Hosted by NASFAA staff, this weekly podcast offers an unscripted view of hot financial aid and higher education-related topics. Justin Draeger and co-hosts will discuss what's happening inside the beltway to give you an insider's perspective.
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Empowering college bound students and their parents with the elite tools they need to get accepted to their dream university.
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Learn how to find and apply for scholarships efficiently, and learn how to strategically handle a higher education investment without significant amounts of student loan debt.
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NASFAA's "Director Download" is a bi-weekly podcast giving financial aid administrators insights into the most pressing management and leadership issues.
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College is expensive and the process of finding and getting into the best colleges is more complicated and competitive than ever. You owe it to yourself to become an educated consumer. This podcast will show you how to pay only your fair share of the college bill and gain a competitive advantage to beat the colleges at their own game. Subscribe and enjoy!
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Our aim is to educate and make the admissions process what it should be: a stress-free, fun adventure to ultimately determine the next chapter of your student’s life. Join us as we go in-depth into the college admissions process, college costs, and other aspects of admissions to help you stay informed and organized as a family throughout this process. The College March Podcast is proudly sponsored by March Consulting. Find show notes and other bonus material at mymarchconsulting.com.
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Taming the High Cost of College teaches parents the secrets of how to plan and save for college so you can help make your children's dreams come true. Hosted by Brad Baldridge, a Certified Financial Planner and college planning expert, you'll learn what you need to save time, save money and reduce stress with smart and proven strategies. If you’re the parent of a college-bound teenager, you’re in the right place!
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OTC Inside The Beltway: 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA Updates and the 2024 Election
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Beth, Jill, Rachel, and Nalia discuss FAFSA updates and how the 2024 election may shape financial aid policy for the next administration. Jill kicks things off by debriefing listeners on several fixes the Department of Education (ED) has made to issues in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA cycles. Then, Nalia and Rachel lead…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Updates on 2024-25 Paper FAFSA Processing, Conflicting Information, and Known Issues
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This week on "Off the Cuff," David and Hugh discuss multiple updates with the 2024-25 FAFSA, starting off with the latest processing timelines for the 2024-25 paper FAFSA. David then debriefs listeners on how to handle conflicting information related to Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs). The team also talks about resources from the …
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Jay Treaty Updates and Resources for Institutions Impacted by Natural Disasters
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21:47
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Sarah and Hugh discuss 2024-25 changes in documentation requirements related to Jay Treaty students and dig into the background of this guidance within the FSA Handbook. From there, Sarah debriefs listeners on several resources both NASFAA and the Department of Education (ED) have for institutions that were impacted by …
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Beta Testing Begins for the 2025-26 FAFSA
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Beth and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to discuss new updates with the FAFSA and the appropriations process. Karen begins by debriefing listeners on the latest news surrounding the 2025-26 FAFSA, which began it…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: What Makes Professional Judgement So Special?
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34:26
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This week on “Off the Cuff,” Hugh, David, and Sarah discuss all things concerning professional judgment (PJ). David provides some key background information on PJ, including details on terminology and policy considerations for institutions. Sarah then catches listeners up on what is new for PJ in 2024-25, along with updates made due to FAFSA change…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Where Things Stand with SAVE and IDR
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21:16
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This week on “Off the Cuff,” Hugh and Jill discuss the latest news surrounding the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan, and income-driven repayment (IDR) plans in general. Jill kicks things off with a background discussion on how the SAVE plan came to be through the negotiated rulemaking process and then catches listeners up on the…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: A FAFSA Roadmap and Reporting Deadlines
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Beth, Karen, Jill, and Hugh are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to discuss the latest news surrounding the 2025-26 FAFSA and the department’s planned “beta” period for the form. The team then discusses the department’s upc…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Debriefing on Batch Corrections
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45:08
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This week on a special edition of “Off the Cuff,” Allie, Beth, and Karen, are joined by 2024-25 NASFAA National Chair Kristi Jovell of Middlebury College and National Chair-Elect Heidi Carl of Purdue University to break down the latest development from the Department of Education (ED) concerning batch corrections and the 2024-25 FAFSA. The team div…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: The Latest on GE & FVT Regulations, SCOTUS' Regulatory Shakeup, and FAFSA Timelines
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Karen, Jill, and Hugh discuss the latest news surrounding Gainful Employment (GE) and Financial Value Transparency (FVT) regulations, as well as NASFAA's advocacy campaign to request that Congress take action to require the Department of Education (ED) to delay upcoming institutional reporting requirements. The team the…
