July 2008

National News

A brief summary of financial aid related national news items is listed here, along with a link to follow for each for more information.

During the past month, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) posted several announcements and Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs) to the IFAP Web site, including:

• DCL GEN-08-11, providing revised, approved versions of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application and Forbearance Request forms
• Announcement regarding the discontinuation of a "late" late disbursement process effective July 1
• Announcement that the Professional Judgment Warning Message was removed from the online FAA access to the CPS on July 1
• DCL CB-08-10, providing updated reallocation forms and worksheets for campus-based aid programs
• DCL GEN-08-09, which lists the academic majors eligible for the National SMART Grant Program for 2008-09

Additionally, it is expected that the U.S. Department of Education will release updated Master Promissory Note (MPN) documents for both Federal Stafford and Federal PLUS loans in the near future. Until the new MPNs are posted on the IFAP Web site, the most recent announcement remains DCL FP-08-02, which was posted on January 8, 2008.

The 2008 version of the Common Manual has been available since June from www.commonmanual.org. The camera-ready version may be retrieved and printed or the 2008 electronic version may be downloaded.