, and College Goal Sunday, and how we are going to communicate these changes to the students and families we serve?

The HEA Reauthorization expired in 2013. Can we expect reauthorization in an election year? Or are we looking at a replay of the 2003 reauthorization where Congress passed 13 extensions until Congress finally passed Reauthorization in 2008? Is reauthorization just going to be more consumer disclosures, more requirements that lead to more regulations and complexity, and more responsibilities for financial aid professionals to remain compliant that takes away time from counseling students?

As you may be aware, beginning with the 2016-2017 FAFSA, schools will no longer be able to see the list of schools that a student lists on the ISIR, except their own school code. What you may not be aware of is beginning with 2017-18, the Department of Education is discussing mixing the order of the schools on the ISIR that is sent to your state grant agency. This is going to impact each state a little differently depending on how your state processes its state aid programs. This may lead some states to develop another application or another process that a student will have to go through to let a state know what school to award their state aid at.

It would be nice to be able to take a moment to reflect on the past year. While those days may be gone, we can definitely say there is hardly a dull moment in financial aid and 2016 is going to be an interesting year for all of us.

College Ratings Plan? What College Ratings Plan!?

(by Gena Boling, member of Federal Issues Committee)

via Huffington Post (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

If you’re anything like me, for nearly two years, you have been sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for the College Ratings Plan shoe to drop. Announced by President Obama in August 2013, the College Ratings Plan was designed to rate colleges on value in an effort to provide students and families information on selecting a “best value” institution. Sounds great, right?

According to many financial aid administrators, higher education administrators, and the general public, the ratings system came with many flaws. Reliable data, defining “best value,” determining comparable institutions – many of the factors playing a role in the outcome of a college ratings plan are complex and problematic when drawing comparisons between institutions. Many Congressional leaders have voiced concerns the college ratings system would result in costly measures to create and maintain.

This week, Deputy Under Secretary of Education, Jamienne Studley posted a blog updating the progress of the Department of Education’s efforts to implement the Obama Administration’s proposed college ratings system, indicating a near-abandon of the previously proposed college ratings plan. In her blog post, Studley suggests ED will release new consumer tools in late summer, which will provide information to families and students as well as to institutions for use in bench-marking institutional performance.

This sounds a bit different from a college ratings plan which would essentially compare postsecondary institutions in terms of which institutions offer a best value for their education, grouping schools into three categories of value from best to least desirable, based on what many argued were arbitrary factors.

Instead, the Department of Education will seek to provide what undersecretary Ted Mitchell describes as “revolutionary” information to students and families who want to make customizable comparisons on their own. Why not just use existing consumer products such as a school’s Net Price Calculator, the College Scorecard, or College Navigator? Good question. Many tools already exist which offer students and families the ability to research a number of institutions in order to review financial factors. These, when used in combination with an understanding of educational programs, on-campus experiences, and any other factor the student finds important to them, can lead to a sound college choice. However, ED is still discussing which data to include in the new tool and is considering including graduate earnings and loan repayment rates, which would expand on data found in the College Scorecard or Navigator.

As a MASFAA member from Missouri, I can tell you we have been very interested in this topic and have taken a proactive approach to addressing college ratings on behalf of our state association members to Congressional leaders. In January 2015, shortly after the draft framework for the system was announced, Missouri members completed a detailed survey on the topic. The results of this survey helped shape multiple conversations with legislators during visits to DC and subsequent emails to legislative staff. Survey results demonstrated than an overwhelming majority of members disagreed with the proposed rating systems and feared the College Ratings Plan would fail at achieving its published goals.

