Hey Board Members - I must have been in a fog about the Fix the FAFSA effort at Policy Seminar since it just sunk in this week as to the real issues here. BACKGROUND: Our SSS office at UNH would get a list of all undergraduates who were at or below the 150% income level from our Financial Aid Office, thus identifying financially eligible students for TRIO services. We would meld this with contact information, class, major, etc. and took off on recruiting from there. I'm assuming that other TRIO peeps do something similar? With the new Better FAFSA, Financial Aid offices are not 'allowed' to furnish this information outside of their office (see the attached two-page white sheet that we distributed to Congressional staff last week.) And, from reading carefully through this handout students would need to complete and sign a waiver form, take it to Financial Aid, and then get this information back to the SSS (or McNair) offices. From my reading, even then the FAO would not be able to transmit financial data to TRIO and the student would need to share it somehow (printed out hard copy, or emailed electronic copy??) Imagine NOT having any heads up on what undergraduates might be eligible for services, except for previously eligible TRIO students. How would you even go about recruiting for SSS or McNair? I contacted Diane Shust and Owen Toomey at COE about this to confirm my understanding of this and thinking that NEOA might be a key region in fixing the FAFSA given the tremendous support which we enjoy in Congress. COE is crafting legislative language which would address this and (probably) will work with key staff and Members on Capitol Hill to address this FAFSA bug and actually fix it. I share all this now in order to prime us up for advocacy outreach when the time arrives if we choose to do so. I've asked Diane and Owen for an approximate timeline on when this might be ready, and I assume it should be soon since this should be fixed well before the 2024-2025 school year and Congress will be flat out until the long August recess. Hope this wonky stuff all makes sense. Please add anything that might further our understanding or ask good questions or if you have taken any other steps about all this. I did not attend the sessions with the Department of Education earlier in the week so maybe you have background to share. TRIO business aside, here is hoping that you and your loved ones enjoy a reflective and loving Easter holiday weekend! Randy Schroeder Alumni Chair, Board of Directors New England Educational Opportunity Association (NEOA) Hampton, NH 603.397.9403