The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here in the comments below.

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This article is a follow-up to our article on Stranded Credits posted in June 2023. New federal rules will affect potential withholding of transcripts for unpaid funds.

Students who leave college, either by withdrawing or graduating, but still owe money to the college, may not be able to access their official transcript of work completed until they are able to pay their outstanding balance. The college withholds the student’s transcript and thus their credits are “stranded”  until they are able to pay. This often prevents some students from being able to transfer to another institution or to get a job. According to research by New York non-profit Ithaka S & R Research, this may affect over six million students.

New federal rules may change this. The Education Department submitted a package of new rules  last spring aimed at increasing clarity and transparency around student aid, and requiring colleges to present financial aid information to students and their families more clearly. The new rules were approved in late October 2023, and will go into effect on July 1, 2024.

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