We’ll continue to follow the progress of this new, “revolutionary” tool and will provide updates as we can. If you’d like more information on these developments, I encourage you to check out the following resources:

http://chronicle.com/article/Education-Department-Now-Plans/231137/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/25/education-department-says-rating-system-will-be-consumer-tool-rather-comparison

http://www.nasfaa.org/Main/orig/2015/open/ED_Pulls_Back_On_Ratings_System.aspx

Federal Issues Update

(by Zach Greenlee, Federal Issues Committee member) 

How often does a normal citizen visit the U.S. Treasury website? I’ve increased my visits to once per year since 2013! In 2013, Congress voted to tie student loan interest rates to the auction price of their 10 year note (10 yr T-Note), held every May (see NASFAA article).

For the past two years, as new students ask about the interest rate on their loans, we have been able to say, “Well this year, it’s 4.66%. Next year, it will at least be 2.05%, but it is tied to the rates of the 10 year T-Note and we will have to see what that is after May.” And we have the same conversation but with different numbers for parent’s and graduate/professional students who borrow Direct Loans. We get to assure families that there is a fixed rate on their loans each year, and while we can’t say what the market will do in the future, there is a cap that would limit the interest rates.

On Wednesday, the 10 yr T-Note sold for 2.237%, so given the base requirements mandated by law, we can expect 2015-16 interest rates to be as follows:

• 4.29% for undergrad Direct Loans (Stafford sub & unsub)
• 5.84% for graduate/professional Direct Loans (Stafford unsub)
• 6.84% for Direct PLUS Loans to parents and graduate/professional students

(NASFAA Article citing 2015-16 rates)

The new rates were also announced on IFAP on Friday.

As soon as the rates are made official and announced by ED through IFAP, we will be able to update disclosure statements, award letter comments, website postings, desk references, and send notification to students and parents. Not only is it a chance to break down some of the jargon we use that is confusing and overwhelming to students, but students might actually start checking the U.S. Treasury website themselves on a regular basis to become more informed on U.S. economic issues. (Hopefully they don’t just get enticed by the auction part of the site, where a Lamborghini is currently selling for $76k).

*************

A few other things to mention:

FSA & ED have a random sample survey that started up on Thursday, May 14th. The survey was announced earlier in the week on IFAP, and is an effort to measure FSA’s performance in terms of the ease with which school partners are able to do business with them. If you have received the survey and want to provide more information on the questions asked, please share your comments/thoughts with the rest of us. There is no mention of how long the survey will be administered or how large of a sample it will collect. Make sure this doesn’t go into your spam folder and please participate if you are selected. An example of what one colleague received is below:

-----

From: "Federal Student Aid, through CFI Group" <noreply-cfigroup@qualtrics-survey.com>
Date: May 15, 2015 at 8:00:00 AM CDT
To:
Subject: School Partners Survey Information - Web Surveys
Reply-To: "Federal Student Aid, through CFI Group" <cfisupport@cfigroup.com>

As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that Federal Student Aid provides the best services possible to our school partners and, in turn, supports the school community in administering the Title IV programs for students, you have been selected to participate in a brief survey. Through this survey, which should take less than three minutes to complete, we will assess our performance in terms of the ease with which our school partners are able to do business with us.

Thank you in advance for your thoughtful and candid feedback. Please click on the following link to begin.

*************

An Inside HigherEd article posted on Friday refers to new draft regulations ED should be releasing soon. The draft regulations pertain to debit card and other financial products on campuses. We’ll hope to have more information posted after the announcement has been made.

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SPONSOR

President Obama unveils new Student Aid Bill of Rights – March 10, 2015

The President announced a new “declaration of values” for higher education students and is asking for online signatures from anyone who agrees.

The Student Aid Bill of Rights has four tenets to ensure that students have the information and resources necessary to afford college and repay loans if they borrow.

President Obama was quoted as saying: “We want everybody who agrees with these principles to sit down and work with us and figure out how they can make these student rights real." The online survey can be found at:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/webform/college-opportunity

MASFAA, be sure to express your views!

MASFAA Washington D.C. Hill Visits – March 12, 2015

The MASFAA Federal Issues Committee held our Washington D.C. Hill Visits on Thursday March 12, 2015. We were able to visit with 18 different offices and all were very receptive of our message.

