The "Student FAFSA Completion Report" (2024) is submitted pursuant to Education Article § 7-212, Annotated Code of Maryland, which requires the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) Center to annually produce an annual report, on or before December 15th of each year, beginning in 2023 and ending in 2028, on the submission and…

Financial aid offers are the primary tool colleges and universities use to communicate eligibility for federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs to their prospective and current students. Institutions of higher education develop their own financial aid offers, taking into account many factors, including the format of the educational…

For years, financial aid administrators and others have debated the nature and structure of need analysis. As it developed, need analysis was based on commonly accepted definitions and basic principles of economics. Beyond the fundamentals of need analysis, there also developed expertise about exercising professional judgment (PJ) in reviewing…

This article is the first of a three-part series based on the book, Basic Guide to Financial Aid. The contents within are abridged from the publication, with additional emphasis on the impact federal student aid administration has on non-financial aid professionals in higher education today. It should be noted that this information is not…

The U.S. Government Accountability office (GAO) recently released a report presenting new data on eligibility and uptake for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) among college students with low incomes. The report paints a stark picture that, despite high levels of food insecurity among college students, few are receiving SNAP…

The Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) determined that an effective strategy for addressing teacher shortages and filling hard-to-fill positions in remote geographic locations is to offer repayment of educational loans for those who fill these positions. The Loan Forgiveness Program…

For decades, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms were processed electronically by the legacy Central Processing System. In 2021 the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated a system development effort and in December 2023 deployed a new system to process forms for the 2024-2025 school year. However, student aid…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the entry ramp to federal grants and loans that many students depend on to afford college. Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020 in part to make it easier to apply for federal aid. However, Education's rollout of the new FAFSA has suffered from numerous challenges and delays.…

Washington has some of the strongest state financial aid programs in the country. These programs support a diverse set of educational opportunities--from certificate programs to associate and bachelor's degrees. They are available to help cover the costs of tuition for many low- and middle-income students. Washington's commitment to helping…

Over the past two years, the Indiana affiliate's Government Relations Committee (GRC) has undergone a metamorphosis. As co-chair, the author has had the opportunity to witness the once largely inactive committee grow by 250 percent. The affiliate has embraced storytelling as an important advocacy tool. In this article, the author shares a couple…

Parenting while attending college is challenging in the best of times, and the pandemic is making it even more difficult. Yet more than one in five college students, including disproportionately large numbers of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals, tried to make it work. Emergency aid in the form of fast, flexible dollars delivered just in…

In the latest addition to the National College Attainment Network's (NCAN) state policy resource library, we present a new report about how to simplify state financial aid programs. While maximum award amounts tend to grab headlines, the fine print can make all the difference in whether students can access and retain state aid. Those most impacted…

This report summarizes FAFSA and ApplyTexas submissions by AISD seniors in 2019. FAFSA is an application to determine eligibility for financial aid whereas Apply Texas applications allow students to apply to postsecondary institutions in the state.

The Federal Pell Grant program, authorized by Title IV-A-1 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, (HEA; P.L. 89-329), as amended, is the single largest source of federal grant aid supporting postsecondary education students. The program provided approximately $31 billion in aid to approximately 6.5 million undergraduate students in FY2023. Pell…

Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA; P.L. 89-329), as amended, authorizes programs that provide financial assistance to students to pursue postsecondary education at eligible institutions of higher education (IHEs). In academic year (AY) 2022-2023 (July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023), 5,918 domestic institutions had written agreements with the U.S.…