A very clear message about the "Lavish" FSA Conference

The Department of Education opened the registration for the free FSA Conference and the hotel room block yesterday that will take place the first week of December in Las Vegas, NV.

It is not the only thing the FSA updated on the website. Below is the changes in the website today. Cross outs are words that were deleted and yellow highlights are the additions.

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Note the addition of "is not for government employees but it is training provided...by the government", "by law, schools are accountable", and "is an investment in protecting the taxpayer dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse".

Strong and direct language. It might have been in reaction to the articles a few weeks ago about "Education Dept. plans lavish Las Vegas conference as students lose services" and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn calling the decision inappropriate.

WCET Submitted Testimony to Department of Education →

If you have not already had a chance read Russell Poulin’s submitted testimony for WCET to the Department of Education for Negotiated Rule Making, it gives a good overview of the conversation points (as well as WICHE’s stance) at the Department of Education Hearing back on May 30th at UCSF.

You can also see my mediocre iPhone photography of him delivering testimony.

Department of Education still stuck in a paper-based world → →

Q: Can you further explain the intended format? Are schools limited to a PDF format?

A: Right now the Shopping Sheet is a PDF, but ultimately it may have more flexibility than that—if a school has a unique need, it is encouraged to email shoppingsheet@ed.gov with its questions. ED’s goal is to accommodate innovative award packages and try to make it work for all those who are interested.

The words ultimately it may leave a good deal to be desired. NASFAA did manage to get answers to some other questions though.

Department of Education’s Final Financial Aid Shopping Sheet → →

The Department of Education has been busy--new financial literacy counseling, new consolidated financial aid information website that does not look like it was last updated in the '90s and now a finalized Financial Aid Shopping Sheet.

It looks pretty good and many schools have already been moving to provide this type information to students (since long before this became a discovered political issue). Yes, all of this information is needed in order to make an informed choice. A few things:

1. I can hear many third-party system vendors growning about how they are going to pull this off. First who sends out paper award letters/packets, so this will need to be put on student portals.
2. More paper and disclosurers are not the answer. One-on-one personal contact and counseling is the solution. This is a little hard for many schools in an environment of declining resources and increases regulations. Many schools are finding great ways to still do this and have student-centered financial aid processes.
3. If you have to find better ways to explain something (because it is complicated), it might mean that it is too complicated and needs to be rebuilt.

The Department of Education should be leading the way to simplify how higher education is funded, instead of pilling a dozen extra "things" on top of the problem.