If you work in higher education or care about college access and affordability, "Student Affairs Voices from the Field" continues to be a must-listen. In this season's fifth episode, host Dr. Jill Creighton welcomes Melanie Storey, President and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), to demystify the changing landscape of student financial aid and its deep ties to student affairs.

The episode dives headfirst into the rapid-fire changes shaping higher education funding today. Melanie, bringing decades of experience from policy implementation at the U.S. Department of Education and leadership roles throughout Washington, D.C., articulates how student financial aid has evolved. From its beginnings with the Higher Education Act and the emergence of need-based aid, she describes the ongoing tension between supporting students with the greatest financial need and responding to broader shifts in public opinion about the value of higher education.

A major theme in the conversation is the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OB3), which is making waves with its broad changes to loan programs, repayment plans, and institutional accountability. Melanie clarifies complex topics like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), repayment clarity, and the introduction of earnings measures for universities. She urges student affairs professionals to recognize the uncertainty this creates for students—not just in their financial planning but in their emotional well-being and sense of security while pursuing degrees.

For families embarking on their college journey, Melanie recommends making the most of resources like StudentAid.gov and financial aid estimators, emphasizing that fit—academic, social, and financial—matters more than chasing prestigious institutions. She also unpacks new programs like Workforce Pell, which expands grant eligibility to short-term vocational programs, opening new avenues for career-focused students.

Throughout, Melanie champions student affairs professionals as the human heart of higher education. Whether helping students navigate anxiety about finances or bridging connections with financial aid offices, she sees these campus leaders as vital advocates and problem-solvers.

If you're looking for practical insights, clarity on policy changes, and a dose of optimism in "interesting" times, this episode will deepen your understanding. Tune in to hear about the evolving relationship between student affairs and financial aid—and be reminded why student affairs matters more than ever in helping students thrive.

Listen to "Student Affairs Voices from the Field: Melanie Storey" now and join the conversation shaping the future of higher education!

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:02]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher ed pros wherever you happen to be. This is season 13 on the value of student affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. She her hers your Essay Voices from the Field host Today on Essay Voices, it's our privilege to welcome Melanie Storey, who is the President and CEO of nasfa, which is the national association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. She began her tenure on May 1st of 2025. With decades of experience in federal higher education policy, financial aid operations and organizational leadership, Story brings deep expertise and a steadfast commitment to advancing access and equity in higher education.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:52]: Storey most recently served as Director of Policy Implementation and oversight at the U.S. of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid, or FSA, where she led cross functional teams in translating federal policy into practice. She played a central role in implementing the FAFSA Simplification act and the Future act, and contributed to major initiatives like federal student loan debt relief. She frequently represented FSAA before congressional staff, administration officials, and higher education leaders. Before joining the department, Story led policy and strategy work at the College Board and served as Director of National Initiatives at the American Council on Education, where she supported national commissions, analyzed legislative proposals, and led public service campaigns. Earlier in her career, she was a policy analyst at the national association of Independent Colleges and Universities, or naicu, conducting research and collaborating with government relations staff on federal policy proposals impacting private institutions. A proud first generation college graduate and financial aid recipient, Saray earned a Master's degree in Public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas at Austin and holds a bachelor degree in Economics and Public Policy seat from Smith College.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:03]: Melanie welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field.

Melanie Storey [00:02:06]: Thank you, thank you. Hey Jill, it's great to be with y' all today.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:08]: I always love doing crossovers with other higher ed professional associations because we all occupy the same industry but very different lanes within the industry, almost like many verticals. So it's great to talk to a subject matter expertise in in an area that deeply affects the student affairs profession. But most of us definitely are not.

Melanie Storey [00:02:25]: Experts on yeah, no, I really appreciate it and I think more than ever in the current environment it is so important that we we be talk about the things that we're facing within our own lanes, but across our lanes because it is really a pretty transformational time that we're dealing with right now. I keep saying that I welcome to live in less interesting times, but I don't think that that's going to happen anytime soon. So I really welcome the opportunity to spend some time together, talk about student affairs and financial aid.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:52]: The meme that I keep seeing is, you know, I'm tired of unprecedented times. I'd rather go back to precedented times. And I think a lot, you know.

Melanie Storey [00:03:00]: Whatever the Confucius may, you live in interesting times. I'm like, no, thank you. I'm have a NASA thumb. Thanks. I'm good.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:06]: We could use some boring around here. That'd be fine.

