Administering Title IV Aid in Modules:
Any course in a program that does not span the entire length of a payment period or a period of enrollment is considered to be a module. An explanation of how to administer Title IV aid when your standard term academic calendar contains modules. Modules may be included exclusively or in conjunction with full-term courses, year-round, or only during a summer term. All of these scenarios will be discussed. NOTE: This session does NOT include a discussion of R2T4 with modules.
Birds of A Feather – Software:
Come join colleagues from other schools that use the same software system you are using. Share best practices on processes and possible trouble shooting with issues you may be having in your own shop. Share your knowledge with other Colleague, Peoplesoft, Powerfaids, or Banner schools.
Directors Roundtable:
Back by popular demand! If you are a director or associate director, join your colleagues to discuss the challenges and joys of being a financial aid director. Bring your management questions and perplexities and benefit from the wisdom of the group. And, confidentiality applies!
FA Counselors Roundtable:
Are you a new or seasoned financial aid counselor? Join this select group to network with your peers and share your experiences with those who can relate like no others! Come with topics to discuss, questions to ask, ideas to grow, and know that your conversations won’t leave the room.
Prior-Prior Year Forum
During this session the panelists will discuss how they are preparing their students, staff, and administration for this change. There will also be discussion about possible hurdles or pitfalls they see. Any new information regarding the implementation or processing of PPY will be discussed at this time.
Building a Financial Literacy Program on Your Campus:
Delivering financial education is the first step to improved financial literacy. Step two presents the real challenge: having students make the leap from knowledge gain to behavior modification. Attendees will come away from this session with ideas for financial education application at their campus and suggestions on how to create a campus-wide approach for teachable moments.
Federal Loan Repayment Options:
This session takes an in-depth look at all federal loan repayment options available to students in 2016. The session will reveal the level of complexity, confusion and lack of support students have to deal with when attempting to make informed decisions on which loan repayment program is best suited for their current life situation.
Gainful Employment:
This session will provide an overview of gainful employment regulations, new disclosure requirements effective January 2017, and an introduction to the GE Completers List and the Data Challenges and Appeals Solution system.
EducationQuest Tools:
This session will feature an overview of the facets of EducationQuest Foundation including grants, scholarships, outreach services, middle school access, college planning and web tools.
Federal Methodology:
This session will provide an overview of the structure of the Federal Methodology including hands-on calculation of an Expected Family Contribution.
NSLDS® Enrollment Reporting:
This session will review the campus-level and program-level reporting required by NSLDS, including situational examples and guidance about how to prevent common errors. NSLDS will highlight 2015 changes and discuss 2016 enhancements that will focus on improving the data that schools report to NSLDS.
RMASFAA Best Practices:
Come join your colleagues to learn about Best Practices for your office. Topics covered will include: Professional Judgment, FSA User ID, Prior Prior Year, How to Motivate Students to do Work- study. The topics will be tied together by including communication strategies and how they go into the Policy and Procedure manual.
Student Eligibility :
The administration of Federal Student Aid (FSA) programs is an institutional responsibility. One key area where offices outside of financial aid are involved is the accurate determination of student eligibility. This session will discuss requirements determined by the school, by federal systems, and by database matches. Brief mention will be made on the changes to ATB by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 to the Title IV eligibility of career pathway programs that enroll students who are not high school graduates.
Verification:
This session will have a reminder of the Verification categories that were established for 2015-16 and then we will look at the changes for 2016-17. We will also cover a few of the most frequent topics of concern in the session.
Working With Millennials:
Millennials are the largest generation on our planet today. As a result, they will have a tremendous influence over norms, expectations and behavior. This session will highlight the financial and buying habits and expectations of millennials and will review some recommendations in engaging them.
General Session:
Future of Financial Aid: Trends and Possible Outcomes from the November elections .
While all Presidential and Congressional elections are important, the elections this fall will most likely set the direction for the next decade. Regardless of the outcome, there will be a new administration with 1,200-1,400 positions requiring Senate confirmation with about 60 under the jurisdiction of the Senate HELP Committee. Both the House and Senate will work diligently to Reauthorize the Higher Education Act this year however this is trending toward 2017.
This session will look at the current public policies of the Administration and Congress and review some first principles of access, affordability, accountability and austerity as well as some recent discussions on competency-based education, consumer protection, Title IX and institutional reporting of data.
Please be prepared to ask questions.