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This week on a special episode of "Off The Cuff," Justin, Karen, and Allie are joined by former OTC podcast hosts, Stephen Payne, executive director of external relations at Muhlenberg College, and Megan Coval, interim president of Butler County Community College. Karen kicks off the episode by debriefing listeners on several NASFAA letters. The fi…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Preparing for New Regulations Effective on July 1, 2024
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Hugh, Jill, and David discuss several regulatory changes that become effective on July 1, 2024. Jill begins by giving a deep dive on some of the confusing elements of transcript withholding and details the Department of Education's (ED) regulatory approach to the issue. David then provides a brief overview of additional…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: 300 Episodes Later
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This week, on the 300th episode of “Off the Cuff,” Justin, Karen, and Allie discuss the most up-to-date FAFSA news, and preview the unique sessions being offered at the NASFAA National and Virtual Conferences. Karen kicks things off with an update on the Department of Education’s (ED) FAFSA reprocessing work and outlines additional guidance that sh…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: The Good, the Bad, and the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure of School Corrections
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This week on “Off The Cuff,” Allie, Jill, and David talk about the latest news on school corrections and dive into a discussion on crossover periods. Jill kicks things off by recapping the most recent electronic announcement from the Department of Education concerning the timelines for school ISIR corrections and processing for paper FAFSA submissi…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Cardona Faces More FAFSA Questions on the Hill
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin, Karen, and Rachel are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to recap a lengthy House hearing where Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sparred with Republicans over the department’s budget request and the secretary’s reco…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Debriefing the Temporary FAFSA Filing Fix for Mixed-Status Families and Cardona's Senate Hearing
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin is joined by Jill and Rachel to discuss this week's announcement from the Department of Education (ED) of a temporary FAFSA filing fix for applicants and contributors without a Social Security number. From there, Rachel debriefs listeners on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona's testimony at a Senate appropriation…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: New Changes at NASFAA
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47:15
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by NASFAA Executive Vice President Beth Maglione and Director of Research Charlotte Etier to discuss Justin's announcement this week that he plans to step down from his role as NASFAA’s president and CEO in June. From there, Karen debriefs listeners on more FAFSA updates, including where we s…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: More FAFSA Updates and Biden's Proposed Student Debt Relief Plan
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to discuss the latest FAFSA updates of the past week, including news on the Department of Education's reprocessing of affected Institutional Student Information Records …
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OTC Inside The Beltway: NASFAA Testifies on 2024-25 FAFSA Rollout
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin, Karen, Rachel, and Tim discuss Justin's testimony this week before the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development on the Department of Education's (ED) rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA. Karen also debriefs listeners on the latest NASFAA poll asking members about which first-year undergraduate s…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Unpacking the FAFSA Tax Data Issues
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin, Karen, and Tim discuss this week's news that the Department of Education (ED) identified three issues concerning tax data reported on FAFSA applicant records. The team dives into the details of those identified issues, and what the department is doing next — including the latest update to reprocess all affected …
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OTC Inside the Beltway: A Big Year for Delays
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This week on “Off the Cuff,” Allie, Karen, and Rachel discuss the latest adjustments to the rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, including a miscalculation in the SAI formula. The team covers a number of other possible FAFSA issues and outlines what updates they would like to see from the Department of Education (ED) as the rollout begins to ramp up. Rach…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Storm Clouds on the FAFSA Summit as ISIR Rollout Begins
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39:05
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This week on “Off the Cuff” Justin, Karen, Allie, and Tim are back with the latest news on the 2024-25 FAFSA with recent updates from the Department of Education (ED) about the delivery of Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs). The team dives into recent electronic announcements detailing updates, fixes, and troubleshooting issues impac…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Keeping Track of ED’s Updated FAFSA Timeline
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by NASFAA Community Manager Tim Maggio to discuss the latest news surrounding the 2024-25 FAFSA, with a focus on the Department of Education’s (ED) planned rollout of Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs). The team walks through each of the steps ED detailed in its recent electron…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Making Sense of The SAI Formula Update and Latest Federal Budget Negotiations
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32:18
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Allie and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to discuss an update to the Student Aid Index (SAI) formula from the Department of Education (ED), which allows the Student’s Contribution from Income (SCI) to have a neg…