Melanie Storey [00:03:07]: I'll take it.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:03:08]: But Melanie, you've been with NASA now just for a hair over a year, I believe, and came to NASA from the U.S. department of Education. But we like to get to know our guests more specifically by asking, how did you get to your current seat, if you wouldn't mind sharing the journey?

Melanie Storey [00:03:22]: Yeah, so it might feel like a hair over a year, but it's really only been about five months. I started in late spring at NASA, took some time off from my time at the department. I took a little cleanser time before jumping in. So I have always been what I will say, say is financial aid adjacent. I guess I haven't worked in a financial aid office in my career, but I started even in undergrad, really focused on education policy. I was really interested in policy from the very start. And when I finished my undergrad, I moved to Washington, as many young, eager people do with, you know, kind of like a suitcase and a very light checkbook and hope for the best. I kind of fell into higher education policy.

Melanie Storey [00:04:01]: You know, I think a lot of policy programs tend to focus on K12, and that was kind of true for me early on. And then my first job was with a contractor on the Pell Grant, Right. Fundamental grant to support low income students. And I kind of, it opened my eyes to higher education policy and access and affordability. And I'm a first generation college student. And it was really like, well, yeah, duh, this is, this is important. Like this really makes really important change in people's lives. And so it kind of started there.

Melanie Storey [00:04:30]: I've been in Washington almost the entirety since then. I've worked for various associations that represent college and university presidents, the College Board, and then as you mentioned, the U.S. department of Education. So I've always been fully committed to affordability and access and making sure that the doors of higher education are open to all those that seek it. And so when the NASPA position opened, it really is a dream job. For me, I mean, it is leading a group of incredibly dedicated professionals who share the principles and goals that I have built my entire career around. And so I'm thrilled to be in the job. It is definitely a challenging time, but I'm fully committed and proud to be the voice of those who are committed to the students that they serve.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:10]: And NASFA for our listeners, if you're new to this particular acronym, is the national association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. So a sister cousin organization to us here at naspa.

Melanie Storey [00:05:22]: And oftentimes you use naspa, nasfa. You have to be very diction has to be really good to make sure you're not confusing us.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:28]: There's also nafsa, which is the students abroad.

Melanie Storey [00:05:32]: You know, we joke about the Alphabet soup. It's real. But yes. Yeah, NASA, student financial aid administrators.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:37]: And just because I'm originally from the Seattle metro area, I do want to clarify. Melanie's in Washington D.C. that's important.

Melanie Storey [00:05:43]: That is the bubble you've identified that we, when you're here too long, you just, you make these assumptions. Yes. I have largely lived in Washington D.C. for most of my career. I did spend a few years in Austin doing some graduate work. Washington D.C. which quite frankly Washington State and Seattle sound much better these days.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:01]: Melanie, you have seen the arc of student financial aid, student affordability change drastically over the course of your career. Can you talk us through a bit of kind of what that rainbow has looked like from what the mission looked like when you started versus kind of what the daily work looks like now?

Melanie Storey [00:06:18]: Yeah, I mean that's a really, it's an interesting question. Right, like what that ARC looks like just to like sort of level set, right. Like financial aid and the sort of art and science. And I like to talk about it a little bit as both sometimes the art and science of financial aid really came to pass with the Higher Education Act. So the Higher Education act of course is what really codified some of the core financial aid programs. Loans, preexisted basic education grants, but Pell grants, federal student loans, the kind of things we know about today. So that means it's about 60 years old. So not that old in relation to some of the other things, but pretty well established.

Melanie Storey [00:06:54]: And I think what we're kind of facing now is you kind of have the stor norm kind of things that happen. And I think that's a little bit of what you see in the arc. I think in the early days you saw this really kind of visceral commitment to need based aid and the primacy of need based aid. And just for clarity, need based aid is directing funds to the students who need the funds in order to access post secondary education. So the counterbalance to that would be merit so that, you know, scholarships and aid that is awarded based on a student's achievement in any number of areas. But I think in the federal programs you saw a real commitment and dedication to the focus on need and lower income families and giving them the support they needed to make sure that their students had access to higher education. Over the course of my time I think we've seen a lot of push and pull around this need merit debate. And you know, they don't have to be mutually exclusive, although the pie is limited.

