The latest news, information and updates. | Financial Aid News

Financial Aid News

2025-2026 FAFSA Rollout

The U.S. Department of Education has announced that the 2025-26 FAFSA will be released in stages. Starting October 1, 2024, a limited group of students and institutions will have access to the form for testing purposes. By December 1, 2024, the full application will be available to all students.

The 24-25 FAFSA will introduce the most changes to the application in over 40 years. Due to that, we highly recommend reviewing our 24-25 FAFSA Simplification webpage to familiarize yourself with these changes. In addition to this, we recommend using the free as soon as possible. This tool will give you an idea of what financial aid you may be eligible for in 24-25.

Congress recently passed a law preventing further extensions of the payment pause. This means that interest on any outstanding federal student loans will resume accruing on September 1st, 2023, and payments will be due starting in October 2023. Borrowers will be notified through their when their first payment is due.

The Federal Student Aid "Loan Simulator" helps you calculate your student loan payments and choose a loan repayment option that best meets your needs and goals. This tool can also be used to help you decide if you need to consolidate your student loans. We highly encourage all alumni and former students who are about to begin repaying their student loans again to use this tool.

With student loan repayment set to resume, there has been an increase in student loan fraud and scams. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) offers some legitimate and ways to - all free to apply for through your . According to ED, "If a debt relief offer from a private company seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don't pay for help when you can get it for free!"

Here are three red flags to be on the lookout for:

You're asked to pay an upfront cost or monthly fees.
- There is nothing a student loan debt relief company can do that you can't do yourself, especially with the help of your loan servicer.
You're promised immediate loan forgiveness.
- No one can promise immediate and total student loan forgiveness.
You're asked to provide your FSA ID password.
1. Neither ED nor your loan servicer will ask for your FSA ID.

If you think you have been scammed already, here are some options to consider:

. Do not share your new FSA ID password with anyone.
Contact your loan servicer to revoke any power of attorney or third-party authorization agreement that your servicer has on file. You should also make sure no unwanted actions were taken on your loans.
Contact your bank or credit card company and request that payments to the student loan debt relief company be stopped.
.
File a report of suspicious activity through the .

The Department of Education (ED) announced that it will forgive $39 billion in federal student loan debt to over 800,000 eligible borrowers enrolled in IDR plans. Borrowers were eligible for loan forgiveness after completing 20 or 25 years of monthly payments through an approved IDR plan. Borrowers will be notified in the next couple of days and their loans will get discharged within the next few weeks. These loan discharges are the result of a number of "fixes" implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure all borrowers have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that qualify toward forgiveness under these IDR plans. This is a continuation from the announced in April 2022.

Borrowers receiving notifications in the coming days include those with Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans held by the Department (including Parent PLUS loans of either type) who have reached the necessary forgiveness threshold as a result of receiving credit toward IDR forgiveness for any of the following periods:

Any month in which a borrower was in a repayment status, regardless of whether payments were partial or late, the type of loan, or the repayment plan;
Any period in which a borrower spent 12 or more consecutive months in forbearance;
Any month in forbearance for borrowers who spent 36 or more cumulative months in forbearance;
Any month spent in deferment (except for in-school deferment) prior to 2013; and
Any month spent in economic hardship or military deferments on or after January 1, 2013.

In addition, months described above that occurred prior to a loan consolidation will also be counted toward forgiveness.

On Friday, June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) ruled against the Biden-Harris One-Time Debt Relief Program, disallowing student loan forgiveness through the program. The SCOTUS rulings on student loan forgiveness are below:

Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver Program

On June 28, 2019, Pennsylvania passed a law to remove barriers in accessing a postsecondary education for youth who are or have been in foster care. Click for more information.

Financial Aid Information & Updates

Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reports

Quarterly reporting on Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding (HEERF I, II, & III) is required to be published on the 红杏直播app website. You can find all quarterly reports below. Funding was fully distributed at the time of the September 30, 2021 report.

HEERF I Reports

HEERF II Reports

HEERF III Reports

GRE Fee Reduction

Thinking about taking the GRE (Graduate Record Exam)? You may be eligible for a GRE fee reduction. For more information about the fee reduction program, please visit the , or contact GRE Institutional Services at 609-771-7092.