The DC Digest

Duke in DC's Top News Today:

FAFSA Updates, Including Deadline Act Passage and Beta Testing Expansion
Associations Join Letter Seeking Clarification on FVT Reporting
Letter from Higher Ed Associations on Stop Campus Hazing Act
Post of the Week!

The Highlights 📰

Student Aid, Institutional Support and Taxes

The latest updates regarding legislation and regulatory actions related to student aid, higher education institutional support, taxes and more.

NASFAA Student Aid Reference Desk

FAFSA UPDATES, INCLUDING DEADLINE ACT AND BETA TESTING EXPANSION

Today, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation that would require the FAFSA application to be released and fully operational by Oct. 1. The FAFSA Deadline Act aims to give students and schools more time and clarity to complete the form required for federal student aid when applying to colleges and universities. The current law requires FAFSA to be made available by Jan. 1, though it is usually available in October. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced a companion bill in the Senate, but its current timeline is unknown.

In other FAFSA news, the Department of Education announced that batch corrections for the FAFSA will be accessible by the end of the first quarter of 2025 for both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 cycles. The Department also has announced a new expanded Beta 4 testing phase, which will be open to all students before the end of the month. This phase will act as a final stress test for the FAFSA system before the official release. Provided no critical errors arise, the Department anticipates the new form will be available by Dec. 1.

ASSOCIATIONS JOIN LETTER SEEKING CLARIFICATIONS ON FINANCIAL VALUE TRANSPARENCY REPORTING

A recent letter led by the American Council on Education (ACE), of which Duke is a member, along with 44 other higher education organizations, is seeking clarification on the reporting requirements in the financial value transparency (FVT) and gainful employment (GE) regulations. The Department of Education has extended the deadline for new FVT/GE data reporting requirements to Jan. 15, 2025, but there is concern about unclear guidance and delayed responses.

Seeking Clarification

ASSOCIATIONS JOIN LETTER REGARDING STOP CAMPUS HAZING ACT

Another letter led by ACE outlines potential concerns with the Stop Campus Hazing Act legislation. The letter, signed onto by a total of 13 higher ed associations, expresses strong support for the Stop Campus Hazing Act but recommends technical adjustments to improve its effectiveness. They highlight concerns with the bill's definition of "hazing," which could conflict with free speech protections, and the challenge of including unrecognized student organizations in hazing reporting, which could be difficult for institutions to monitor. Additionally, it proposes reducing the frequency of the Campus Hazing Transparency Report to yearly to ease the reporting burden on colleges.

Technical Adjustments

Post of the Week!

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove®
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

1201 Pennsylvania Ave.
District of Columbia, DC | 20004 United States

This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.