“Newsweek has published a mini-debate (the ‘Student Loan Smackdown’) between for-profit bank representative John Dean and myself, on the subject of whether Congress should pass President Obama’s plan to redirect $8- billion in lucrative subsidies for for-profit banks to Pell Grants and other worthy causes,” writes Kevin Carey, policy director for Education Sector, in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Dean says ‘No!’ while I say ‘Yes!’ Newsweek went with ‘Yes.’”

“The Web site www.savingforcollege.com has ranked three of Nevada’s college savings plans in the top 10 nationally in its one-year performance category,” the Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

“More than three years after philanthropists decided to spend millions of their money to help low-income children graduate from high school and college, students are beginning to benefit,” the Omaha World-Herald reports.

“The Dallas Independent School District board voted last week to pay $2.1 million for outside organizations to help students navigate the college application process. Officials said school counselors could not adequately assist students, particularly those trying to get into competitive colleges, including Ivy League schools,” the Dallas Morning News reports.

“To help America’s low-income youths navigate the often frustrating and confusing process of getting into college, youth workers and college admissions officers must build personal relationships with each other to help smooth the way,” Youth Today reports. “That message seemed to reverberate most strongly throughout the 65th annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, which drew more than 5,000 youth workers here to this Chesapeake Bay city last week.”

“When it comes to policies that help the needy attend college, simplicity rules, and financial aid programs seem to be more effective when they link money to academic performance and/or support services for students,” Inside Higher Ed reports. “Those are the key findings of a paper, ‘Into College, Out of Poverty? Policies to Increase the Postsecondary Attainment of the Poor,’ published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research.”

The next issue of Student Aid Transcript will focus on advocacy, as well as other topics, and we’re looking for a few good authors. Are you up to the challenge? If so, this article will start you on the “write” path toward submitting an article for the next issue of Transcript.

The Department of Education (ED) has posted a draft of the 2010-11 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). We encourage you to review the draft paper FAFSA and submit your comments and suggestions on the paper FAFSA and FAFSA on the Web to the Department of Education and NASFAA. Comments on the paper FAFSA are due by November 4, 2009. This article explains the significant changes to the paper FAFSA for the 2010-11 award year.

Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
When it comes to policies that help the needy attend college, simplicity rules, and financial aid programs seem to be more effective when they link money to academic performance and/or support services for students. Those are the key findings of a paper, “Into College, Out of Poverty? Policies to Increase the Postsecondary Attainment of the Poor,” published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The paper, by written David Deming of Harvard University and Susan Dynarski of the University of Michigan, was …

We all know that college is undoubtedly expensive. It is one of the biggest financial investments a person makes in his or her lifetime. I’ve been out of college for a little over a year now and know that paying for college will be on my mind every month until my student loans are paid [...]