The Department of Education's (Education's) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated the Next Gen program in 2017. Next Gen's purpose was to modernize the systems and processes that students, parents, borrowers, and school partners use to apply for, administer, and/or process federal student aid. This report examines: (1) the status of FSA's…

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…

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) play a prominent role in the nation's higher education system. For example, 574 HSIs enrolled over 2 million Hispanic students in the 2021-2022 school year, representing 60 percent of all Hispanic students in college. Like most colleges, HSIs must continue to invest in their facilities and digital…

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.…

Public school facilities primarily serve an educational role, and they also serve a civic role as voting places and emergency shelters. School districts collectively spend tens of billions of dollars each year on facilities construction needs at the nearly 100,000 K-12 public schools nationwide. About half (an estimated 54 percent) of public…

In comments submitted April 7, 2014, the Alliance for Excellent Education called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to modernize the federal E-rate program in order to lay the foundation for expanding the program through increased funding. These comments are in response to an E-rate Public Notice issued by the FCC on March 6, 2014…

Discusses topics related to OCLC adoption of guidelines for the use and transfer of OCLC-derived records, including the purpose of OCLC; the legal basis of copyrighting; technological change; compilation copyright; rationale for copyright of the OCLC database; impact on libraries; impact on networks; and relationships between OCLC and libraries. A…

Discusses issues relating to intellectual property rights that are being affected by information technologies. A 1986 study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) is discussed; intellectual property law is described, including copyright, patents, and trade secrets; and the involvement of the university community in considering intellectual…

The increased use of computer matching to detect fraud and abuse in government programs has led to concerns for the privacy of personal information. Reviews the use of matching programs and regulations in Canada, the United States, and the European Community, and suggests policy changes. (80 references) (LAE)

Submitted to Congress by Senator William V. Roth, Jr., of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, this document reports favorably on Senate Bill 786 (the Information Age Commission Act of 1986), legislation designed to establish a commission to study the impact of computer and communications systems on American society. The report provides: (1) a…

This document presents the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL's) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which were developed in 1999 by an ACRL Task Force working with the academic library community, teaching faculty, academic officers in higher education, and chief officers of the regional accrediting…

Reprints part of the draft guidelines on electronic data dissemination issued by the Department of Commerce. Issues addressed in the guidelines include the decision to disseminate; the use of electronic technology; private sector involvement; user fees; and the development of performance standards. (CLB)

Reviews the history of classified information regulation during recent administrations and describes the Poindexter memorandum, which addresses the electronic storage and transmission of sensitive, but unclassified information. The discussion covers the reaction of the Special Libraries Association to the memorandum, and the need to balance…

Discusses issues that deal with the interface of copyright law and online systems. Areas of change needed to maintain the balance between users and creators of electronic information are identified, limits of the Copyright Act are explored, and it is suggested that existing copyright law can be applied to electronic information. (four references)…

This report considers the management, use, and congressional oversight of information technology in the Federal Government as rapid advances in technology--e.g., microcomputers, computer networking, computer modeling, videoconferencing, and electronic information exchange--are generating many new applications, opportunities, and issues which are…