CONFERENCE

Each conference day will begin with a General Session. The General Sessions include:

GENERAL SESSIONS

ACG & Smart Grant Update
Congress authorized two new federal grant programs to supplement the grant aid provided to Pell Grant recipients. This general session will provide an overview of the unique requirements for these new programs that will help an estimated 500,000 students pay for postsecondary education. This session will also provide an update on the regulation packages and the negotiated rulemaking process for the new programs.
Note: There will be three breakout sessions that will discuss policy, operational, reporting and funding issues in further detail.

Federal Update w/ Q&A
In addition to the two new grant programs discussed in the Day 1 general session, other changes have been made to the Federal Student Aid programs, including changes made by the HERA as well as recent regulatory packages. These program changes will be discussed as they impact students, borrowers, institutions, and lenders. Further, an overview of resulting or planned system changes will be discussed including the expected functionality and timelines of ADvance. Updates to appropriations, pending legislation, and plans for negotiated rulemaking will be provided.

Application Processing System Update
Please join us as we provide a brief overview of changes to the application processing system for 2006-07. The majority of this session will focus on changes to the 2007-08 FAFSA, our Web and software products, and updates to federal needs analysis. Changes to the 2007-08 Central Processing System edits and the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) will also be covered.

Engaging and Positively Influencing Urban Teens - It's Not Only What You Say, But How You Say It!
Students should know that higher education is within their reach, regardless of their environment or background. But how can we successfully engage and positively influence underserved, urban and low-income students who have traditionally been hard to reach? With so many messages and ideas vying for the attention of teens, even the best-intentioned information or awareness campaigns must constantly compete in order to cut through the clutter. Our guest speaker, Ivan Juzang, is president of Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE) Productions Inc., an internationally recognized communications firm that develops socially responsible, research-based communications campaigns targeting urban and ethnic populations. Join us as Ivan shares his research-based approach to effectively raising awareness, influencing community norms and providing action-oriented informational messages.

INTEREST SESSIONS

Disaster Planning & Emergency Preparedness
This session will discuss what to think about in preparing a plan so your school can continue to operate should any type of disaster occur. Learn the components of a good plan and how to develop one from a school perspective. Financial aid administrators will share their real disaster experiences and talk about their lessons learned. Federal Student Aid will describe its plan to keep operations running and Title IV funds going to schools and to students.

Hispanic-serving Institutions Open Forum
Federal Student Aid's Special Initiatives Team invites you to this session to share your best practices with other Hispanic-serving institutions. In addition, participants will share mutual concerns. The team will listen to your concerns and see what they can do to make your job easier. Finally, meet the new director of Special Initiatives Service, Dr. Joel Harrell.

Tribal Controlled Colleges Open Forum
Federal Student Aid's Special Initiatives Team invites you to this session to share your best practices with other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In addition, participants will share mutual concerns. The team will listen to your concerns and see what they can do to make your job easier. Finally, meet the new director of Special Initiatives Service, Dr. Joel Harrell.

HBCU Open Forum
Federal Student Aid's Special Initiatives Team invites you to this session to share your best practices with other Tribal Controlled Colleges. In addition, participants will share mutual concerns. The team will listen to your concerns and see what they can do to make your job easier. Finally, meet the new director of Special Initiatives Service, Dr. Joel Harrell.

ACG and National SMART Grant -- Student Eligibility and Academic Year Issues
This session will focus on policy and institutional implementation issues. Participants in this session will learn the general student eligibility requirements including student application, academic year, previous enrollment, transfer credits, AP/IB credits and GPA. Those requirements will be illustrated through the use of case studies.
Note: A separate session will focus on rigorous high school programs and National SMART Grant majors. Another session will discuss reporting and funding issues. The Day 1 general session will provide a high level overview of both programs and provide updates on the regulation packages and negotiated rulemaking process.

