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OPE News

• Financial Aid Shopping Sheet [PDF]: The Department of Education partnered with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to develop the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet designed to help students better understand the amount of grants, loans, and scholarships they would receive for college. Secretary Duncan published an open letter to college and university presidents, asking them to voluntarily adopt the Shopping Sheet as part of their financial aid awards starting in the 2013-14 school year. Institutions of higher education interested in adopting the Shopping Sheet may contact the Department of Education at ShoppingSheet@ed.gov for additional information.

• Get information about federal student loan reduction or forgiveness

• You can now follow the Office of Postsecondary Education on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/edpostsecondary

• The Secretary's Reports on Teacher Quality - Preparing and Credentialing the Nation's Teachers: The Secretary's Eighth Report on Teacher Quality; Based on Data Provided for 2008, 2009 and 2010 is now available.

• Model Financial Aid Offer Form

  The Office of Postsecondary Education is working with students, families, the financial aid community, and others to develop model formats for financial aid offer forms. These forms, often referred to as Financial Aid Award Letters, are sent to prospective students by colleges, universities and other postsecondary institutions to let them know how much financial aid the student can expect to receive when they attend school.

• Negotiated Rulemaking 2012

• Negotiated Rulemaking 2011

  The Department has published two notices in the Federal Register announcing the formation of two negotiated rulemaking committees. One will address issues related to teacher preparation programs. The other will address student loan issues. The notices request nominations for individual negotiators to serve on the committees.
  Teacher Preparation Team | Student Loans Team

• Negotiated Rulemaking 2009-10
  Program Integrity Team | Foreign Schools Team

  On June 13, 2011, the Department published final regulations amending the Student Assistance General Provisions regulations to improve disclosure of relevant information and to establish minimal measures for determining whether certain postsecondary educational programs lead to gainful employment in recognized occupations, and the conditions under which these educational programs remain eligible for the student financial assistance programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

  On June 2, 2011, the Department issued a Press Release announcing the completion of the Gainful Employment--Debt Measures final regulation.

  On November 1, 2010 the Department published final regulations for Institutional Eligibility Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Student Assistance General Provisions, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program to implement provisions related to the eligibility of foreign institutions for participation in the Federal student aid programs that were added to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-315) (HEOA), as well as other provisions related to the eligibility of foreign institutions.

  On October 29, 2010 the Department published final regulations amending the regulations for Institutional Eligibility Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), to establish a process under which an institution applies for approval to offer an educational program that leads to gainful employment in a recognized occupation.

  On October 29, 2010 the Department published final regulations improving integrity in the programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), by amending the regulations for Institutional Eligibility Under the HEA, the Secretary's Recognition of Accrediting Agencies, the Secretary's Recognition Procedures for State Agencies, the Student Assistance General Provisions, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program in part 686, the Federal Pell Grant Program, and the Academic Competitiveness Grant (AGC) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National Smart Grant) Programs.

• On August 14, 2008 the Higher Education Opportunity Act was enacted into law. This law reauthorizes and extends the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The HEA provides the authorizing legislation for most of the programs administered by OPE, as well as for the Federal Student Aid Programs.

• Academic Competitiveness and National SMART Grants: These programs are no longer authorized. Both programs ended with the 2010-11 award year, which concluded on June 30, 2011.

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