Tip of the Week Managing the “hecticness” of the holidays The holidays can be a hectic and stressful time for many people. How many times do we think that we must find the “perfect” gift for each person on our list, go all out with decorating and baking so that we create a magical experience, […]
Tip of the Week – December 10, 2025 Read More »
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
Students completing the FAFSA to be notified about colleges with lower earnings Read More »
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
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.
Using the new Section 117 Reporting Portal training webinar Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Students wanting to better understand financial aid for college can do so by looking at the big picture. To make the financial aid process more manageable, Mapping Your Future has developed a list of the five major steps a student must take to receive financial aid. Granted, each one of the steps involves
Breaking financial aid into five steps Read More »
Higher Ed News Vol. 17 – Issue 24 Keeping up the FAFSA momentum After years of hard work among financial aid and college access professionals, it was precious good news. 2026-2027 FAFSA information to be verified and acceptable documentation Financial aid professionals can now plan for the upcoming FAFSA verification season with the latest
Mapping Your Future Higher Ed News – December 4, 2025 Read More »
Tip of the Week Keeping up the FAFSA momentum After years of hard work among financial aid and college access professionals, it was precious good news. More than a quarter of all high school seniors (26 percent) in the country have completed a 2026-27 FAFSA, an 11.7 percent increase over the previous year, according
Tip of the Week – December 3, 2025 Read More »
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
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
New COD Common Record XML Schema Version 5.0d now available Read More »
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
Enhancements coming to the E-App in FSA Partner Connect Read More »