ACG and National SMART Grant -- Transfer Student and Rigor/Major Issues
This session will focus on policy and institutional implementation issues. Participants in this session will learn about the recognized rigorous high school programs of study for ACG and the approved majors for the National SMART Grant.
Note: A separate session will focus on general student eligibility issues such as academic year, transfer credits, previous enrollment and GPA. Another session will address reporting and funding issues. The Day 1 general session will provide a high level overview of both programs and provide updates on the regulation packages and the negotiated rulemaking process.

Citizenship Issues: Handling Situations for Applicants with Undocumented Parents
How do you handle income reporting for students who are citizens or eligible non-citizens with parents whose citizenship status (and income) is undocumented? What if the undocumented parent will not submit information or sign the FAFSA? These and other similar issues will be addressed from operational and policy perspectives.

College Access Initiative—Partnership with Guaranty Agencies
This session will showcase the new College Access Initiative and some of the outstanding early awareness initiatives spearheaded by the Guaranty Agency community and Federal Student Aid's partnership/involvement in these initiatives. The College Access Initiative, authorized by the Higher Education Reconciliation Act, requires the designated guarantor of each state to promote access to postsecondary education by providing via Web (and for those who request, hard copy) information on college planning, career preparation and paying for college. In addition, each GA must provide a comprehensive listing of the postsecondary education opportunities, programs, publications, Web sites and services available in the state. Finally, the Department of Education and the GAs must publicize the availability of this information with special emphasis on ensuring that populations that are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education are made aware of these resources.

FISAP Form Changes
Due to changes in the distribution of eligible applicants and recipients by income category, there will be changes to the income grids on the FISAP for the 2006-07 reporting and 2008-09 application. There may also be an added line item in the Perkins Fiscal Report to accommodate adjustments made by institutions for prior year data. Presenters will discuss changes and solicit feedback.

General Provisions Update: Changes made by the HERA
Numerous changes were made to the HERA and the regulations as a result of the HERA. This session will discuss changes in the following areas: need analysis, cost of attendance, independent student definitions, drug convictions, 50% rules, competency-based programs, academic year definitions, accreditation, distance education and foreign institutions.

Return of Title IV Funds: HERA Policy and Implementation Changes
Participants will understand changes to R2T4 brought about by the HERA. Examples will be used to illustrate the changes. Participants should be aware that there will be a separate session that will provide a "Hands-On" demonstration of revisions to the R2T4 on the Web software [Session #29 — Using Return of Title IV Funds on the Web: A Hands-On Overview]. Participants should attend this session prior to the hands-on session if possible.

Use Self Assessment and Evaluation to Ensure Title IV Program Compliance and Integrity
Federal Student Aid has a comprehensive tool that schools can use to ensure Title IV compliance and program integrity. The FSA Assessments provide schools with a system of evaluating program compliance as well as opportunities to correct problems. This session will showcase the newly redesigned assessments and schools will learn how to use the assessments to prevent and/or identify compliance issues.

Using the E-App to Change/Update Your School's Information with Federal Student Aid
In this session participants learn how to properly fill out the online application to change/update school's information with Federal Student Aid. Presenters will teach what documentation must be sent with each type of application. Participants will gain a better understanding of how to fill out the application and how to avoid making mistakes to ensure that Federal Student Aid can make timely and accurate updates to school information.

Working with Veterans Affairs to Help Students
This session will identify the various VA benefits and rules and discuss how the receipt of each type of VA benefit impacts a student's eligibility for Federal Student Aid.

NSLDS: Changes for 2006 and 2007
This session will provide NSLDS users with new and future system and reporting changes. Changes due to the Higher Education Reconciliation Act including the new grants, new loan types, and pre/post screening will be highlighted. Security enhancements and planned NSLDS re-engineering will also be discussed.

So...This is Your First Federal Student Aid Conference?
This session is for participants attending their first Federal Student Aid Conference. Presenters will give an inside view of what is offered, how it's offered and how to best manage your time at the conference.

