By Marlene Seeklander The Federal Trade Commission is reminding student loan borrowers how to avoid debt relief scams, after news of a court-issued orders banning Nevada-based operators from engaging in the debt relief industry. In a July 21 press release, the FTC said that Dennise Merdjanian, an operator of a student loan debt forgiveness scheme, will […]
FTC warns of student loan forgiveness scams Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander While financial aid professionals are in the midst of dealing with implanting new regulatory changes in addition to their usual workload for the upcoming school year, the deadline for another important responsibility isn’t far away. In a July 20 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education reminded schools about the availability of the 2027-28
By Marlene Seeklander Schools that have not yet closed out their 2024-25 Direct Loan Program year need to do so by July 31. In a July 21 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that the deadline to submit records for the 2024-25 Direct Loan Program year is 8 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, July 31, 2026.
Closeout deadline soon approaching for 2024-25 Direct Loan Program year Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Financial aid professionals and software providers now have another resource to prepare for 2027-28 financial aid awards. In a July 22 update to a May 5 Electronic Announcement, the Department said it made two updates to the 2027-28 FAFSA Specifications Guide, adding an ISIR Test File for the upcoming year under Volume 9
2027-28 FAFSA student record file now available for testing Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander The StudentAid.gov site will be unavailable on Saturday, July 25, 2026. Federal Student Aid announced that they are completing maintenance to the StudentAid.gov site on Saturday, July 25 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern). The outage will impact the automated transfer of tax return information on StudentAid.gov. Users may access the FAFSA form and the
Upcoming outage alert for StudentAid.gov on July 25 Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Among the many new job responsibilities this year, financial aid professionals must now follow new procedures in managing student FAFSA records that could be fraudulent. To assist schools in managing FAFSA information flagged as potentially fraudulent, the Department of Education (the Department) has issued a Frequently Asked Questions document. In a July 17
Department of Education issues FAFSA Fraud Detection FAQs for institutions Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Schools with approved campus-based awards for the 2026-27 award year can now check their award amounts via a report available from the Department of Education. In a July 15 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education provided information on the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs for the 2026–27
2026-27 Campus-Based Funding notification report available Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals now have Learning Tracks available to them that include updated 2026-27 content. In a July 9 Dear Colleague Letter, Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that the Learning Tracks in the FSA Training Center are updated with 2026–27 content as of July 3, 2026. Learning Tracks, which are award year specific, consist
Updated Learning Tracks available in FSA Training Center Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Financial aid professionals have more training opportunities available for the 2026-27 award year. In a July 9 announcement, Federal Student Aid announced the launch of the 2026-27 FSA Fundamentals Training series which includes the FSA Fundamentals Online self-paced course and the FSA Fundamentals Virtual Workshop, which is an instructor-led four and one-half day
2026-27 FSA Fundamentals Training Series announced Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Students in some professional degree programs will find that they are – at least for now – eligible to borrow the higher federal student loan limits, while others will find that their program is no longer on the approved list. A recent June 24 court case preliminarily stayed part of the Department
List of professional degree programs updated due to recent Court Order Read More »
