the elusive answer researching the answer to a policy question. wasfaa federal issues committee fall...
TRANSCRIPT
The Elusive AnswerResearching the answer to a policy question.
WASFAA Federal Issues CommitteeFall 2013
Agenda Getting Started
Policy & Regulations When to Ask
Phrasing Your Question Do some research
Who To Ask Everyone!
Getting StartedWhere Do Policy Regulations Come From
Types of Legislation Laws, Regulations, Guidance, Policy Negotiated Rulemaking Code of Federal Regulations Spending Bills and Other Legislation
Types of Legislation
Legislation
AuthorizingA law passed by Congress that establishes or continues a program.
Appropriating A law passed by Congress that provides authority for federal agencies to obligate funds for specified purposes.
Laws, Regulations, Guidance, Policy
Institutional PolicyEach institution utilizes sector specific guidance to implement regulations
Guidance Provided by ED (Dear Colleague Letters, Electronic Announcements, FSA Handbook)
Department of Educationwrites regulations that implement laws written by Congress
Congresswrites laws that authorize and fund federal student aid.
RulemakingTraditional Rulemaking: Department of Ed publishes NPRM (Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking).
The public is allowed to comment during a specified timeframe.
Final regulations are issued after the comment period.
RulemakingNegotiated Rulemaking: The NPRM is developed in conjunction with
significantly affected parties through a series of meetings with representatives from various constituencies.
The public is allowed a period to comment.
Final regulations are issued after the comment period.
Code of Federal Regulations Title 34 CFR is Education
Part 600-699 Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education (668 Student Assistance General Provisions)
Subparts 668.34 Satisfactory Progress
34 CFR 668.34 OR § 668.34 § 668.34(a)(3) The policy provides that a student's academic
progress is evaluated— (i) At the end of each payment period if the educational program
is either one academic year in length or shorter than an academic year; or
(ii) For all other educational programs, at the end of each payment period or at least annually to correspond with the end of a payment period;
AppropriationsCongress
Senate
Appropriations Committee
Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education
House
Appropriations Committee
Labor-HHS-Education
1. Subcommittees make FY budget proposal
2. Appropriations committee vote
3. Full Senate/House vote
4. Each has different draft. New committee created with members of house and senate to reconcile bill.
5. Full Congress votes on bill.
Know when you need help Not 100% sure of answer
Course of action being committed to by advisor, office, or school
Will a student’s eligibility be impacted by the decision?
It is always ok to ask questions!
When to Ask
Phrase Your Question What’s the broad category for the
question?1. School eligibility2. Student eligibility3. Awarding 4. Disbursement5. Individual aid programs
Write out your question to avoid “research creep” (distractions)
Institutional Type Know your sector
Public/Technical/Private/Proprietary 2year/4year
Know your term type (2014 FSA 3-44)
Standard Semesters/trimesters/quarters
Nonstandard Credit hour/clock hour
Non-term Know your Pell formula (2014 FSA 3-47)
UW-Whitewater is a 4year, public, standard term, formula 1 institution.
Key Words Census date – search “disbursement” or
“recalculation”
Undocumented students – search “citizenship”
Independent students – search “dependency status” or “independence criteria”
Do Some Research IFAP ifap.ed.gov NASFAA nasfaa.org IRS irs.govDept of Ed ed.govFinaid.orgHEAB heab.state.wi.us
Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) FSA Handbook iLibrary Reference guides Code of Federal Regulations Web based training FSA Assessments And more!!
FSA Handbook Click on “Current Handbook” on the right side of
the screen.
Application and Verification Guide, plus 6 volumes.
Which volume do you select? Use the FSA Handbook Cheat Sheet to help you!
If the volume you need is not available, check last year’s handbook. . . But BE CAREFUL, information may not be current.
Searching the HandbookBe careful how you phrase your search!
Searching the AVG:“Simplified” 38 hits vs. “Simplified needs” 6 hits
Searching Volume 3:“aggregate” 77 hits vs. “aggregate limit” 13 hits
Even with this knowledge, you might still have searches with too many hits. . .
Searching the Handbook cont’d USE the Table of Contents
Each volume has a separate PDF table of contents
Volume 5 “post-withdrawal” – 218 hits “post-withdrawal disbursement” – 210 hits Searching table of contents, “post-withdrawal
disbursement” 7 hits, all in the same section – best to go to that section!
iLibrary
Current and archived publications related to Federal Student Aid
Sorted by: Program Type (i.e., Pell, Perkins)Functional Type (i.e., Verification, PJ)Document Type (i.e., DCL, ISIR Guide)
NASFAA Members of NASFAA can access resources
on their website: www.nasfaa.org AskRegs Knowledgebase Student Financial Aid Research Compiled Title IV Legislation Policy & Procedure Guide Self-Evaluation Guide
IRS.gov Not just for ordering a transcript
Forms and Pubs 1040 forms Tax tables Wage statements
Wondering what that code on the 1099-R means? http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099r_12.pdf
Other Search Tips Check out IFAP “Hot Topics” and Information
Pages for issues such as Gainful Employment
Check out NASFAA “Publications” for Monographs on specific financial aid topics such as SAP
State issues? Go to HEAB site “Information for Financial Aid Administrators” for the Monthly Memo and Policies and Procedures Manual
Start Asking Questions Your institutional colleagues WASFAA members NASFAA AskRegs Finaid-L listserv Department of Ed Trainers NSLDS COD Loan servicers
Federal Resources COD problems (loan origination, promissory notes
not matching up)
NSLDS problems (transfer monitoring files, help reporting an overpayment)
Loan Servicing problems (student ret’d funds to both school & loan servicer)
FAA Access issues (log in problems, support for ISIR Analysis Tool & R2T4 on the web)
All numbers found here: http://ifap.ed.gov/docs/CallQRef.pdf
Federal Resources Federal Trainers
Jamie Malone (312) 730-1528 [email protected] Smith (312) 730-1552 [email protected] Scott (312) 730-1534 [email protected]
Region V Office location: Chicago, ILStates: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin(312) 730-1700
Dept of Ed phonebook: http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/employee_locator/index.cfm
Organize your findings Keep emails in folders to refer back to
later
Start a file for each type of policy question
Add notes to your Policy & Procedure Manual
Converse with ColleaguesNetwork with WASFAA members!
WASFAA meals – sit with someone new
Interest sessions – ask your neighbor
Receptions and activities – strike up a conversation
Email or call WASFAA colleagues
Converse with ColleaguesNetwork with Financial Aid Administrators and other higher ed professionals!Follow @theFAchatAnd join the #FAchatFirst Tuesday everymonth, 12-1 CST
Other hashtags to follow…#WASFAA #finaid #SAchat #EMchat #MASFAA
Federal Issues Committee Susan Johnson, UW-Whitewater
Kate Sopha, Madison College [email protected]
Julie Waldvogel-Leitner, MPTC