Attendees:

• Gena Boling, MO
• Roberta Johnson, IA
• Christine Passer, MI
• David Vikander, MN
• Linda Hayes, OH
• Aaron Knapp, WI
• Sarah Soper, IN
• Michelle Wortel, IL

Offices Visited:

• Illinois – Representative Duckworth, Senator Durbin
• Indiana – Congressman Messer
• Iowa – Senator Ernst, Congressman Young, Congressman Blum
• Michigan – Representative Walberg, Congressman Bishop
• Minnesota – Senator Klobuchar, Representative Kline, Senator Franken
• Missouri – Senator McCaskill, Senator Blunt
• Ohio – Senator Brown, Congressman Latta, Representative Gibbs
• Wisconsin – Senator Baldwin, Representative Pocan

Reauthorization

• The top aide for MN Representative Kline (House Chair of Education Committee) related that their main goal is to have a bill on President Obama’s desk by the end of 2015.
• Most offices were doubtful that full Reauthorization would happen in 2015.
• Prior-Prior Year – every member met with was very positive about this and felt there was currently strong bi-partisan support. Very likely that this will be in multiple bills.
• Direct Loan Subsidies and the Federal Perkins Loan Program – there appears to be very strong support for the One Grant, One Loan, and One Work idea. That would eliminate both the Direct Loan Subsidy and Perkins. Their belief is it would cost billions at this point to save Perkins. 
• FAFSA Simplification – most offices appeared to support simplification of the FAFSA itself and making formula revisions to make the need analysis process more equitable for applicants.

Support of Federal Financial Aid Funding

• Federal Pell Grant – we can expect to see proposals for a “Flexible Pell Grant” with some version of “Year Round Pell” again but it sounded like it would not include the “acceleration” clause and the dictation of summer crossover periods.
• Federal Work Study – all members visited recognized the importance of work for students in regards to GPA’s and Graduation Rates. All appeared to support continued funding.

Financial Literacy and Loan Indebtedness

• Simplifying Federal Repayment Programs – there appears to be strong support of making one Standard Repayment Program and One Income Based Repayment Program.
• Early Awareness of Federal Financial Aid Programs – we shared the importance of providing accurate and helpful consumer information disclosures for students and families regarding college cost that is consumer tested. 
• Review of Current Practice of Student Loan Entrance Counseling – most offices were well aware that the current 30 minute online sessions are not meeting the Financial Literacy needs of our students. They were open to ideas of how to make these sessions more impactful.

All About College Ratings

(by the Federal Issues Committee)

On December, 19th, U.S. Department of Education released its draft framework of the Obama Administration's College Ratings plan (see our blog post from that day, titled ED Releases Draft College Ratings Framework), otherwise known as the Postsecondary Institution Ratings System (PIRS). Today, we wanted to provide you with some additional background information:

The U.S. Department of Education has a webpage dedicated to this issue where you can read the release as well as find links to the following:

• a detailed explanation of the ratings system (17 pages),
• blog posts from HomeRoom, the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education,
• a printable fact sheet (6 pages), and
• an opportunity to comment on the draft framework.

Comments on the framework are due by February 17, 2015 and can be submitted on the U.S. Department of Education website or by emailing collegefeedback@ed.gov.

Several commentaries have been posted since the release and all seem to agree that the announcement by ED does not unveil a lot of new information. It more so tells us ED is being held accountable to do something soon, as the President wants implementation before the 2015-16 year. In light of next year's Republican majorities in Congress, where opposition to the proposals is already firm, it is hard to tell from the announcement how realistic implementation will be over the next year.

 "This so-called college ratings system is a fool’s errand and the secretary needs to stop it immediately.”

