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Policy Updates

Updates & Announcements

A running log of FSA announcements, OBBBA policy milestones, and site content changes — newest first. All external entries link directly to the official source.

Site Update FSA Announcement Policy Milestone
July 7, 2026 Site Update

New article: OBBBA Is Now in Effect — What Actually Changed on July 1, 2026

Published a full breakdown of the provisions that went live on July 1 — Parent PLUS caps, Grad PLUS elimination for new borrowers, the Repayment Assistance Plan, Workforce Pell, the $257,500 aggregate cap, and the SAI asset exclusions — plus what did NOT change, a per-situation first-month checklist, and how to confirm your legacy borrower status. Article count now 13.

Read: OBBBA Is Now in Effect →
July 1, 2026 Policy Milestone

Primary OBBBA provisions take effect

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's main student aid provisions became operative law. Loans disbursed on or after this date are subject to the new borrower rules: Parent PLUS annual and lifetime caps, no Graduate PLUS access, RAP as the sole income-driven repayment option, and the new lifetime aggregate limit. Workforce Pell eligibility for bachelor's degree holders and the family farm / small business SAI asset exclusions also took effect. Legacy borrowers — those with qualifying disbursements before July 1 — retain pre-OBBBA borrowing rules for up to 3 academic years.

NASFAA — One Big Beautiful Bill Act Resource Hub
May 21, 2026 Site Update

Policy Updates page launched; ongoing content improvements

Added this /updates page to provide a transparent log of FSA announcements and site content changes. Continued expansion of article cross-links and data tables across all 12 articles. LAST_UPDATED bumped to 2026-05-21 across all JSON-LD schemas.

May 11, 2026 Site Update

Data comparison tables added to 6 articles

Structured comparison tables added to rap-vs-legacy-idr-comparison, rap-vs-save-obbba, parent-plus-loan-strategy, graduate-loans-after-obbba, workforce-pell-grant-eligibility, and understanding-your-sai. All table values are computed from K.* policy constants — no hardcoded numbers.

View articles →
May 10, 2026 Site Update

2 new articles published: OBBBA Timeline and FAFSA 2026–27 Filing Checklist

Published obbba-timeline (~2,000 words) covering the full July 2025–July 2028 OBBBA implementation schedule, and fafsa-2026-filing-checklist (~2,200 words) with a 12-step filing guide, document checklist, and common mistakes section. Article count now 12.

Read: OBBBA Timeline →
April 29, 2026 Site Update

Source citations hyperlinked; author credentials and schema updated

All 10 article footers updated to include live hyperlinks to official FSA sources. Article bylines now link directly to fsapartners.ed.gov. About page bio rewritten with verified credentials. AUTHOR_SCHEMA in schema.ts updated with jobTitle and description fields for E-E-A-T compliance.

April 19–20, 2026 Site Update

Site launched with 10 articles, calculators, sitemap, and structured data

Initial public launch covering: Parent PLUS loan strategy, RAP vs. legacy IDR comparison, RAP vs. SAVE, Workforce Pell eligibility, legacy borrower status guide, graduate loans after OBBBA, understanding your SAI, FAFSA dependency status, state aid deadlines, and missed FAFSA deadline. Five interactive calculators live. robots.txt, sitemap.xml, and FAQPage JSON-LD configured.

View all articles →
March 9, 2026 FSA Announcement

FSA Electronic Announcement: OBBBA FAFSA Processing Updates

Federal Student Aid released guidance on how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act affects FAFSA processing for the 2026–27 award year, including updates to the SAI formula, verification rules, and the 45-day incomplete FAFSA deletion policy.

FSA Electronic Announcement — Mar 9, 2026
July 18, 2025 FSA Announcement

FSA Dear Colleague Letter: OBBBA provisions effective upon enactment

Federal Student Aid issued a Dear Colleague Letter detailing which OBBBA provisions took effect immediately upon enactment (July 4, 2025) vs. those deferred to July 1, 2026 — including Parent PLUS caps, Graduate PLUS elimination, and the new Repayment Assistance Plan.

FSA Dear Colleague Letter — Jul 18, 2025
July 4, 2025 Policy Milestone

One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law (P.L. 119-21)

President signed H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, into law. The legislation introduced the most significant changes to federal student aid since the Higher Education Act reauthorization — including the Repayment Assistance Plan, Parent PLUS and Graduate PLUS loan caps, the Workforce Pell Grant track for bachelor's degree holders, and new legacy borrower protections.

NASFAA — One Big Beautiful Bill Act Resource Hub

Policy data last updated: 2026-07-07. Site legislation reference: P.L. 119-21 (H.R. 1), signed July 4, 2025. For the latest FSA guidance visit fsapartners.ed.gov.