Department of Education

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Additional volumes of 2025-26 Federal Student Aid Handbook now available

By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals can now add the latest volumes of the 2025-26 Federal Student Aid Handbook to their financial aid reading list. The December 11 Electronic Announcement from the Department of Education announced the availability of Volume 1 – Student Eligibility, Volume 4 – Processing Aid and Managing FSA Funds, and Volume 6 – The Campus-Based Programs. […]

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EDExpress 2024-25 has workaround for FISAP Total Income Calculation issue

By Marlene Seeklander EDExpress users who still need to make corrections to the 2024-25 FISAP now have a workaround for an issue affecting the calculation of total income for dependent and independent students. In a December 9 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education (ED) outlined that the issue only impacts records that have a null or

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EDExpress 2025-26 Service Release 2.0 now available – Adds Maximum Pell field to FISAP reports

By Marlene Seeklander EDExpress for Windows users have a new service release available for their use that will aid in the completion of the 2027-28 FISAP report. In a December 9 Electronic Announcement, Federal Student Aid announced a new service release for EDExpress for Windows 2025–26, Release 2.0. It is available in the Software and Other Tools area of

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Details released about new federal portal for reporting foreign gifts and contracts

By Marlene Seeklander The Department of Education this month released more information about enhancements to the new foreign gifts and contracts reporting portal. According to a December 3 Electronic Announcement, the new reporting portal will include a tailored, efficient, and institution-specific reporting process while maintaining compliance with Section 117. Based on feedback from nine institutions of

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FAFSA handwritten in a note. Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Students completing the FAFSA to be notified about colleges with lower earnings

By Marlene Seeklander Students completing the FAFSA now have additional information when deciding which college they may want to attend. In a December 8 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced the implementation of a new lower earnings indicator as part of the FAFSA. This indicator—effective December 7, 2025, and only applicable to first-year undergraduate students—provides

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FAFSA field adjustment resolves issue of reporting an address within the U.S. territories

By Marlene Seeklander FAFSA users who previously encountered an issue when attempting to report their address within the U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, should no longer encounter an issue. In a December 4 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that on December 7 an update to adjust some users’ state and country  code information was

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Using the new Section 117 Reporting Portal training webinar

By Marlene Seeklander Colleges that need to report foreign gifts and contracts will want to make note of an upcoming training webinar. In a December 5 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that they are offering a training webinar, “Using the New Section 117 Reporting Portal” for schools required to report foreign gifts and contracts.

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Department of Education to debut new portal for institutional reporting of foreign gifts and contracts

By Marlene Seeklander With a deadline looming, higher education officials will need to get skilled on using a new portal for reporting foreign gifts and contracts. On January 2, 2026, the Department of Education (ED) will launch a new Section 117 reporting portal, in which they said they “have attempted to incorporate many comments provided by

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New COD Common Record XML Schema Version 5.0d now available

By Marlene Seeklander Schools will want to make note that a new version of the COD Common Record Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema 5.0d is now available. In a November 25 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education stated that in spring 2026, they will implement Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) functionality that will support the processing

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Enhancements coming to the E-App in FSA Partner Connect

By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals will soon see updates to the Application for Approval to Participate in the Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs, also known as the E-App. In a November 26 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education outlined the updates that will be implemented on December 7, 2025 and are designed to improve the

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