Allie Bidwell Arcese

72% of 547 institutions reported noticeable delays or changes in FSA responsiveness since May 1, compared to before the March RIF

📈 More institutions across the country are reporting noticeable changes in Federal Student Aid responsiveness, communication, and processing timelines after mass layoffs at the Department of Education, a new survey from NASFAA found.

📊 Learn more: ow.ly/Cq6z50WJ07V

Catch up on news and updates from Day 2 of the #NASFAA2025 National Conference on our Conference News Coverage page where we're summarizing key takeaways from our most popular sessions: ow.ly/jsj250Wh0zK

A conference room with a chart showing that grant aid from colleges has slowly but steadily increased over the past twenty years

A conference room with a chart on the screen showing that tuition and fees at all types of colleges have stayed flat or declined modestly

A conference room with a chart on the screen that shows average debt for bachelors degrees has been declining

Good session at #NASFAA2025
On trends in student aid

Institutional aid has been going up

Net Tuition and fees have declined or been stable

Average debt is declining

Higher Ed is far from perfect, and there are bad actors, but the Trump admin narrative of runaway costs is just false

And now… LeVar Burton!!

NASFAA’s new President & CEO Melanie Storey kicking off #NASFAA2025! @nasfaa.bsky.social

So it’s #NASFAA2025 i feel like the fin aid community on Twitter was amazing and it’s time to get the same energy here!
@nasfaa.bsky.social

NASFAA joined over two dozen higher education organizations in an amicus brief in support of Harvard University’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, after the administration froze billions of dollars in funding for federal research grants: ow.ly/mA4650W7Ohb

Major student loan changes just came one step closer to becoming law Senate Republicans advanced a legislative package that would slash the number of student loan repayment plans and increase regulations on colleges.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

59% of institutions reported noticeable changes in FSA responsiveness or delays in processing timelines since the reduction in force.

A new NASFAA survey of financial aid offices at colleges and universities across the country highlights the impact of recent workforce reductions and potential closure of the Department of Education on financial aid offices and the students they serve: ow.ly/BocQ50VWspL

🎙️Melanie, Rachel, Hugh, Sarah and Nalia discuss the latest news surrounding reconciliation and the White House "skinny" budget. 🎧 Listen to the new episode of "Off The Cuff" of Spotify, Apple, YouTube or on our website: www.nasfaa.org/off_the_cuff...

Our final article in a three-part series analyzing the House Committee on Education & Workforce's portion of a reconciliation bill outlines the proposed risk-sharing agreement for institutional accountability and the elimination of multiple #HigherEducation regulations: ow.ly/rh6e50VPYz2

Welcome to NASFAA's new President & CEO Melanie Storey, who starts today!

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a special episode of #OffTheCuff with Melanie. She answers listener-submitted Qs and shares more about her background! #fachat @nasfaa.bsky.social

🎧 nasfaa.org/off_the_cuff

NASFAA Urges ED to Confirm Funding Levels for Higher Education Programs

NASFAA, along with over a dozen #HigherEducation organizations, led by @aceducation.bsky.social, sent a letter urging the Department of Education to confirm the funding levels for all #HigherEducation programs.

Learn more about the letter: ow.ly/gZUm50VxqAE #HigherEd #FinancialAid

How Education Department Cuts Could Jeopardize FAFSA The federal student aid form had just begun to stabilize after a disastrous launch last winter. Then the Trump administration gutted the agency that manages it.

#NASFAAinTheNews: “In our community, people are saying this is the next crisis period. There is concern this will be significantly disruptive for financial aid, with a lot of unknowns and changing information that are hard to adapt to.” #FAFSA @insidehighered.com

NASFAA endorses the Affordable Loans for Students Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), to lower federal student loan rates to 2% on all federal student loans, including PLUS loans. #StudentLoans #StudentDebt

NASFAA Announces New President & CEO, Melanie Storey

NASFAA is happy to announce our new President & CEO, Melanie Storey!