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OTC From the Field: Let's Dig Through Some FAFSA Data
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This week on a special episode of "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Bill DeBaun, the National College Attainment Network's senior director of data and strategic initiatives, to discuss the 2024-25 FAFSA rollout. Bill debriefs listeners on trends found in NCAN's FAFSA Tracker, which tracks completion rates for the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle. J…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Debriefing the NASFAA Leadership Conference and ED's FAFSA College Support Strategy
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49:44
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Hugh to recap NASFAA's 2024 Leadership & Legislative Conference & Expo, and discuss the Department of Education's (ED) new "FAFSA College Support Strategy." Justin debriefs listeners on the new initiative, explains what NASFAA's partnership entails and how it will aim to help severely unde…
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OTC Inside The Beltway: Working Through the ISIR Delivery Delay
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59:20
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations, to discuss this week’s news that institutions and states will begin receiving Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) in the "first half of March." The team breaks down the announceme…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Making Sense of the 2024-25 FAFSA Timeline
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This week in a special episode of “Off the Cuff,” the fun with FAFSA never stops! Justin, Karen, and Allie dive into the latest news surrounding the 2024-25 FAFSA timeline that is leading many higher education advocates and students to grow increasingly concerned about the impending time crunch for the annual aid cycle. The team digs into the Depar…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Are We Still Having Fun With FAFSA?
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38:30
This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David recap the latest negotiated rulemaking session that focused on a number of issues, including cash management, distance education, R2T4, and more. Plus, the team dives into reported issues stemming from the FAFSA soft launch, some fixes that have been made available to students and families, and wh…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Tackling the 2024-25 FAFSA Soft Launch
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This week on “Off the Cuff,” Justin is joined by Karen and NASFAA's Tim Maggio to discuss the biggest financial aid news so far in 2024 — the soft launch of the 2024-25 FAFSA. Justin and Karen discuss the current state of the launch, issues and outages that have impacted the form’s availability, and what updates they are looking for from the Depart…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Debt Relief Neg Reg Updates and Unpacking FAFSA Family Size
39:47
39:47
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David discuss updates with the negotiated rulemaking process for student debt relief and unpack a new FAFSA term – family size. Jill kicks off the podcast by debriefing listeners on the latest negotiated rulemaking session on student debt relief, including which provisions the committee reached consensu…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Recapping Those Warm and Fuzzy Feelings from the FSA Training Conference
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Justin is joined by Karen and NASFAA’s Sarah Austin to recap Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) 2023 virtual training conference. The team discusses a number of sessions held throughout the four-day event and highlights their biggest takeaways from the conference, including updates on FAFSA simplification, the FAFSA partner po…
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OTC From the Field:Breaking Down Student Loan Programs With Dr. Tisa Silver Canady
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36:19
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This week on a special episode of “Off The Cuff,” Justin is joined by Dr. Tisa Silver Canady, the founder and executive director of the Maryland Center for Collegiate Financial Wellness, to discuss student loan repayment, including some significant changes in the system that occurred in the past three years during the pause on federally-held studen…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: ED Details FAFSA Release Date and ISIR Delay, While Appropriators Avert a Government Shutdown - For Now
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This week on “Off the Cuff,” Justin is joined by Karen and Rachel to dig into the Department of Education’s (ED) latest announcement concerning the rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA. The team discussed ED’s pledge to release the FAFSA by December 31 and highlighted how the delayed delivery of Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) could impac…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Updates on Student Debt Relief Neg Reg and the FAFSA 24-25 Contributor
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31:21
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David discuss updates with the negotiated rulemaking process for student debt relief and new changes with FAFSA simplification and the contributor process. Jill first debriefs listeners on last week’s negotiated rulemaking session on student loan debt relief and the Department of Education's proposed re…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Working Through Those FAFSA Fears
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37:51
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to discuss the latest fears from the financial aid community surrounding outstanding questions on the rollout of FAFSA simplification. The team digs into those concerns,…
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OTC From the Field: Unpacking Third Way's Economic Mobility Index and Graduate Student Debt
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37:42
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This week on a special episode of "Off The Cuff," Justin is joined by Chazz Robinson, education policy advisor at Third Way, to discuss his work on Third Way's 2023 Economic Mobility Index (EMI). Chazz explains the methodology for the index, and how some institutions were given high EMI scores. Additionally, Chazz and Justin discuss issues about gr…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Debriefing Student Debt Relief Neg Reg and Parent of Record for 2024-25 FAFSA
