EdFund eLearning for Financial Aid Professionals

Your time is valuable yet you want to stay informed with the ever-changing financial aid industry. We understand. That's why we offer a variety of online training opportunities such as recorded webcasts and live webinars. Even better, these online courses are free and you can attend in the comfort of your own office. And, because your time is valuable, our recorded webcasts will usually take less than an hour.

Note: the following videos may be viewed using Windows Media Player.

California College Access and AB 540

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  California law provides qualifying students access to college at the in-state tuition rate at all public educational institutions. We review the law and its background, provide details about eligibility and benefits, and examine AB 540 forms in use at various institutions.

• View the webcast (20 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Cohort Calculations

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  What is a cohort default rate (CDR) and how does it affect my school? The EdFund Institute's "Cohort Calculations" View the webcast will teach you how to measure your school's performance in managing its student loan program. We'll also look at how the CDR is calculated, how it affects your school and how it impacts your borrowers.

• View the webcast (44 minutes)

Conflicting Information

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  What is conflicting information? And how do you resolve it? Financial aid is data intense, from beginning to end. And every piece of data has within it a potential conflict.
  The conflict could involve information about your students’ parents, tax situation or income, to name just a few. Once you identify a conflict, what are you required to do with that information? How long do you have to keep looking for conflicts? What does resolution look like?
  Ensure the consistency and breadth of your processes. Join us for tips on identifying, reporting and resolving conflicting information.

• View the webcast (60 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Deferments and Forbearance

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  This session’s goal is to give you a better understanding of the postponement options available for your students to help them avoid delinquency and default. We’ll go over some of the basic criteria the borrower needs to meet in order to qualify for a Deferment or Forbearance as well as some best practices for applying these forms to the borrower’s account.

• View the webcast (15 minutes)

Developing Policies and Procedures

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  Rampant changes in the world of financial aid make it critical that your policies and procedures manual be current as well as visually appealing and effectively written. Join us as we explore the intricacies of crafting a manual for your office. We examine core concepts, guide you through the development of a well-written manual, and provide tips for creating a manual with visual appeal and logical flow.

• View the webcast (24 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Extraordinary Loan Counseling

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  Are you presenting a loan counseling session soon? Do you know what all the requirements are? Want to make it fun and interesting? Do you want your students to understand and remember what you told them? Schools need to be ready to conduct effective and compliant loan counseling sessions for their students.
  EdFund is offering additional training to help schools organize their sessions. This one-hour webinar will review loan counseling requirements as well as give you some ideas to make your loan counseling sessions something to remember. Watch and listen on your own or invite your co-workers to join you as you learn how to make your loan counseling sessions memorable.

• View the webcast (49 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

FAAs and Required Tax Knowledge

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  This webinar addresses Part I of IRS Publication 17: the income tax return. We will review:

  • Filing Information
  • Filing Status
  • Personal Exemptions
  • Dependents
  
  
  

  You will learn who must file, which form should be used, who can be claimed and due dates. We will provide you handouts and case studies, and guidance on student verification. You will also get the opportunity to apply the law in various scenarios.

• View the webcast (56 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

FERPA

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  Do the delicate intricacies of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act leave you perplexed? You can ensure your institution's compliance with FERPA, and we can help! Here's what we'll cover:

  • FERPA History
  • Compliance-related issues (violations and penalties)
  • FERPA terminology such as identifiable information, privacy, directory information, etc
  • What information can be given with or without consent? And to whom?
  • Counseling requirements
  • What is the FPCO, and how can they help?
  • Technology implications

  
  
  
• View the webcast (30 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

IRS Data Retrieval

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  For a decade or more, there’s been talk about easing the path to FAFSA completion for students and parents by using IRS data to populate the FAFSA. It’s talk no longer; it’s coming in 2010! In this one-hour webinar, we will give you an overview of how the IRS Data Retrieval Tool will work and how your financial aid applicants can use it.

