OTC Inside the Beltway: Collections Set to Resume on Defaulted Federal Student Loans, A New NegReg, Lawsuits and More
Release Date: 04/24/2025
OTC Inside the Beltway: Catching Up on August’s NegReg and Appropriations Headlines
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off The Cuff," Hugh provides a brief catch-up of some summer headlines from Congress and the Department of Education (ED). First, Hugh highlights the latest developments in the annual appropriations process with the Senate releasing its spending plan for ED for fiscal year 2026, which mostly flat-funds programs for the upcoming year, and explains what work lies ahead when Congress returns in September. Then, Hugh discusses ED’s negotiated rulemaking hearing, which focused on implementing several provisions of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and highlights remarks made by...
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OTC Inside the Beltway: SCOTUS Weighs in on ED’s RIF, Reconciliation Becomes Law and PSLF Goes to NegReg
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off The Cuff," Hugh is joined by Karen, Megan and Sarah to catch listeners up on some of the biggest news impacting student financial aid policy. Hugh kicks things off with a quick update on the Department of Education’s (ED) reduction in force (RIF) and how a recent order from the U.S. Supreme Court could impact the department’s staffing levels, while Megan and Karen explain some concerns about processing backlogs. The team then turns to discussing how the reconciliation law will directly impact several programs housed within the Higher Education Act (HEA). Sarah walks...
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Unpacking the Senate's Reconciliation Bill
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off The Cuff," Melanie is joined by Megan, Sarah, and Nalia to discuss the latest updates around the reconciliation process after the Senate HELP Committee released its own portion of the bill this week that could make significant changes to higher education policy. Nalia begins by explaining how the reconciliation process works and what’s ahead for Congress. Megan and Sarah then debrief on what changes the Senate seeks to make to the House’s bill, which was initially released in April. From there, Sarah walks listeners through the latest verification guidance from the...
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Reconciliation Hits the Senate, McMahon Visits Congress, and the White House Budget Drops
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off The Cuff," Melanie and Karen discuss the latest developments concerning the reconciliation process, which now moves over to the Senate. While the Senate continues to work through the text, Karen provides some background on the chamber’s dynamics, and Melanie provides context as to the timeline under which the chamber is operating and the impact a final bill could have on student financial aid. The team also digs into the administration’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year and recaps Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s visit to Capitol Hill, where she defended...
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Summer Aid Processing
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off the Cuff," David and Hugh discuss summer aid processing, focusing on rules for crossover payment periods and school flexibilities. The conversation specifically walks through the flexibilities offered to schools when assigning a header or a trailer to the award year and provides examples of summer and crossover periods. David then explains some issues a school must be aware of for crossover payment periods and more.
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Let’s Talk About Cohort Default Rates
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off the Cuff," Hugh, Jill, and Sarah discuss how the resumption of student loan repayments and the Department of Education’s (ED) planned resumption of collections will impact cohort default rates (CDR). Sarah and Jill provide some important background information on CDR and how the payment pause has impacted the accountability metric. Jill then walks listeners through a recent electronic announcement from ED urging schools to share repayment information with student borrowers.
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Reconciliation Takes Shape in the House and the White House ‘Skinny’ Budget
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off the Cuff," Melanie is joined by Rachel, Hugh, Sarah, and Nalia to dive into how the congressional budgeting process could impact student financial aid. To kick things off, Melanie and Hugh discuss the latest developments in the reconciliation process, where a House committee recently advanced portions of the package that would make some drastic changes to programs housed within the Department of Education (ED). Sarah then provides members with a recap of three deep dive explainers that the policy has been working on to fully analyze the proposal. Rachel and Nalia then walk...
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OTC From the Field: Getting to Know NASFAA's New President and CEO Melanie Storey
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on a special episode of "Off The Cuff," Beth is joined by NASFAA’s new president and CEO Melanie Storey to answer questions submitted from NASFAA members. Melanie answers several questions, ranging from challenges with FAFSA simplification, the state of federal student aid, the current political climate, the future of the financial aid profession, and much more. Join us in welcoming Melanie to the NASFAA team!
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Collections Set to Resume on Defaulted Federal Student Loans, A New NegReg, Lawsuits and More
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off The Cuff," Maria is joined by Jill, Megan, and Nalia to discuss several issues impacting the world of higher education. First, Megan debriefs listeners on this week’s news that the Department of Education (ED) will resume the collections process for defaulted federal student loans. Then, Jill discusses the upcoming negotiated rulemaking (NegReg) public hearing on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and other topics. Megan also provides a brief update on two lawsuits against ED, including one on the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan, and another from...
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Unpacking Late Disbursements and Unofficial Withdrawals
NASFAA's Off the Cuff Podcast
This week on "Off the Cuff," David and Maria discuss two topics associated with end-of-year issues, late disbursements and unofficial withdrawals. David kicks off the discussion on late disbursements by first going through some basic rules and then discussing different scenarios institutions may experience. From there, David and Maria discuss unofficial withdrawals, R2T4, and students who stopped attending an institution before the term ends. The duo ends the discussion by answering questions on the process.
info_outlineThis week on "Off The Cuff," Maria is joined by Jill, Megan, and Nalia to discuss several issues impacting the world of higher education. First, Megan debriefs listeners on this week’s news that the Department of Education (ED) will resume the collections process for defaulted federal student loans. Then, Jill discusses the upcoming negotiated rulemaking (NegReg) public hearing on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and other topics. Megan also provides a brief update on two lawsuits against ED, including one on the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan, and another from the American Federation of Teachers. From there, Megan highlights two new NASFAA FAQs for members to help navigate the resulting questions and concerns from President Donald Trump’s executive order to dissolve ED. Lastly, Nalia runs through the budget appropriations process and what members can expect to see in the next few weeks.