The National Legislative Summit was a productive lobbying trip for Iowa’s 18 attendees. The group met with each of Iowa’s Delegation together and/or separately to thank them for their support of the Futures Act and to share Iowa’s priorities, which included:
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Ensuring students always realize a net benefit when evaluating financial aid programs for “efficiency.”
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Providing Community Colleges the authority and discretion to require loan counseling as a condition for disbursement and set Direct Loan Limits based on program length and potential for future earnings.
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Avoiding a “one size fits all” approach to default rates, accountability recognizing that Community Colleges have a long history of growing taxpayers from at-risk populations and from those who borrow at very low levels.
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Restore Title IV eligibility for all “ability-to-benefit” students without conditions such as completion of a GED/HiSET which delays students’ entry into the workforce.
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Make Pell Grants available for short term programs and for training the incarcerated to accelerate students’ entry into the workforce.
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Sharing the emergence of service deserts in Iowa which was of interest to many of Iowa’s Delegation.