Melanie brings a depth of knowledge of financial aid operations, innovative leadership, and operational management to the position, which will start May 1, 2025. Learn more: ow.ly/Om7m50VnISK

Is only 25% of Education Department funding for students? No In a March 16 podcast interview, Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., said the Trump administration is right to target the Educ

I helped Politifact disprove a claim by a member of Congress that less than one-fourth of the Department of Education's budget goes toward educating students. The majority of ED's spending is on student financial aid.

NASFAA's Statement on Trump Administration Plans to Dissolve Department of Education: www.nasfaa.org/statement_on...

From: Linda McMahon Subject: Our Department's Final Mission When I took the oath of office as Secretary of Education, I accepted responsibility for overseeing the U.S. Department of Education and those who work here. But more importantly, I took responsibility for supporting over 100 million American children and college students who are counting on their education to create opportunity and prepare them for a rewarding career. I want to do right by both. As you are all aware, President Trump nominated me to take the lead on one of his most momentous campaign promises to families. My vision is aligned with the President's: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children. As a mother and grandmother, I know there is nobody more qualified than a parent to make educational decisions for their children. I also started my career studying to be a teacher, and as a Connecticut Board of Education member and college trustee, I have long held that teaching is the most noble of professions. As a businesswoman, I know the power of education to prepare workers for fulfilling careers. American education can be the greatest in the world. It ought not to be corrupted by political ideologies, special interests, and unjust discrimination. Parents, teachers, and students alike deserve better. After President Trump's inauguration last month, he steadily signed a slate of executive orders to keep his promises: combatting critical race theory, DEl, gender ideology, discrimination in admissions, promoting school choice for every child, and restoring patriotic education and civics. He has also been focused on eliminating waste, red tape, and harmful programs in the federal government. The Department of Education's role in this new era of accountability is to restore the rightful role of state oversight in education and to end the overreach from Washington. This restoration will profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency

As l've learned many times throughout my career, disruption leads to innovation and gets results. We must start thinking about our final mission at the department as an overhaul-a last chance to restore the culture of liberty and excellence that made American education great. Changing the status quo can be daunting. But every staff member of this Department should be enthusiastic about any change that will benefit students. True change does not happen overnight—especially the historic overhaul of a federal agency. Over the coming months, as we work hard to carry out the President's directives, we will focus on a positive vision for what American education can be. These are our convictions: 1. Parents are the primary decision makers in their children's education. 2. Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning in math, reading, science, and history—not divisive DEl programs and gender ideology. 3. Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make the best educational choices for their children. An effective transfer of educational oversight to the states will mean more autonomy for local communities. Teachers, too, will benefit from less micromanagement in the classroom-enabling them to get back to basics. I hope each of you will embrace this vision going forward and use these convictions as a guide for conscientious and pragmatic action. The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals. I want to invite all employees to join us in this historic final mission on behalf of all students, with the same dedication and excellence that you have brought to your careers as public servants. This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students. I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete, we will all be able to say

NEW—Dept of Ed staff received an email from Sec. McMahon tonight with the subject, “Our Department’s Final Mission.”

McMahon writes that plan is, “to send education back to the states.” Notably doesn’t mention executive order like earlier draft, but some think it’s still coming.

Full text:

After President Trump's inauguration last month, he has steadily signed a slate of executive orders to keep these education promises: combatting critical race theory, DEl, gender ideology extremism, and discrimination in admissions. President Trump has also been focused on eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and harmful programs in the federal government. To that end, today he signed [Executive Order XYZ, entitled "Eliminating the Department of Education,] which has given us a clear and final mission. We are to identify which of the Department's functions, programs, and offices are not mandated by statute, and eliminate them. This reorganization will impact staff, budgets, reporting, and more —and in coming months, we will determine how it can be accomplished with minimal delay and disruption. The President further tasked us with creating a plan to reallocate and reassign functions of the Department of Education that would be more effectively managed by other agencies. This plan will offer Congress a road map toward fulfilling the expectations of the President and the American people. The new vision—which I hope each of you will embrace going forward—can be expressed as four main convictions: Parents are the primary decision makers in their children's education. Students deserve to be protected from physical violence, racial discrimination, medical tyranny, and gender extremism ideology on campus. Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning: proficiency in math, reading, and core subjects, and patriotism in American history and civics. As we move to reduce the Department's middleman role in education, these four convictions must guide us toward conscientious and pragmatic action. The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make th

SCOOP: Now that Linda McMahon is confirmed/sworn in as secretary, Trump will be imminently issuing an executive order eliminating the Department of Education.

