This week on a special edition of "Off The Cuff," the group breaks down the bipartisan year-end spending package that includes additional pandemic relief for higher education as well as a number of other higher education-related policy changes, including simplifying the FAFSA, increasing the maximum Pell Grant award and expanding the program to incarcerated students, and giving financial aid offices more flexibility in professional judgment (PJ) cases during a national emergency. Skip to 8:40 to get straight to the policy discussion, where the team provides insight into what the spending package means for financial aid offices. Thanks for listening to "Off The Cuff" this year and we hope you’ll join us for more episodes in 2021!

This week on a special edition of "Off The Cuff," the group does a deep dive on the state of FAFSA simplification, providing a look at NASFAA's involvement, highlighting ongoing advocacy work on this topic, and examining how it has impacted FAFSA legislation up to this point. Karen gives a summary of the House and Senate bills that are being considered before Megan and Justin discuss the state of play on Capitol Hill and the chance that FAFSA simplification legislation makes its way into a must-pass year-end government funding bill.

This week on "Off The Cuff," the team discusses a positive development from each of their Thanksgivings before Justin and Allie unpack the latest from Federal Student Aid's annual training conference, touching on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' remarks where she denounced free college proposals and student debt forgiveness. Justin then covers an update from the conference on verification rates. Jill highlights the conference's focus on cybersecurity measures for financial aid offices and Megan provides an update on where spending bills and a COVID-19 relief package stand on Capitol Hill, as well as the potential for FAFSA simplification legislation to make progress.