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33:26
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David discuss the first committee session of the Department of Education's (ED) negotiated rulemaking process for student debt relief and the nuances of the "parent of record" term on the 2024-25 FAFSA. Allie and Jill kick things off by running through where things stand in the negotiated rulemaking pro…
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OTC From the Field: The College Cost Transparency Initiative
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This week on a special episode of “Off The Cuff,” Justin is joined by Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education (ACE), to discuss the College Cost Transparency Initiative (CCT) — a coalition of hundreds of institutions aimed at improving transparency of student financial aid offers. Justin and Ted dive into the formation of the C…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Debriefing Negotiated Rulemaking, New Gainful Employment Regulations, and Influx of Borrower Defense Claims
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations and national engagement, to discuss how Congress avoided a government shutdown and what that means for federal funding for the Office of Federal Student Aid. The team then discusses the upcoming…
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OTC From the Field: Concerningly High Turnover Rates for Financial Aid Employees
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This week on a special episode of “Off The Cuff,” Justin is joined by Andy Brantley, president and CEO at College & University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), to discuss findings from the latest iteration of their higher education employee retention survey. The results of the survey found concerning trends related to the fin…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: All Things Repayment and the Not So Very Normal FAFSA Year
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David discuss the latest details on the return to student loan repayment and highlight the nuances of a new FAFSA simplification term: “contributors.” Allie and Jill kick things off by running through where things stand with the return to student loan repayment, the on-ramp to repayment, servicer wait t…
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OTC From the Field: All Things SAVE With Under Secretary James Kvaal
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This week on a special episode of “Off The Cuff,” Justin is joined by U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary James Kvaal to discuss the administration's Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan, a new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan that the administration has been heavily promoting as student loan repayments resume. The conver…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: ‘Not the Rosiest Way to Start September’ - Big Questions on Federal Budget Negotiations
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations, to dig into the latest state of play surrounding the federal budgeting process. The team highlights how Congress’ end of September deadline could impact a host of priorities for the Department …
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Justin and Rachel are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations, to recap the most recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that struck down race-conscious admissions policies and the Biden administration's student loan debt cancellation program. The group dives…
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OTC From the Field: NASFAA Conference Preview
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin is joined by Dana Kelly, NASFAA's vice president of professional development and institutional compliance, and Kristi Jovell, director of student financial services operations and communications at Middlebury College and NASFAA's 2023 National Conference Program Task Force chair. The group discusses what attendee…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Deep Dive on Proposed GE Regs and Removal of Housing Question on FAFSA
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David cover the latest developments concerning the Department of Education’s roll-out of its proposed gainful employment regulations and financial value transparency framework, as well as the removal of the housing status question from the 2024-25 FAFSA. Jill dives into how new GE metrics could impact a…
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OTC Inside the Beltway: Wrapping Up the Debt Ceiling and the Latest on Student Loan Debt Cancellation
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Rachel joins Justin and Karen to discuss some breaking news on the Hill concerning the debt ceiling and congressional efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s student loan debt cancellation plan. The team starts out with a discussion on the Senate passing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) seeking to rescind Biden’s debt…
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OTC AskRegs Experts: Federal Work-Study and Murky COVID Flexibility
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This week on "Off the Cuff," Allie, Jill, and David discuss recent developments related to the Federal Work-Study program and how financial aid professionals can navigate the wind-down of COVID flexibilities. Jill details a recent information collection request from the Department of Education and concerns related to the extent of the collection. D…
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin and Karen are joined by Jon Fansmith, the American Council on Education's senior vice president of government relations, to discuss the implications of the ongoing negotiations surrounding the debt ceiling and how federal higher education programs could be impacted. The conversation dives into congressional negot…
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OTC From the Field: Examining the Paying for College Transparency Initiative
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This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin is joined by NASFAA Policy Analyst Megan Walter and Scott Cline, senior vice president of enrollment management and auxiliary services at California College of the Arts. The group discusses the mission and goals of the cand its efforts to improve college financial aid offers. Megan then shares initial responses t…
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