#FAChat 01/10/2017 - Hopes for Future Financial Aid Policy

03/08/16 - #FAChat - FinAid Award Letters

March is when many institutions start to review their award letters and package students with financial aid.  Financial Aid professionals joined in on this chat to discuss how you can best practices for financial aid award letters.

Enjoy reading through today's discussion and feel free to contribute your own thoughts with the hashtag FAchat any time.

Next month's #FAchat will be held on Tuesday, April 12, from 12-1 p.m. CST. Topic will be announced closer to the date.

2/9/2016 #FAchat - Promoting FAFSA Completion

February is Financial Aid Awareness month and a month in which many schools begin preparing for the next financial aid year. With PPY beginning in less than 8 months, FAA's joined in on this chat to discuss how you can best put together a campaign to get your students to file early before we have to turn around and do it all over again.

Enjoy reading through today's discussion and feel free to contribute your own thoughts with the hashtag FAchat any time.

Next month's #FAchat will be held on Tuesday, March 8th, from 12-1 p.m. CST. Topic will be announced closer to the date.

12/8/2015 #FAChat - FSA Training Conference 2015 (#FSATC2015) Debrief

Yesterday was a debrief of the Federal Student Aid Training Conference that was held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV from December 1st - 4th.  Even for those not in attendance there was an active hashtag #FSATC2015 to follow.  So, those for that were at the conference and those watching at home - what were the highlights, new info learned, and next steps for moving forward?

See our discussion from yesterday and feel free to join in on the #FAChat discussion at any time!

The next #FAChat is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12th from 12 - 1 pm CST - Topic TBD.  Topic suggestions always welcome!!

1/13/15 #FAchat Transcript: Financial Aid & the 114th Congress

Yesterday was our first chat of the new year! Last week, the 114th Congress began its tenure and it looks like 2015 has started out with a lot of higher education discussion! We chatted about what the 114th Congress might have in store for us, from College Ratings to FAFSA Simplification to free community college! Higher Education Reauthorization is also slated at some point within the next couple of years! Lots going on! See our discussion from yesterday and feel free to join in on the #fachat discussion at any time!

Also, don't miss the State of the Union address next Tuesday, January 20, at 9pm ET.

#FAchat 1/14/15

1/13/15 #FAchat Topic: Financial Aid & the 114th Congress

Tomorrow is our first chat of the new year! Last week, the 114th Congress began its tenure and it looks like 2015 has started out with a lot of higher education discussion! We'll chat about what the 114th Congress might have in store for us, from College Ratings to FAFSA Simplification to free community college! Higher Education Reauthorization is also slated at some point within the next couple of years.

Join us tomorrow, January 13th from 12-1 CST as we discuss/speculate about possible changes to higher education, and especially the financial aid system.

Check out some of the links above for some background information before the chat and read this post by NASFAA's Jesse O'Connell: New Congress Brings Change to Education Committees.

See you tomorrow!

11/11/2014 FAchat: Financial Aid and Politics

10/21/2014 Building a Financial Aid Career

Developing a Social Media Program That Delivers

by Carissa Uhlman, Vice President of Student Success, Inceptia

As any Financial Aid professional will tell you, an ongoing challenge in communicating with students is simply getting them to engage in that communication. In a time when the words “you’ve got mail” just don’t have the same allure as they used to, and financial aid offices are being asked to do more with less, it is critical that every option is explored to find a timely and efficient way to reach students.

You’re invited to a free upcoming webinar, Developing a Social Media Program That Delivers: Practitioner Insights on Social Media Use within the Financial Aid Office, hosted by Inceptia. An overview of Millennial insights and social media trends will be provided by brand idea company, Agent; then, practitioners in the field will delve into assessing, developing, and maintaining an effective and innovative communication strategy. Join Melissa Niksic, Loyola University, Lenna Sliney, (formerly at) Rutgers University, and Justin Chase Brown, University of Missouri, as they discuss how incorporating social media, web, mobile, e-mail, video, digital, and even print elements into your communication flow can effectively engage students with a well-planned social media approach. 

