The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, specifies a loan origination fee of 1 percent for all Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and a fee of 4 percent for all Direct PLUS Loans for both parent borrowers and graduate and professional student borrowers. Student loan origination fees, the hidden student loan tax, generated…

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, specifies a loan origination fee of 1 percent for all Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and a fee of 4 percent for all Direct PLUS Loans for both parent borrowers and graduate and professional student borrowers. Student loan origination fees generated a staggering $1.7 billion in…

In this report, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) seeks to fill the gaps in the conversation by providing thoughtful, systemic, and targeted policy solutions to address underlying flaws in the student loan repayment and servicing systems that lead borrowers into financial hardship. The report outlines…

Through the higher education act (HEA) reauthorization, congress has several opportunities to improve and simplify student loan repayment for borrowers. To address the challenges students face when repaying their loans, congress should simplify the existing federal loan repayment plans, strengthen public service loan forgiveness, eliminate loan…

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAA's) National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This profile includes an overview of: (1) The Federal Pell Grant Program; (2) The…

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAA's) National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This profile includes an overview of: (1) The Federal Pell Grant Program; (2) The…

In recent years, there has been strong bipartisan interest at the congressional level to require annual federal student loan counseling. Given this interest, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAAs') commitment to being an active, helpful partner in reauthorization discussions, NASFAA convened a task force…

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAA's) National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This profile includes an overview of: (1) The Federal Pell Grant Program; (2) The…

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAA's) National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This profile includes an overview of: (1) The Federal Pell Grant Program; (2) The…

In April, 2015 the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) joined a collaboration to assist students whose college or career school closed while they were attending or shortly after they withdrew. This collaboration, a response to the closure of Corinthian College, received hundreds of student inquiries in the first…

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) task force for Re-Examining Paradigms of Campus-Based Aid was established in June 2017 to examine the "one grant/one loan" concept with a specific focus on whether and how the existing campus-based programs fit into this model. Proposals to eliminate campus-based…

There is remarkable diversity in student loan systems throughout the world. In considering the ideal approach to system of loan repayment based on income here in the United States, it is valuable to examine the nature, successes, and failures of some other countries' methods of offering borrowers income-contingent student loan repayment. Two…

As college costs continue to increase, more and more Americans rely on federal student financial assistance programs to help pay for their postsecondary education. Despite the demonstrable and continually increasing importance of federal student aid, the majority of Americans have little knowledge of the Title IV programs or the processes…

Growing concern over the complexity of the federal financial aid system and a push toward simplification has led to increased attention toward streamlining the federal student aid programs. Specifically, several proposals and policy papers have recommended consolidating the federal aid programs into one grant program and one loan program, commonly…

This "National Profile" serves as a helpful resource document on the basics of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This information is more important than ever, as data from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) show that the number of students applying for federal financial…