The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) was an ambitious bill containing broad transformations to federal student aid. Many of that bill's original reforms have been installed in the recently passed Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act, a modified version of SAFRA. When President Obama signed the bill, several large scale adjustments to federal education policy changed the face of college admission in the U.S. Some of those changes are just beginning to take effect, while others are still on the horizon.
NACAC has organized the bill into the four major components affecting college admission. The summary presented here contains important insights and professional perspectives from an admission officer, a director of student aid and a state government employee. Be sure to listen to each of the featured podcasts for more information.
Summary: NACAC organized the pieces of the bill with particular relevance to college counselors and admission officers. Components include: Direct Loans and Pell Grants, College Access and Completion Programs, Income-Based Repayment, Support for Community Colleges and Minority Serving Institutions.
Podcasts: A college admission officer and a state employee discuss how they utilized College Access Challenge Grant funds, and the director of student aid at Penn State discusses the university's switch to Direct Loans.