1. State Education Assistance Authority
State Update
Elizabeth McDuffie
State Education Assistance Authority
Concord
November 2016

2. Today’s Topics Election results Legislative session FAFSA volume
Early FAFSA
Outreach
Other Initiatives

3. Trump: College Costs From NASFAA (citing Clovis, campaign co-chair)
Would fight proposals for debt-free and tuition free public higher education
Call on institutions to spend more on students to lower the cost of college
Would reconsider “if those with large endowments deserve to keep those endowments tax-exempt”

4. Trump: Student Loans
Wants the government out of lending and restore that role to private banks
Local banks should lend to local students
Should be partnership between student, bank and college
Colleges should have role determining loan worthiness on factors beyond family income
Future earnings for program of study
Income-contingent repayment plan –payments capped at 12% of income and after 15 years, loan is canceled.

5. Trump: School Accountability
Colleges should have “skin in the game” and share the risk in student lending
Risk should be substantial enough to change admissions policies and programs of study offered
Provide remediation but colleges should not admit students whom they are not confident can graduate in reasonable time frame and find jobs

6. Trump: Regulations
Acknowledged that federal regulations have increased “administrative bloat” citing Vanderbilt University 2015 study

7. Federal Elections- NC
North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx poised to chair the House Education and Workforce Committee
Represents 5th district
Very important as Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is pending
Stated she would seek much greater transparency from colleges on metrics such as the graduation rate of Pell Grant recipients

8. NC Elections Outcome of Governor’s race unsettled
Republicans in the General Assembly retain supermajority = veto proof
New State Superintendent of Education
Third new leader for public education sectors

9. 2016 Legislative Session
Changes in tuition for UNC S.L (S1030)
Know Before You Go S.L (S536)

10. UNC Tuition Guaranteed Tuition—effective for fall 2016
Tuition frozen for four years or appropriate length of time for students who transfer into the institution
Fee increases limited to no more than 3% —effective for fall 2017
NC Promise—effective for fall 2018
Tuition reduced to $500/semester (in-state) and $2,500 (out-of-state) at Elizabeth City State University, UNC-Pembroke, Western Carolina University

11. Know Before You Go
SEAA to provide information based on aggregate data for outcomes of public and private colleges/universities
Completion rates within the expected number of semesters
Transfer rates of students
Percentage of students receiving financial aid, by type of aid
Average and median debt upon graduation, by major
Average and median salary by major
Percent of graduates employed and percent in grad school within 6 months of graduation

12. Residency
Students who are already enrolled will be grandfathered if they stay continuously enrolled.
No gap in enrollment for two or more semesters
Launch for independent colleges is December 5
Launch for 5 model community colleges is January 30, 2017
Launch for other community colleges and UNC is February 20, 2017

13. Grant Program Update Fall certification deadline of December 1
No extensions
Complete reconciliations now
Grants for will be available later in mid-December
The semester count is based on your certifications---in December, most schools have not certified students for the spring semester so the remaining semesters will not include spring!!

14. State Grant Process Nuances
Opportunity to file an early FAFSA means:
Applicants may apply for aid before admission higher percentage of aid applicants will not apply for admission to all the institutions they list on FAFSA
Over-commit will be slightly higher, but without history, must be conservative
Students may be more thoughtful in their decision-making—more students may ask colleges to match other institutions’ offers

15. Early FAFSA What is still unknown? Fund Projections
Will more students apply for aid?
Will students list more colleges on their FAFSA?
Will state grant programs be exhausted earlier?

16. FINISH the FAFSA!
SEAA led initiative providing information to high school counselors about the FAFSA status of their seniors
Using tools available on CFNC.org, counselors can see which of their high school seniors have completed the FAFSA and prod non-completers
For , 55% increase in the number of FAFSAs submitted by high school seniors by Oct 28, 2017

17. Financial Aid Training
Completed training for 40 FAAs at our October session in Raleigh
Since 2003, SEAA with the help of many campus experts has trained 1,005 FAAs!
Next training will be spring 2017

18. FAFSA Volume Historical Trend

19. Comparison of NC FAFSAs Filed

20. Federal Family Educational Loans
3-Year Default Rate
SEAA National
FFY % %
FFY % %
FFY % %
The lowest guaranty agency default rate in the country!

21. New Education Loan
Loan for students and parents with North Carolina nexus
NC resident going to school out of state
Out of state resident enrolled in a NC institution
If student does not have credit or credit score is too low, will need a co-signer with eligible credit score
Loan will provide an option to PLUS loan for parents and graduate students
Summer start-up

22. Questions?