- House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN)

“Trying to create yet another complicated, federal system—this time for grading our country's 6,000 colleges and universities—is every bit as impossible and unnecessary as it sounds and is sure to fall flat on its face. Making sure students have access to the information they need to pick the right school is important and something we will discuss during the next reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, but I can’t support letting Washington bureaucrats use taxpayer dollars to fund a higher education popularity contest.”

- Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

 Here are some suggestions of what you can do:

• Read our December 19th blog post, titled ED Releases Draft College Ratings Framework. This post has some great links to catch up on the news articles and commentary.
• Bookmark ED's College Ratings webpage at www.ed.gov/collegeratings to follow future updates, as well as have quick access to information.
• Share the information and discuss with your colleagues and campus leaders. Have copies of the printable fact sheet available.
• Send a short summary to key stakeholders at your institution soon to begin the conversation.
• Finally, submit comments on the draft by February 17, 2015 and share those thoughts with your state association and MASFAA. MASFAA will be visiting Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. at the end of February and your views should be represented.

ED Releases Draft College Ratings Framework

(by Communications & Electronic Initiatives Committee)

Early this morning, at midnight (EST), the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released its draft framework (link via Inside HigherEd) of the Obama Administration's College Ratings plan, otherwise known as the Postsecondary Institution Ratings System (PIRS). Several articles and posts have already covered the move, including a blog post by Robert Kelchen, a higher education professor at Seton Hall University who reports and comments on some of the key pieces: Comments on Federal College Rating Metrics (via his blog, Kelchen on Education).

Other news articles covering the move include:

• New York Times: Rating Plan for Colleges Is Unveiled by the U.S.
• U.S. News & World Report: Obama Administration Seeks Input on College Ratings Draft
• Los Angeles Times: College ratings system may rank loan repayments, graduation statistics
• Inside Higher Ed: Behind the Ratings
• The Chronicle of Higher Education: Obama’s College-Ratings Plan Arrives, but Most Specifics Stay Behind

MASFAA Federal Issues Update

(by David Vikander, MASFAA Federal Issues Chair)

Federal Midterm Elections

NASFAA has provided a policy update at some of the recent state association conferences in the region. To summarize briefly, the federal midterm elections resulted in the GOP taking control of the Senate, which will result in a shift from the current state of Congress going into the 114th Congress, which will be in effect during the final two years of Barack Obama's presidency. The GOP also increased the majority in the House of Representatives, which is the largest since 1928. The change will result in structural leadership and committee membership changes in both chambers. Some of the high-profile members of Congress who will not be returning are Bishop-NY, Hagen-NC, Harken-IA, Miller-CA, and McKeon-CA.

State Elections Update

In the state by state elections, the GOP control both the House and the Senate in 24 states across the nation. The GOP control 66 of 99 state legislatures. It is possible that this change will result in further reductions in higher education spending at the state levels. Seven states are controlled by the Democrats, which is the fewest since the Civil War. New investments in higher education are unlikely and the GOP will likely stall the College Ranking System.

Click here for interactive map from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

GOP 5 Pillars

The GOP released its 5 "Pillars of a Renewed Majority," which can help determine what their highest priorities will be in the 114th Congress:

1. Tax Code
2. Spending Reduction
3. Legal System
4. Regulatory System
5. Education

Reauthorization Update

To briefly summarize, there were several efforts at reauthorization by the 113th Congress this summer, which will need to be introduced to the new Congress, likely in piecemeal before coming together at some point. If you recall, there was a Harkin bill that was over 700 pages. Alexander and Bennet proposed a bi-partisan bill called the FAST Act that focused on FAFSA simplification, and then the House GOP proposed a bill. We could see little action during the lame duck session of Congress on reauthorization. Harkin may try to push his bill through*, but it is unlikely to move. We could see real movement on reauthorization in March or April 2015. Full reauthorization at that point is unlikely in 2015, but will be active discussion.

*Since this post was originally drafted, NASFAA policy and federal relations staff posted a policy update, titled "Senate HELP Committee Introduces Final Higher Education Affordability Act Reauthorization Bill."