Author name: Marlene Seeklander

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Schools behind on financial value reporting encouraged to attend upcoming training

Newsroom, Department of Education / By

By Marlene Seeklander The Department of Education encourages those higher education institutions delinquent in reporting on financial value and gainful employment to attend training on the requirements. The Department of Education (the Department) recently announced upcoming training sessions to help schools understand complete their Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) and Student Tuition and Transparency

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Changes to Campus Security Requirements through the Stop Campus Hazing Act

Newsroom, Department of Education / By

By Marlene Seeklander Higher education institutions must take action to prevent campus hazing incidents and report on any incidents as required by federal legislation, enacted in late 2024. In an October 9 Dear Colleague Letter, the Department of Education (the Department) reminded institutions of the changes to campus security requirements and their responsibilities that were included

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Borrower Defense to Repayment system functionality restored

Newsroom, Department of Education / By

By Marlene Seeklander Schools can once again respond to Borrower Defense to Repayment claims with the restoration of the system functionality. And to make up for the time lost during the outage, the Department has extended due dates on some cases by a week. In an October 9 update to an earlier Electronic Announcement, the Department

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Tip of the Week – October 14, 2026

Newsroom, Financial Literacy, Latest, Mapping Your Future features, Newsletters, Student Loans, Tip of the Week / By

Tip of the Week Just give it time As years go by, a lot changes with time. And, yet there are great works of art, literature, or entertainment that have endured and are relevant to us today. Take, for example, the 70’s sitcom, Barney Miller. Okay, I know – some critics probably don’t include it

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2027-28 FAFSA resources now available

Newsroom, College preparation, Department of Education, FAFSA resources, Paying for College / By

By Marlene Seeklander Additional 2027-28 FAFSA resources are now available for staff training or financial aid presentations. Federal Student Aid announced the publication of several forms for the 2027-28 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) award year. All forms are available in both English and Spanish and include the following:  2027-28 FAFSA Form (PDF format)

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Borrower Defense to Repayment functionality temporarily unavailable

Newsroom, Department of Education / By

By Marlene Seeklander Schools attempting to respond to borrower defense to repayment claims will find the system is currently unavailable. In an October 7 Electronic Announcement, Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that after completing the transition of the Borrower Defense to Repayment functionality from the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system to FSA Partner Connect on

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Columbus Day holiday closings for October 12

Newsroom, Department of Education / By

By Marlene Seeklander The Department of Education is among the federal offices closed for the Columbus Day federal holiday on Monday, October 12. The October 6 Electronic Announcement states that the Federal Student Aid (FSA) offices and most contact centers will be closed on October 12. All FSA websites will be operational on the holiday. The

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Access to FSA data systems contingent on confirmation of users

Newsroom, Department of Education / By

By Marlene Seeklander In addition to verifying students for financial aid, schools must take action to verify that the appropriate staff have access to federal systems. In a recent Electronic Announcement, the Department reminds schools to verify user access for Federal Student Aid (FSA) systems and Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes by December 31. This

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FY 2023 national default rate briefing released

Newsroom, Department of Education, Student Loans / By

By Marlene Seeklander The national student loan default rate rose slightly from 0% to .4% – after remaining at 0% for the past three years.    The Department of Education (the Department) released their FY 2023 national default briefing and, as expected, the FY 2023 cohort default rates were affected by the pause on federal

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Release of FY 2023 official cohort default rates

Newsroom, Department of Education, Student Loans / By

By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid offices received their latest student loan default rates in late September. The Department of Education announced the distribution of the FY 2023 official cohort default rate (CDR) notification packages to schools enrolled in the Electronic Cohort Default Rate (eCDR) process via the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox. The package included

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