Accrediting Agencies: "Current List of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies and the Criteria for Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education".

Action Letters: All Action Letters generated by FSA are available here. No action letters have been generated since the 2002-2003 award year.

Audit Guides: The "Audit Guide for Schools" earlier than the last 3 years and much more is available here.

Blue Books: Accounting, recordkeeping and reporting by postsecondary educational institutions for federally funded student financial aid programs.

Campus-Based Program Materials: The FISAP Form and Instructions, the Perkins Cohort Default Rate Booklet, the Notification of Campus-Based Final Funding for Federal Work-Study (FWS), Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), and Federal Perkins Loan Programs (FPLP) Default Status Report are available here.

Conferences and Presentations: FSA/ED presentations given at conferences like the "Electronic Access Conferences" and the annual NASFAA conference are available here, in PDF format.

Counselor's Handbooks: The "Counselor's Handbooks for Postsecondary Schools" from the 1996-97 award year through the 1997-1998 award year; AND the "High School Counselor's Handbook" for 2001-2002 are available here.

Dear Partner/Colleague Letters: All Dear Partner/Colleague Letters (DCLs) produced by FSA since the beginning of 1995. Or, go directly to the "type" of letter you are looking for by clicking on the appropriate link below:

• Training Announcements (ANN type)
• Campus-based Programs (CB type)
• Disaster Letters Published by FSA
• Guarantor Letters ("G" type)
• General Distribution Letters (GEN type)
• Lender Letters ("L" type)
• Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) Program (LEAP type)
• Pell Grant Program ("P" type)
• State Student Incentive Grants (not used since 1998)

Direct Loan Bulletins: All Direct Loan Bulletins (DLBs) since the first year of the program.

Direct Loan Fact Sheets: Both Direct Loan and Direct Loan Consolidation Fact Sheets are available here.

Direct Loan Newsletters: All Direct Loan Newsletters since the first year of the program.

Direct Loan Pamphlets: The Entrance and Exit Counseling Guides (Borrower and Counselor), "The Repayment Book", "PLUS Loan Basics" and other booklets and pamphlets from the Direct Loan Program are available here.

Direct Loan School Guides: All Direct Loan School Guides published beginning with the 1995-96 award year.

Direct Loan Technical Reference: The "archived" (older than three years) Direct Loan Technical References can be found here, dating back to the 1996-97 award year.

Drug Worksheets: The worksheets students use to determine their answers to the drug conviction eligibility question on the FAFSA or the SAR are available here.

EDE Technical References: The EDE Technical Reference documents beginning with the 1999-2000 award year, found in the current publications.

EFC Formula Information: The 2000-2001 EFC Formula Worksheets and Tables are now available. The worksheets and tables will also be incorporated into the 2000-2001 FSA Handbook. This section includes hyperlinks to the Federal Registers which implement the formula for the 2000-2001 award year. For earlier years. the formulas, formula descriptions, worksheets, tables and case studies for calculating the expected family contribution for Federal Student Aid are available here.

Electronic Announcements: Bulletins, memos and letters from Senior FSA staff.

FAFSAs and Renewal FAFSAs: FAFSAs and Renewal FAFSAs for the current award year back through 1997-98 are available here. Also available are draft FAFSAs for upcoming cycles, and images and HTML code for putting FAFSA on the Web banner ads on your own web site. Also, go to the "Completing the FAFSA" website which explains how to properly complete a FAFSA, the purpose of the questions, and how to report information in some unusual cases.

Federal Registers: All FSA related Federal Registers published from January 1, 1995 to the present.

Federal Student Aid Handbooks: All 'FSA Handbooks' produced by FSA from the 1995-96 award year to the present.

FFEL Special Allowance Rates: The average bond equivalent rates for 91 day Treasury bills and quarterly special allowance rates are available here.

FFEL Variable Interest Rates: The variable interest rates applicable to the Federal Stafford, Federal SLS, and Federal PLUS programs are available here.

FSA Training Depot: Included information on Training Announcements, Training Guides, and links to Computer Based Training, the FSA University Web Site and other Training Web Sites.

Higher Education Act As Amended Through December 1998: The HEA is made available to you through a link to the “Publication” web page of the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Education and the Workforce web site. The web page hosts Committee Oversight Plan, Rules, Lists of Printed Hearings and Committee Prints. The Department of Education is not responsible for the contents of the pages.

Modernization Blueprint: Is an evolving document that represents the best thinking of the new FSA management team and plans from the new Modernization Partner. It emphasizes "How" rather than "What" and focuses more on technical architecture. This updated Blueprint incorporates some changes made in response to recommendations from the community.

NSLDS Reference Materials: The FAT Batch Record Layout, NSLDS User's Guide and Data Provider Guidance are available here.

Pell Grant (RFMS) Process: All Federal Pell Grant/Recipient Financial Management System (RFMS) information/documents/materials are available here.

Policy Bulletins: These bulletins are issued by FSA's Analysis Office to provide policy guidance on "hot" issues or to respond to frequently asked questions.

Program Review Guidance: Program Review Procedures Memos and Guidance.

Reauthorization: The text of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 that amended the Higher Education Act (HEA) are available here. We also have the transcripts from the three Public Hearings that were held in preparation for the beginning of the Negotiated Rulemaking process, and a link to the Dear Colleague Letter (DCL GEN-98-28) regarding Reauthorization.

Regulations Compilations: Compilations of all FSA related regulations were produced at the end of each calendar year through 1998. Beginning in 1999, we created quarterly compilations, which reflect only those Parts of the Regulations that were updated by final regulations, since the last update. FSA discontinued creating, printing and mailing regulation compilations in the 2002 calendar year. Now we offer a link to the Government Printing Office's (GPO) searchable Code of Federal Regulations pages. The GPO pages are continuously updated.

Return of Title IV Aid Worksheets: We are pleased to announce the availability of worksheets to assist institutions in their implementation of the "new" requirements for the treatment of Title IV funds when a student withdraws. These new requirements were added to the law by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (Public Law 105-244) and are found in section 484B of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and in the implementing final regulations published on November 1, 1999 (64 FR 59016).

SAR/ISIR Reference Materials: "SAR/ISIR Comment Codes", Draft SAR form, ISIR Record Layouts, and "A Guide to SARs & ISIRs" are available here.

SSCR User's Guides: The SSCR User's Guide provides the information needed by school personnel in the Registrar's Office, Financial Aid Office, and computer or data processing department to participate in the Student Status Confirmation Report process.

Verification Guides and Worksheets: This guide assists financial aid administrators in completing student application data verification. The "Verification Worksheets" (for independent and dependent students) are also available here.

Many of the publications we make available to you are in Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF files can be viewed using the Acrobat Reader software. To download a FREE copy of the software, click on the icon below.