I’ve obtained a draft of an email that McMahon will be sending to staff re: the EO and the department’s “final mission”.

Here is a portion:

Judge Orders Trump Administration to Comply with Order on Frozen Funds The ruling is the latest rebuke of President Trump’s effort to halt grants approved by Congress.

A judge ordered the Trump administration to restore federal funding it had tried to freeze

Advice | Feeling Unappreciated? You’re Not Alone. How to fix higher ed’s broken system of employee recognition.

The @chronicle.com has THREE new pieces on higher ed employee burnout, workload, and recognition out today. These are well worth your time to read as we start another wild and crazy week.

www.chronicle.com/article/feel...

www.chronicle.com/article/high...

www.chronicle.com/article/what...

Student loan forgiveness has been proposed as a means to alleviate soaring student loan burdens. This paper uses administrative credit bureau data to study the distributional, consumption, borrowing, and employment effects of the largest event of student loan forgiveness in history. Beginning in March 2021, the United States federal government ordered $132 billion in student loans cancelled, or 7.8%of the total $1.7 trillion in outstanding student debt. We estimate that forgiven borrowers’ predicted monthly earnings were $115 higher than borrowers who did not receive forgiveness and $193 more than the general population. We find that student loan forgiveness led to increases in mortgage, auto, and credit card debt by 9 cents for every dollar forgiven. Borrowers’ monthly earnings and employment fell, at increasing rates for each month post forgiveness. The implied Marginal Propensities for Consumption (MPC) and Earnings (MPE) are 0.27 and -0.49, respectively.

A new NBER working paper finds that student debt forgiveness likely increased short-term earnings and other types of debt. www.nber.org/papers/w33462

Dems in both the House and Senate, citing concern about a possible EO to abolish ED, are pressing a department official to provide information on the steps ED is taking to ensure the continuity and administration of its programs: www.nasfaa.org/news-item/35...

🎧 TUNE IN 🎧

This week on NASFAA's #OffTheCuff podcast, we dig into what we know — and what we don't — about the Trump administration's reported plans to dismantle the Dept. of Education and the potential implications for students. www.nasfaa.org/off_the_cuff... #fachat @nasfaa.bsky.social

I remember being in his class for this, and have fond memories of him as a professor. Not every professor is memorable, but he sure was. So sorry to hear this news.

State support up for higher ed, but "volatility" looms States allocated more money to higher ed this fiscal year. But with shrinking state budgets and heightened scrutiny of institutional spending, there’s no indication the uptick will continue.

State funding for public higher education went up by about 4.3 percent in FY25. Expect next year's number to be lower as states deal with tighter budgets and growing skepticism of the value of college among some legislators. I'll be watching budget battles this spring.

"Nobody could really imagine that Chase could fold into Citibank quickly or easily. I don't know why people are thinking that the federal student loan portfolio could easily move,” said NASFAA’s Karen McCarthy. @nasfaa.bsky.social #fachat

Trump preps order to dismantle Education Dept. as DOGE probes data Closing the agency would require congressional approval, so the new administration hopes to diminish it in the meantime.

Breaking news: President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order aimed at eventually closing the Education Department and, in the short term, dismantling it from within, according to three people briefed on its contents.

The price of college tuition (contrary to popular opinion) has been going down for years.

If we see a massive decline in international students, who continue to help most colleges balance the books, that’s going to change and fast.

Colleges might want to make that point to middle class families.