the elusive answer researching the answer to a policy question

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 Progress34 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 Jamie.Malone@ed.govAngela Smith (312) 730-1552 angela.smith@ed.govByron Scott (312) 730-1534 byron.scott@ed.gov

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

johnsosm@uww.edu Kate Sopha, Madison College

kdsopha@madisoncollege.edu Julie Waldvogel-Leitner, MPTC

jwaldvogelleitner@morainepark.edu