By Marlene Seeklander Students and families should benefit from federal financial aid instead of criminals. Safeguarding the American taxpayer investment in programs such as Pell Grants and federal student loans has been a top priority for the Department of Education. In an April 16 press release, the Department of Education said the launch of a nationwide […]
Combating Federal Student Aid fraud across the country Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals may have questions about the legacy loan limit provisions going into effect this summer following the passage last year of the federal budget reconciliation law. Federal Student Aid offered a live webinar on April 17 that addressed the provisions for those borrowers who had loans disbursed prior to July 1,
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By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals can learn more about the new real-time FAFSA fraud detection in an upcoming webinar. In an April 15 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced a live webinar on Friday, May 1 from 1-2 p.m. (Eastern) that will explain the new process and allow participants to ask questions during the
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By Marlene Seeklander Schools may need to review and update verification records soon or possibly risk having their students considered to be in an overaward situation. A recent Electronic Announcement outlined several verification reminders for schools that should be reviewed to ensure compliance. Beginning April 23, the Department will start sending messages to schools with one
By Marlene Seeklander With fraud prevention becoming an increasingly critical issue, the Department of Education announced it will implement new measures to protect the FAFSA application. In an April 15 Electronic Announcement, the Department (ED) announced that it will implement real-time identity fraud detection for the FAFSA application by screening and assessing risk as students and
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By Marlene Seeklander The Department of Education just released a key volume of the 2025-26 Federal Student Aid Handbook. In an April 10 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education (ED) announced the availability of Volume 2 – School Eligibility and Operations. This volume provides information on the general obligations in administering the Title IV student aid programs, including institutional
2025-26 FSA Handbook Volume 2 – School Eligibility and Operations – now available Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Many financial aid professionals have questions about implementing new loan limitation regulations going into effect this summer following the passage last year of the federal budget reconciliation law. In particular, the questions center on how to correctly reduce annual loan limits for undergraduate students not enrolled full-time. Federal Student Aid offered a live
By Marlene Seeklander Institutions participating in campus-based financial aid programs can now plan for the 2026-27 award year, knowing how much funding will be available. In a March 30 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that the final 2026-27 Campus-Based programs funding worksheets and the 2026-27 Statement of Account for each of the Campus-Based programs
Campus-Based Programs 2026-27 Final Funding authorizations now available Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid administrators overseeing campus-based financial aid programs can now add some important deadline dates to their 2026-27 processing calendar. In an April 8 Federal Register Notice, the Secretary of Education announced the publication of the 2026-27 award year deadline dates for the submission of requests and documents for the Federal Perkins
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By Marlene Seeklander The Department of Education recently resumed reviewing borrower defense to repayment claims, which explains why many institutions have seen a jump in the number claims in recent weeks. In a recent Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education (Department) said they have resumed adjudicating borrower defense to repayment applications that are not impacted by
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