NASFAA Joins ACE in Urging Changes to Veterans Law Affecting Institutions August 1
Jill Desjean and Federal Relations Staff
July 20, 2021
On Monday, NASFAA signed on to a letter with several other higher education associations to alert Congress to serious concerns about a new veterans benefits law that has implications for institutions of higher education, including the financial aid office.
The Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020, which was passed at the end of last year and signed into law in January, includes provisions for new institutional disclosure requirements for student veterans that will become effective Aug. 1, 2021.
While compliance for the disclosures themselves will likely rest with institutional Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) school certifying officials, those officials are sometimes financial aid administrators, or report to the financial aid office. Further, the disclosures include estimated costs and financial aid information that is determined by the financial aid office, which will likely require coordination to ensure compliance.
In the letter sent to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs (HVAC) this week, NASFAA and other signers noted other issues with the legislation, including new consumer information requirements in Section 1018 that could potentially confuse students. The law requires institutions to provide, prior to enrollment, a personalized estimate of students’ tuition and fees, as well as books, supplies and living expenses, for the entire duration of the student’s program. It also requires institutions to provide an estimate of the student’s total debt upon graduation, which would presumably require schools to estimate future eligibility for federal and institutional financial aid.