• View the webcast (50 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Needs Analysis and the EFC

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  We all rely on the Central Processing System to calculate an EFC for us. When a student's and/or parent's information changes, most of us enter the new information into our computer systems and just push a function key on our keyboards to instantly calculate a revised EFC. Manual calculations would seem to be condemned to the dust bin of history — except for one thing.
  What happens when the computer system goes down?
  Do you understand the affects to the EFC of adding a family member to the household? Where does state residency come into play? Why do we ask how old a parent is?
  This session will demystify the intricacies of the process, and leave you well prepared for the next time your computer crashes.

• View the webcast (48 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Professional Judgment

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  Judgment is defined as the act of assessing a person's situation based on the available information. As financial aid professionals, you are asked on a regular basis to do just this for students through professional judgment (PJ).
  Join us as we explore case studies of "unusual circumstances" designed to help you better understand professional judgment. We will go in-depth on:

  • The appropriate versus inappropriate use of PJ
  • Recognizing and resolving conflicting information
  • Evaluating your institutional policies and procedures to ensure your office is compliant, and audit ready
  • Federal regulatory update

  
  
  
• View the webcast (27 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Repayment Options

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  This session’s goal is to help you understand the different repayment options available to your students to help them avoid delinquency and default. We’ll go over the different repayment options and eligibility requirements. We will compare monthly payments and total pay off to help your students make the right choice in selecting the repayment plan that best meets their current financial situation. Your students can choose to change repayment plans once a year to meet their financial needs and stay current on their payments.

• View the webcast (25 minutes)

Return to Title IV (R2T4)

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  Return to Title IV calculations can be frustrating and complicated. Would you like to learn more about R2T4 and its relationship to overawards and overpayments? This workshop has been designed to help your institution understand the inner workings of the R2T4 process, and get a handle on overawards and overpayments.
  Together we will carefully examine the philosophy behind R2T4 and review case studies. We aim to make a positive difference in your practical knowledge of R2T4! Topics covered:

  • R2T4 Calculations (a step-by-step process)
  • Resolutions for post-withdrawal disbursements and late disbursements
  • How to identify and resolve overaward and overpayment situations

  
  
  
• View the webcast (59 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

R2T4: Post-withdrawal Disbursement

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  Should I stay or should I go?
  That's a real question for some students.
  And when the answer is "go," it's up to you to ensure those students receive the funds they have earned through their attendance. Your institution is required to take certain steps in determining a student's eligibility for a post-withdrawal disbursement. This webinar will address the entire process, and demystify its intricacies. Next time a student withdraws, with or without your knowledge, you will be well prepared!

• View the webcast (63 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

SAR Comment Codes

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  Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed or mystified by the comments, codes and edits listed on the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR)? Has resolving a rejected ISIR or assumption occasionally stumped you? Do database mismatches ever disrupt your daily processing of aid? Mastering C-codes can be a challenge. This session provides the tools and techniques that can make the process easier and more manageable.

• View the webcast (37 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

Verification

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  Do you have more questions about verification than you have answers? Do you find yourself in a maze of paperwork wondering if you have all the right documentation? Does reading the Application and Verification Guide make you consider taking tax preparation courses?
  This View the webcast will review its history and philosophy; identify FAFSA-related requirements; define acceptable documentation; resolve both common and complex situations; and review basic tax law using IRS Publication 17.

• View the webcast (55 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)

The Webinar Experience

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  In light of recent legislative requirements that increased the responsibility of institutions of higher education to provide consumer information to the educational community, many institutions are evaluating the use of View the webcasts and webinars. We will discuss the basics: where to begin, the strengths and weaknesses of View the webcasts and webinars, and the importance of understanding learning styles. Then, we'll walk through the 10 steps to an exceptional webcast or webinar.

• View the webcast (29 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf)
  

Year-round Pell Grant

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  With the posting of final rules by the Department of Education on October 29, 2009, we now have the appropriate guidance to “allow a student to receive funds from a second scheduled award within an award year,” aka the Year-Round Pell Grant. The objective of this one-hour webinar is to provide you with a high-level understanding of what a Year-round Pell award may look like and help you implement and apply the final rules.

• View the webcast (70 minutes)
• Read the presentation (pdf