ACG and National SMART Grants—Reporting from CPS to COD; Funding Levels and Institutional Reports
This session will focus on reporting and funding issues for the new ACG and National SMART Grant programs. Participants will learn about the ACG student application process for 2006-07 and 2007-08 and data management of the two grant programs’ records in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system, including the December 16, 2006, implementation and institutional reports and funding for 2006-07 and beyond.
Note: A separate session will discuss general student eligibility issues such as academic year, transfer credits, previous enrollment and GPA. Another session will address rigorous high school programs and National SMART Grant majors. The Day 1 general session will provide a high level overview of both programs and provide updates on the regulation packages and negotiated rulemaking process.

EDExpress Changes for HERA and 2007-08
With so many recent changes for EDExpress, this session offers a chance to put the pieces together. Staff will discuss current year changes that will make it easier on EDExpress users in the future. Presenters will discuss how the changes to the software were made, how these updates are being rolled out, and what's to come. What's in store for 2007-2008?

A Day in the Life at the COD School Relations Center
The purpose of this session is to inform and to demonstrate how Federal Student Aid serves institutions regarding Pell and Direct Loan processing, reporting, and funding. Presenters will demonstrate how institutions can troubleshoot and prevent issues such as misidentified students, edits, batch and online processing. Participants will learn about the customer service reps, the tools they use to service an inquiry including the cod system, computer based and in-person training, use of a customized intranet for researching information, and tracking potential issues. Learn the top 10 reasons institutions and even students call 1-800-848-0798 for Direct Loan and 1-800-4PGRANT (1-800-474-7268) for Pell Grants.

FFEL and Direct Loan Policy Update
This update will be an overview of recent statutory changes made to the FFEL and Direct Loan programs including consolidation loans. Changes made by the HERA, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, implementing regulations, and related policy guidance will be addressed with a focus on those issues of most interest to schools.

Responding To Student Inquiries - Tools and Techniques
Ideally, every college wants a fully staffed financial aid office complete with experts in every facet of financial aid delivery. This session will provide some tools that will assist participants and front office staff who respond to customer inquiries. Federal Student Aid staff and contact center (1-800-4-FEDAID) representatives will share training techniques that cover the financial aid basics, and tools for accessing the most up-to-date financial aid information.

Peeling the Onion: Looking at Complex Federal Student Aid Customer Questions and Complaints
This session takes a look at the Federal Student Aid customer interface experience. In addition to a quick look at multiple problem resolution systems, participants will take a "behind the curtain" look at Office of the Ombudsman problem resolution methods and casework. Real-world customer service interface case studies will be discussed in terms of common themes, root causes of the problems and how they get resolved within Federal Student Aid and opportunities for systemic improvement.

Postsecondary Education Awareness: Access to and Funding for Education Beyond High School: Who Is Doing What
The purpose of this session is to inform you about an ACE and Dept. of Education partnership for awareness and outreach targeting 9th and 10th graders, and their influencers. This national, multiyear effort consists of PSAs (TV, radio and print ads) as well as local grassroots campaigns/support. In addition, Federal Student Aid is launching an Awareness and Outreach campaign that complements ACE's effort.

FAFSA Simplification - What Does That Mean and How Do We Get There?
Federal Student Aid is engaged in a process to design a simplified FAFSA. This session will provide a closer look at the potential impact of the simplification of need analysis and application for Title IV financial assistance. Participants will have the opportunity to review our early analysis and recommendations for reducing the current FAFSA data collection and discuss burden reduction, benefits to students and families and the potential impact to federal-state-institutional partnerships.

Birds of a Feather
These sessions are geared toward similar types of schools joining with their peers to discuss and share amongst themselves ideas and concerns. These sessions will be led by peers and will provide participants with an opportunity to openly discuss any issues and share ideas with each other. Any issues or items of concern resulting from these sessions will be forwarded to ED staff for consideration. To include: