Presentation times for each session are listed after the session description.

• Acronyms and Abbreviations
  The financial-aid world is full of a student-loan terms, buzzwords and jargon. USA Funds^® helps you make sense of the most-frequently used acronyms and abbreviations during this session. 
  (15 minutes)
• Awarding and Award Notification 
  Federal regulations require schools to have written policies and procedures for awarding all available aid. In this session, you learn the general principals for awarding federal financial aid and learn about basic packaging modules.
  (30-45 minutes)
• Budget Construction and Financial Need 
  This session reviews the information you must consider when constructing budgets to award financial aid. Attendees also have the opportunity to practice using budget-construction case studies. 
  (30-45 minutes)
• FAFSA and Renewal FAFSA
  Financial-aid administrators need to be familiar with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and renewal FAFSA. This session outlines general information about each application type, including an interactive case-study review of the FAFSA. 
  (45-60 minutes)
• Federal Delivery System 
  What happens to students’ Free Applications for Federal Student Aid after they are sent to the U.S. Department of Education? This session reviews the step-by-step application process, and offers an in-depth look at the methods families can use to apply for financial aid.
  (15 minutes)
• General Eligibility Requirements
  Recipients must meet certain criteria prior to obtaining funds from federal student-aid programs. This session reviews the basic requirements.
  (30-45 minutes)
• Legislative and Regulatory Process
  This session reviews how the guidelines that govern the financial-aid system are produced and highlights the differences between legislation and regulation. Attendees also consider Interim Final Regulation, discover the difference between Notices of Proposed Rule Making and final regulation, and “Dear Colleague” and “Dear Partner” letters. 
  (30-60 minutes)
• Need-Analysis Overview
  Need analysis is the overall process of determining a student’s financial need and eligibility for certain financial-aid programs. This session reviews the primary elements of need analysis and defines several terms used in the need-analysis process. 
  (15-30 minutes)
• Sources and Types of Aid
  Gift aid versus self-help aid:  What’s the difference? Financial aid generally can be divided in to these two categories. This session teaches the difference between the two categories, and discusses the many sources and different types of aid within each. 
  (30-45 minutes)
• Web-Based Financial-Aid Resources and Information
  This handout teaches you how to locate important scholarship and student-loan community Web sites and other online information. 
  (Offered as a reference piece only for conference attendees and staff.)

Select from our list of topics to design your own professional-development track based on the issues important to your audience. To discuss options, contact your USA Funds Services account executive.