This webinar will provide fantastic insight into the special considerations necessary to build a successful social media plan, including real examples of how this medium has contributed to thoughtful and, surprisingly, personal interactions with students.

During this informative and lively one-hour session, you will:

• Get a meaningful picture of Millennials in order to uncover actionable insights for student engagement.
• Hear how three financial aid offices have developed and executed effective, multi-tiered communication strategies at their institutions.
• Get tips on creating quality content that is meaningful to students.
• Find out how to measure the results of your efforts.
• And more!

The webinar, “Developing a Social Media Program That Delivers: Practitioner Insights on Social Media Use within the Financial Aid Office,” will take place on Tuesday, October 21 @ 3:00 p.m. (ET) / 2:00 p.m. (CT). To secure your spot, register today at http://tinyurl.com/k7uowur. Plus, you can join the conversation by live-tweeting and sending questions in advance or during the webinar to #FAchat. You won’t want to miss it!

9/10/2014 FAchat: 15-16 FAFSA Draft

September Chat Topic: FAFSA Public Comment

On August 28th, Federal Student Aid announced the availability of the 2015-16 draft version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Student Aid Report (SAR) for public comment. Comments are due by October 27th. This will be the basis for our September #FAchat.

You can review and/or submit comments by searching Docket ID number ED-2014-ICCD-0126 at http://www.regulations.gov or by linking directly to the page at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ED-2014-ICCD-0126.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) attached several draft documents for which it is accepting comments that you can download: the 15-16 paper FAFSA, the 15-16 SAR, and the 15-16 SAR Acknowledgement. You can also download the supporting statement and related material.  There have already been comments that you can also review and comment on the comments page.

We encourage you to review the draft documents and supporting materials prior to the chat. As a ground rule for this particular chat, our discussion will be limited to a practical application of what ED is able to do for the 2015-16 aid year given the current legal framework. For example, it would be out of the scope of this discussion to suggest that the FAFSA be simplified to only a fraction of the questions currently on the form that are currently required by federal law. We hope things will change in the future to make the form simpler, but we're looking to spur a discussion this month on meaningful and practical changes for the 15-16 application materials that ED can implement.

We hope you will join us in discussing some practical changes for the 2015-16 FAFSA and submit your own comments to ED. All parties with an interest in how students finance higher education are welcome to join!

Tuesday, 8/12/14: August in the Aid Office

Okay, so August in the aid office is silly craziness, right? Join us today at noon central to talk about how we all handle it, from crowd control to stress relief. Have innovative ideas to share? We'd love to hear them! #FAChat is held the second Tuesday of each month at noon central time. You can join in the discussion at any time by adding #FAChat to your tweets.

7/8/14 #FAchat, the #NASFAA2014 Debrief

Here is our transcript of yesterday's chat, debriefing the NASFAA Conference that was held in Nashville, Tennessee last week. Thanks to all for joining in on the chat! Our next chat is scheduled for August 12th from 12-1 CST, but you can share your thoughts on financial aid using the #fachat hashtag at any time!

7/8/14 #FAchat NASFAA Con

Thoughts on Financial Literacy from #NASFAA2014

FinLit #NASFAA2014

#FAChat / #NASFAA2014 Tweet-up!

Tuesday July 1, 2014 at 5:30pm #FAchat participants from all over the country finally met in person during the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrator's(#NASFAA2014) conference.

Make the Most of #NASFAA2014 (Even If Not Attending)

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) Annual Conference begins in just a few days in Nashville, Tennessee! The NASFAA National Conference is the premier event serving the student financial aid community. Nearly 3,000 student aid professionals from across the nation attend the conference each year to teach, learn, network, and share best practices.

Attending conferences is a great way to develop professionally and obtain the necessary training to do your job well. However, we don’t always get the chance to attend the conferences we would like. The upcoming NASFAA conference might be that for you, but there are ways you can stay connected and still obtain some vital information from the meetings!

