Did you know that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is moving away from paper publications? ED is making a serious move toward limited availability of paper publications. Although the publications that historically have been available will continue to be accessible, they will soon only be provided in Portable Document Format (PDF) versions to institutions, and for the most part, to students and their parents.
As of August 30, 2018, ED “will no longer print or deliver Federal Student Aid (FSA) publications.”[i] We first learned of this in ED’s Electronic Announcement (EA) on May 23, 2018. Some additional specificity was provided in relation to Federal Direct Loan materials in ED’s subsequent EA on June 6, 2018. (Also, see our “Recent Key Announcements from ED” in our June 11, 2018, “Did You Know?” on the FAME Blog page.)
Institutions that yet wish to receive paper copies of ED’s publications must ensure that their order is receivednot later than August 30, 2018. ED will continue to accept and fill orders received by that date as long as they still have the items available in inventory. To order any needed publications prior to August 30, 2018, an institution should order online at FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov/orderpubs.
Our understanding is that ED does not plan to print any additional copies of documents to meet requests received between now and then. Therefore, if there are voluminous requests for paper copies of documents prior to August 30, 2018, ED may not be able to fulfill all requests. ED states that they will fill requests as their inventory allows.
Students and parents can view and download electronic versions of financial aid-related resources on ED’s Web site at StudentAid.gov/resources. ED has stated that they will provide a method for students/parents to receive paper copies of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) PDF after August 30, 2018. (This announcement is said to be scheduled for “summer 2018,” so it is yet to be determined when that official announcement will be made.)
Should you have any questions regarding the information in this edition of our DYK, please feel free to contact FAME Customer Service through the Client Solution Center.
[i]Electronic Announcement, August 6, 2018; U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid.
This material is presented for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered to be giving legal advice.
