The Financial Aid Professional’s ToolkitMethods to stay up-to-date on financial aid rules and regulations

Overview

1. IFAP (Information for Financial Aid Professionals)

2. NASFAA

3. Higher Ed News

4. Listservs

5. Department of Education Federal Trainer

6. Financial Aid Toolkit

7. Discussion

IFAP

• Information for Financial Aid Professionals• Ifap.ed.gov• Points of interest:• What’s New Section• Calendar• iLibrary

• When to check: weekly, or more if there are new regulations published

NASFAA

• National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

• Membership required• Nasfaa.org• Points of Interest• NASFAA News• Law and Regulation• Ask Regs• Advocacy, Policy, and Research

• When to check: Check NASFAA news on the daily

Higher Ed News

• Higher Ed News Reporting Websites• Insidehighered.com• Educationdive.com• Acenet.edu• Chronicle.com

• Daily/Weekly

Mailing Lists/Listservs

• FINAID-L – discussion list for issues facing financial aid offices. Appropriate topics include financial aid administration, FAO job announcements, discussions of changes in federal aid regulations and similar topics - 3500 members, 100+ messages per week – Subscribe by emailing finaid-l-subscribe-request@lists.psu.edu

• Direct Loan Email List – notices when Federal Student Aid posts operational guidance related to the Direct Loan Program - Subscribe by emailing CODsupport@ed.gov

• FSATECH – technical questions about Federal Student Aid systems, software, and mainframe products. Answers are researched by Federal Student Aid system developers. Subscribe through IFAP

• NASFAA Listserv

Department of Education Federal Trainers

• If you have questions about interpreting new (or current) regulations, can contact Federal Trainer

• Contact information on MASFAA website

Financial Aid Toolkit

• Financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov• Provides information and resources to assist with

outreach and counseling students about financial aid topics

Discussion

• What resources are you using/do find the most helpful?• Are there any resources that we should stay away

from/you’ve had a negative experience with?• What are your strategies for interpreting new/difficult

gray-area regulations?• Are there any resources/information MASFAA could

compile to assist you with staying up-to-date?