Staying Inspired & Motivated: What’s Your “Eiffel Tower Keychain” Moment?

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Laurie Wolf

Summer is always such an interesting time in the aid office. Many of our colleagues in other departments on campus take advantage of the summer months to slow down and relax. But as we all know — summer is hard in the Financial Aid Office! From running Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and dealing with appeals, to figuring out how to award and disburse aid for summer mini-sessions or modules, many aid administrators are at our busiest. In my office, we are sending out estimated bills, packaging returning students, evaluating SAP appeals, starting to certify fall/spring loans, ensuring gainful employment disclosures are posted to the web, dealing with summer aid and summer balances, welcoming the auditors, and rolling out our Net Price Calculator. Many nights I greet the cleaning crew after hours or say hello to the nighttime security guards that have grown to know me so well.
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Sometimes You Just Need to be Asked

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Laurie Wolf

So I’m asking – will you volunteer to serve on a NASFAA Committee?

Are you looking to expand your work experiences and areas of expertise? Do you want to make a difference in financial aid policy? This is an opportunity that would allow you to do so without changing jobs.
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Cutting Administrative Cost Allowance Hurts Students

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Laurie Wolf

Lawmakers are looking for ways to cut federal spending and some are targeting the administrative cost allowance (ACA).

Republicans in the House and Senate have recently proposed legislation to eliminate ACA as part of larger packages to cut federal spending. In the House, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced the Cut Unsustainable and Top-heavy Spending (CUTS) Act (H.R. 235) this year to reduce federal spending. Before the 111th Congress adjourned last year, the Senate defeated an amendment to the tax cut package introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would have eliminated ACA.
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Remembering One of Financial Aid’s Founding Fathers

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Laurie Wolf

I was incredibly saddened to hear about the passing of NASFAA’s Founding President Allan Purdy. He was an incredible man who helped shaped the profession to which many of us have dedicated our lives.

Allan was a financial aid administrator before the profession even existed. As an extension horticulturist at the University of Missouri, Allen would meet many promising students from across the state that lacked the financial resources to pursue higher education. He would pester the dean to find resources to help these students attend college and was so good at recruiting these students that he was made an assistant to the dean and ultimately the first director of the University’s first financial aid office.
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Stalled Again: The DREAM Act Is on Hold

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Laurie Wolf

Why is the DREAM Act an Issue?

To address that question one needs to review the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court Case of Plyler v. Doe (No. 80-1538). In that decision the U.S. Supreme Court Justices determined that public K-12 education could not be withheld from any student who lives in the United States. As a result of this decision children of immigrants (legal or undocumented) are able to attend and receive an education in the United States. Many of these students finish their K-12 education and wish to pursue a college degree to become productive members of the American economy. Through their educational experience, they have been acclimated to our culture. Many of them are high academic achievers who want to give back to their adopted country. Under current law, they are not allowed to move forward with their lives, due to no fault of their own.
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