Federal Updates

Official Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published
ED recently released an unofficial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) addressing many topics of importance to the financial aid industry. Today, the official NPRM was published in the Federal Register, providing the public with a 60 day comment period.

New Military Deferment Request form approved
Yesterday, ED released Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-07-04, which announced the approval of a new Military Deferment Request form.

TG Updates

Spotlight on TG's Public Benefit Grants: Breakthrough – Austin's six-year mentoring program for students
Breakthrough – Austin starts working with pre-teen children in sixth grade and follows them through to graduation, offering one-on-one mentoring and college preparation services.

Trends and Issues

Sticky situations: Monkeying with multiple enrollment
A growing number of students are finding their educational goals are best met through concurrent enrollment at multiple schools. Although multiple enrollment may be a good choice for some students, it can prove challenging for the financial aid office. This article — another installment in a series on sticky situations that come up in the Title IV programs — addresses some common issues that arise with multiple enrollment.

Ten ways to maximize your training experience
With the NASFAA conference on the horizon, you may be wondering about how you can get the most out of the training sessions and workshops you attend. Here are some general tips to consider in preparing for NASFAA — or for any training or conference.

Question of the week
I know that a school can make a dependent student independent in certain circumstances and on a case-by-case basis by using a dependency override, but is it possible to make an independent student dependent if the student lives at home with parents and has no income of his or her own?

This, That, and the Other...

Women will make up 60 percent of undergraduate enrollment by the year 2016, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Since 1970, women's undergraduate enrollment increased more than three times as fast as men's and surpassed men's enrollment in 1978. In 2005, women made up 57 percent of undergraduate enrollment.

From 2006 to 2016, both men's and women's undergraduate enrollments are projected to increase, but less than they did from 1995 to 2005.

To learn more about the latest trends in enrollment growth, visit the NCES website at www.nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2007/section1/indicator08.asp.