Negotiating on the Title IV Loans Negotiated Rulemaking Committee

I am very honored to write that I have been selected to be the primary non-federal negotiator representing financial aid administrators for the Title IV Loans Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. California and WASFAA are well represented on the committee. The first meeting starts next week in Washington DC.

I will be sharing what I can through Twitter and the CASFAA newsletter. Hopefully, my first tweet will not be next to a pile of snow.

Now for the ask.

I really want to hear from people in the financial aid profession. What do you want to see negotiated in the loan programs? Send me an email scott (a) scottcline.org or a tweet with your thoughts and ideas.

FSA(TC) - It seems like just yesterday we were in Vegas

Like many financial aid professionals, I am making my yearly pilgrimage to the Federal Student Aid (Training) Conference. FSATC in the politically correct world, but for everyone else--FSA.

The conference starts tomorrow in Atlanta, GA and runs through Friday. If you want to follow along or meet up, find me on Twitter @scottcline.

There are also some other great financial aid professionals on twitter who will be there, including @MelissaHaberman, @sgallagherhe, @shanc_followill, and @dustinasmith.

This year, I am going to try to write a quick summary of the day and post it here. Let us see how well I keep that promise.

-SC, currently crossing over Kansas.

Helpful Habit for New (and Seasoned) Financial Aid Pros

The Department of Education has been publishing a number of the volumes for the 2014–15 Federal Student Aid Handbook on the IFAP website, including, this past week, campus-based programs, and calculating awards and packaging. The department usually gets out the application and the verification volume at least halfway through the main awarding season for traditional schools and the rest of the volumes trickle out throughout the summer.[1]

My habit I got into (by luck or most likely from some wise financial aid professional early in my career), is to re-read the handbook each year as it is published.[2]

There is so much information to keep in your head, working in financial aid, and I have found this yearly ritual of reviewing the handbook as it is published keeps it fresh in my mind that hopefully helps me carryout my day-to-day work.

Grab your iPad or laptop and pick a volume to get (re)aquiented with over the next few weeks. After you finish one, you can move on to another one. If you are a manager or supervisor, do it with your directs together.

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1. There have even been years when some volumes have not been published until mid-fall.  ↩

2. Ok, sometimes I do skim some of the sections and some years it has been a month or two after they were published.  ↩

Federal Financial Aid Conference 2013

Just a quick note to mention that I am on my way to the Department of Education’s Federal Financial Aid Conference (formerly known as FSA and now as FSATC).[1] The conference officially starts Tuesday and runs through Friday at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

If you will be at the conference, be sure to check out the #FAChat tweetup on Tuesday at 5:00 PM at Ri Ra Irish Pub in the Mandalay Bay. Also, feel free to reach out to me on tweet @scottcline or via email at scott at scottcline.org.

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1. Really, we had to add “Training Conference” to make it sound like the Department of Education is not wasting money on a “party” in Las Vegas?  ↩

College Board National Forum 2013 This Week in New York

Just a quick note that I on my way to the College Board National Forum in New York City that starts Wednesday and runs through Friday.

If you are going to be there, let me know by sending me an email scott @ scottcline.org or on Twitter @scottcline.

If you do follow me on Twitter, it will probably be more active then normal this week with updates from the conference (as well as updates on great meals in New York).