The NASFAA program this year boasts many different types of sessions, such as those about financial literacy, compliance, birds of a feather, policy, town hall, and more. If you’re unable to attend, you might find some live-tweeting helpful. Follow the official NASFAA 2014 hashtag (#NASFAA2014).

Last year, we chatted about making professional connections during NASFAA through Twitter. Those who will be in attendance can find a variety of ways to network with colleagues and many sessions. The speaker lineup is impressive this year, so even if you’re not attending, search the schedule and follow along at the hashtag so you can still benefit from a distance (or learn from more than just the sessions you’re attending). You can also follow the NASFAA twitter account @NASFAA for updates.

And, if you are attending the conference, please RSVP for the #NASFAA 2014 Tweetup!

A @FAFSA Twitter Fail

Twitter can be a powerful tool to build relationships and directly interact with stakeholders.  Unfortunately, one wrong move can be devastating. Misguided humor is sometimes the culprit as with a recent tweet from the Federal Student Aid branch of the U.S. Department of Education.

Usually, humor tends to be politically insensitive, but rarely mocking and offending their own customers and stakeholders. Unfortunately, someone @FAFSA made a bad judgment. They attempted to make a joke out of being poor. Not cool. This tweet reached thousands of people and had many replies, most of which called them out for their bad mistake.

The tweet was eventually deleted -- after being up for over an hour. Hopefully, the folks behind the account can make a public apology for the egregious error. This simply was not funny nor productive. And it offends not only the millions of students who need financial aid to attend college, but the financial aid administrators who help those students.

UPDATE:

The FAFSA twitter account has since apologized for the above tweet (see below). Liz Gross, a social media strategist, makes a good point on her blog, regarding the backlash. While it was a mistake and should be getting attention, it's important to note that they publicly apologized and the good they've been doing with social media far outweighs this error.

We apologize for the insensitivity of our previous tweet. Our goal is to make college a reality for all. We're very sorry.
— Federal Student Aid (@FAFSA) June 25, 2014

The good things @FAFSA has done on social media far outweighs this one setback. Please don't dial back your #SoMe efforts! #fachat #emchat
— Justin Chase Brown (@jstnchsbrwn) June 25, 2014

#NASFAA2014 Tweetup!

In just over a week, thousands of financial aid professionals will be gathering in Nashville, Tennessee for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) 2014 conference. This year, we are partnering with NASFAA for our annual tweetup! There might even be some local treats available!

RSVP for the #NASFAA2014 tweetup! July 1, 5:25pm at the Info Desk in Music City Center: http://t.co/sWyBi5rqLw Treats for tweets! #fachat
— #FAchat (@theFAchat) June 19, 2014

What is a tweetup, you ask?
A tweetup is an event where people who use Twitter come together to meet in person. Normally we connect with people online after we have met them. At a tweetup, you meet the people you might only otherwise know virtually (maybe through @nasfaa or @thefachat). Like finally putting a name to a face, a tweetup is a great opportunity to better connect with the people in your network and share just a little more than 140 characters at a time. If you have shared tweets with your colleagues the past few days (or maybe even longer), come by to visit with each other in person and enjoy some Nashville snacks courtesy of NASFAA!

Tweetup Date and Location
We're sure you want to soak in the conference and Nashville as much as possible and also network with your colleages. So, please join us as we network on July 1st at 5:25 p.m. (after the last session of the day) at the information desk in the Music City Center.

Please RSVP
It helps to know who is planning on joining us! Please RSVP for the #NASFAA2014 tweetup and feel free to comment on this post or tweet using the official #NASFAA2014 hashtag to spread the word and let everyone else know you're planning to be there so we know who we might expect to meet! We're excited to be able to host this together with NASFAA, so please join us!

June 10, 2014 #FAchat: Innovations

Tuesday June 10, 2014 #FAchat: Financial Aid Innovations

What innovations have you implemented in your office? Tells us your great big ideas! Join us Tuesday June 10, 2014 from 12-1pm CST to talk about Financial Aid Innovations for this month’s #FAchat! Let’s talk about everything from Applications to Zero EFC. We’ll talk about innovations in financial literacy, default prevention, imaging documents, productivity and more!