Melanie Storey [00:07:52]: I don't want to make it seem like it is without boundaries, but you tend to see a movement where loans, federal student loans, are less targeted toward the lowest income students. They are generally since the mid-80s, I won't get into legislative language, but since the mid late 80s that middle income and even middle upper income families can also access loans with the core sort of grant programs still really being focused on the lowest income students. But that sets up a lot of policy challenges and appropriations challenges. Right? Loans are mandatory, funded, they don't have to be funded every year. Again getting kind of technical, But Pell grants have to be funded every year. So you see this kind of tension kind of building over the course of my career. The other thing that I think has really been a dramatic shift and we're seeing it play out in public opinion polling and in other places where the general public is being asked is around the value of higher education, whether it's federal or state. Governments are literally investing hundreds of billions.

Melanie Storey [00:08:50]: It's not over time, trillions of dollars in higher education. They want to know what they're buying and that they're getting a value for that investment. And I think confidence in the value of higher education has really changed over the course of my career. And so that has a kind of broader. It's not specific to financial aid, but it has a real impact because financial aid of course is the distribution of the funds that are invested in this effort. And so I think one of the things, and I'm sure we'll get to this at some point that I and thinking about at NASA is how do we recapture that narrative? How do we really fully demonstrate the transformative value of higher education, whether it be for the individual, the family, the community, but also our nation. It drives innovation, it drives research and really making sure that, that we can tell that story and the return on that investment. So that has been sort of the overall kind of context that I think has really changed in higher education.

Melanie Storey [00:09:44]: So you both want to make sure that you're focusing on need based aid. Although merit has value and we see more of that, but also that we can demonstrate that what we're investing in is really advancing individuals, communities in our nation.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:56]: We're in a situation now where the Department of Education is really changing the way that financial aid is implemented and distributed to students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. We saw the one big beautiful Bill ACT pass just a couple of months ago. We know a lot of those changes aren't actually going to take effect until the next academic year or some even beyond that. But NASA has developed a really great chart resource that talks about a lot of the changes and where they impact us and our students. But from a student affairs professional perspective, there's a large number of us who have been relying on public service loan forgiveness for our own journeys. So I'm wondering if we can start there and can you tell us what we know about how the OBBBA is going to change how we engage with federal financial aid from ourselves as professionals?

Melanie Storey [00:10:50]: Yeah. Wow. That's a good question. I call it OB3 because the one big beautiful Bill act is a tongue twister and a lot of words. So I'm going to just default to my OB3 if you don't mind.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:00]: That's great. I'm going to steal that.

Melanie Storey [00:11:02]: Yeah, it just, it's a lot when you talk about this and you lose a lot of time speaking that way. So a couple of things about ob. Let's start with public service loan forgiveness. Public service loan forgiveness has had a journey of its own, is I think, sort of a policy that, while deeply well intentioned, has been victim to overwrought design at times. When we saw that early on when so few people were able to be eligible or be able to demonstrate that they were, I think in the previous administration we saw great strides in being able to kind of bring clarity to it and be able to ensure that more folks who were dedicating their careers to public service were able to take advantage of it. And then the current administration, I think is looking at it a little bit differently, although, you know, I don't. My crystal ball is often cracked, I think, in terms of forgiveness programs. And I say that deliberately because remember in the previous administration there was a lot of talk around forgiveness broadly that was really around what they saw was dysfunction in the loan repayment area.

Melanie Storey [00:11:59]: And so they were there was a desire to try to provide some relief to borrowers who quite frankly had been victim of a lot of confusion in the loan repayment space. I think all the politics of that aside, that's largely settled law at this point. We're not going to see broad based forgiveness. There's no appetite for that. And quite frankly, you know, I think it has kind of been before the courts and the decision has been made. Public service loan forgiveness, however, is different. It has generally enjoyed bipartisan support. I do think that there is support for supporting individuals who may forego bigger salaries or lots of things in order to commit 10 years of their life to public service.

Melanie Storey [00:12:38]: So I'm pretty confident that PSLF is on solid ground now. Do I think that that means it won't be without some changes? The answer there, I'm afraid to say, is no. And the two things that I would point out, I'm sure if you're following this, you're aware that there was a negotiated rulemaking that's a very fancy Washington D.C. term for regulatory debate and regulatory effort to define what a qualifying employer would be. This was an unusual negotiated rulemaking. It tended to lean less from the operational regulatory side and more into what I would call sort of value driven, that kind of work. The challenging thing about operationalizing something like PSLF and just for folks who may not know, when I was at the US Department of Education, I was on the implementation side at Federal Student Aid, the operational side. So I tend to think about policies not just in their goals, but like how do you actualize it, how do you implement it? And the thing about PSLF is the way to implement it is really through the tax code, C3S, 501, C6S, where they do certain things.

