Although a few high schools are offering a Financial Aid Night in January, most events have already been held. This fall, FAME staff presented at 55 events and worked with 2,767 students and/or their families.

In addition to the traditional Financial Aid Nights, FAME staff participated in an additional 100 events, where more than 2,000 students and/or their families attended.

The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) eligibility cut-off used for the 2011 - 2012 State of Maine Grant Program has been increased from 3000 to 4300.  Please take note of the items listed below.

• The new EFC cut-off applies to full and part time students.
• Students must be enrolled in the Spring semester in order to be paid retroactively for the Fall semester.  In other words, if a student has withdrawn or graduated in the Fall semester, he/she is not eligible for a retroactive State of Maine Grant disbursement for the Fall semester.  Students in this situation will appear on your roster with a status of awarded, not certified; please do NOT certify them.
• Due to the possibility of over-awards with this expanded eligibility, please remember that the Program Rule requires that no grant be awarded if the award will reduce institutional or other grant aid to the student, unless the institutional or other grant aid is subsequently granted to a student with demonstrated financial need.  Therefore, if the State of Maine Grant causes an over-award and there is no self-help aid that can be reduced, then and only then, may the institution reduce its other grant funding as may be necessary to clear up the over award.
• New students that meet the 4300 EFC cut-off will be on your rosters as awarded, not certified.  We are anticipating that these students will appear on your rosters next week.

Please feel free to contact Martha Johnston with any questions or concerns.

The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee has been holding public hearings on Gov. LePage's supplemental budget, which proposes cuts totaling $220 million to MaineCare and other human services programs.

The final report of the Stakeholder Group to Review the Maine State Grant Program has been delivered to the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.  As you may recall, legislation was enacted at FAME's request last session authorizing FAME to coordinate a review of the to include the participation of a stakeholder group of higher education policy makers, agencies, institutions, students and financial aid administrators in the state, and report to the Education Committee with recommendations in December 2011.

Among the recommendations to the Education Committee are:

• Remove the statutory cap of five percent on Maine State Grant awards to part-time students to recognize the changing demographics and needs of students;
• Eliminate reciprocity of the grant with the few remaining states that engage in the practice (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.) in order to reprioritize financial resources;
• Remove the grant award differentials between public and private institutions so as to keep the grant student-centered and not institution-centered;
• Limit grant eligibility to  ten full-time semesters or twenty part-time semesters to encourage earlier completion and conserve financial resources; and
• Grant FAME the flexibility to establish new tiered award amounts to encourage and reward persistence.  An example of this would be:  $1,000 for Year 1; $1,100 for Year 2; $1,200 for Year 3; and $1,300 for Year 4.

The Education Committee will review the report upon its return in January and may report out a bill incorporating recommendations.  A PDF copy of the report may be viewed on FAME's Website at:  www.famemaine.com