In order to participate in Title IV programs, institutions must submit annual audits, performed by an independent auditor, to Federal Student Aid (FSA). Proprietary institutions' auditors are required to perform the compliance audit and financial statement audit in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards, Generally Accepted Auditing…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act made several changes to the FAFSA, including changing the formula for determining student financial assistance need and simplifying the application. The rollout of the redesigned 2024-2025 FAFSA application encountered issues that affected students' ability to apply for aid.…

This brief spotlights state coordination for early childhood education of young children experiencing homelessness. The content includes information about the rights and services afforded by the McKinney-Vento and Head Start Acts, spotlights early childhood education for students experiencing homelessness in North Carolina and Nevada, and…

As roughly 7.3 million students in rural school districts head back to school this fall, they remain largely unaware that the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) is due to expire on September 30, 2024 (Hartman et al., 2023). Enacted on December 20, 2018, and temporarily renewed in September 2023, this critical piece of legislation…

Outstanding federal student loan debt exceeds $1.6 trillion and is owed by about 45 million borrowers. Since taking office, the Biden Administration has taken various actions to address student loan debt. These actions have ranged in scope (both in terms of borrower populations affected and associated modification costs), rationales, and the…

This "Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance" provides instructions for designing, operating, and reporting on all State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program operations. It describes the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)…

Under section 1001 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA), the purpose of the Title I, Part A program (Title I, Part A) is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education as well as to close educational achievement gaps. The…

This brief is designed for various stakeholders that work with youth with multiple system experiences, specifically for Title I, Part D State coordinators, State Agency and local program staff, Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) State coordinators and liaisons, and Title I, Part A Foster Care State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local…

Across the country, charter schools now serve a diverse student body of 3.7 million students in nearly 8,000 charter schools and family demand for charter schools continues to grow. The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the only source of federal funding that supports the growth of charter schools to meet this community need, but the CSP has been…

This report summarizes findings from the School Meals Operations Study (SMO), part of an ongoing series to assess school meal operations on a school year (SY) basis. This volume of the study covers July 2021 through the end of September 2022 and includes SY 2021-2022. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, the Families First Coronavirus…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federal program that provides free and reduced priced lunch to millions of low-income children in urban schools. Empirical research shows mixed results on the physical and nutritional health of urban students participating in the program. However, a considerable limitation of this literature is that it…

Service-contingent student loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs enable borrowers to have all or part of their student loan debt forgiven or repaid in exchange for work or service in specific fields or professions. In both loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs, borrowers typically qualify for benefits by working or serving in certain…

As of the 2022-23 school year (SY), approximately 1.37 million pre-K through Grade 12 students in the United States -- nearly 3% of the total pre-K through Grade 12 population -- were identified as experiencing homelessness. Homelessness affects a diverse range of young people across America. Students experiencing homelessness often face far…

Health coverage rates among undergraduate and graduate students have increased since the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, from an estimated 81 percent in 2010 to 92 percent in 2022, according to GAO's analysis of Census data. However, as of 2022, an estimated 1.6 million students still lacked coverage, including…

Understanding the development of major educational policies is essential, especially federal policies integral to Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)--one of the fastest-growing types of postsecondary institutions in the United States, which collectively serve over two-thirds of Latina/o/x-identified college students. Accordingly, in this…