Melanie Storey [00:13:37]: That is the way to do it in a broad scale way. Trying to put a layer on this of some sort of value structure based on an administration's goals is really complicated in an implementation way. So I think what you saw in that regulatory process was a honing that if you are working for an organization that has been determined to have violated the law, you may not be eligible for psof. Well, which has violated the law. Like, I mean not to get like start to split the hairs, but that just gets really complicated and I think it's going to take time. So on that arena, while I understand it is setting and maybe a little panicking, I encourage folks to take a breath. These things take a long time. They've gone through the regulatory process, they'll issue a rule.

Melanie Storey [00:14:19]: But how it gets operationalized. And whether or not someone would truly lose their eligibility based on an employer's bad act is going to be a much more complicated process than just it's not going to shut the spigot off overnight. The other piece though that I think is up for debate on PSLF is the idea of unlimited forgiveness. And I love to my colleagues in higher education, some of our wounds are self inflicted. And there have been programs who have encouraged significant borrowing based on the fact that a student would see all of their loans forgiven after 10 years. That really wasn't the intention of this program. Significant debt forgiven at the end. It was to encourage, you know, folks to consider public service careers.

Melanie Storey [00:14:58]: So I do think there's potentially an appetite to see some limitations on the amount of debt to be forgiven. Now, whether or not that can be done unilaterally without some grandfathering in of students who are already in pslf. Right. There's other debates to be had about that, but I do think on the PSLF front that that's something that is likely to be to reemerge and to be debated. The rest of the OB3 stuff. And as you said, we have a chart. I don't know how many pages long it is. It's at least a couple, maybe three, I don't know.

Melanie Storey [00:15:27]: There are a lot of provisions in there and importantly big picture spans programs for short term workforce programs fundamentally changes the borrowing landscape how much students can borrow, particularly in the graduate level. And then the repayment plans which repayment is a source of real pain for borrowers. Too many plans, very confusing. What's eligible for forgiveness, how long? I mean it's, it's NASA strongly recommended and supports a more clarity and streamlining in the repayment program. So important work there. We might have haggled around the edges in terms of where we landed but I think it's important that we have different repayment and then some accountability for institutions. Again, back to this return on investment. But so for student affairs professionals, all of this uncertainty and lack of clarity is really unnerving for students.

Melanie Storey [00:16:17]: Finance in college, it's a huge investment of time and money and commitment and no guarantee of outcome. I mean the statistics bear it out. But you know, the job market is tough, right? There's just a lot. And so it impacts you all personally. Student loan forgiveness, repayment, all of that. But also the students on your campus are increasingly experiencing worry, anxiety every semester. Is the bill paid? Can I register for my classes? It's very. And not having certainty.

Melanie Storey [00:16:46]: Am I going to be able to borrow enough money for graduate school. Am I going to be eligible for this program that will help me get through that? That level of uncertainty is really disruptive to the learning, to the experience, to all parts of it. And I think a lot of that often comes to student, you know, to student affairs professionals who are, you know, in place to really engage and support students in their post secondary life.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:09]: It's an interesting time as well because we just saw a modification to the FAFSA within the last couple of. I think it was the last year really. 24, 25 was the first year.

Melanie Storey [00:17:18]: Yes.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:18]: That the FAFSA changed. So we're just seeing kind of fast, intentional but complicated changes to the student loan grant landscape in the United States along with college affordability being part of the conversation, along with a change in administration, et cetera. So if I'm a family looking at federal aid for the first time, maybe I'm a first generation family that's attending college. What is your pro tip for making heads and tails of the situation that people see in front of them?

Melanie Storey [00:17:47]: Yeah, so I would say two things. One is if available in your community, if there is a community based organization or someone in your high school or your church or wherever your community may reside that support sort of FAFSA completion and that work, I encourage you to build those relationships. Now they are the folks on the front lines that are really along with financial aid administrators. But you don't tend to really have a relationship with them until you've chosen your school. But they are the ones who are going to be super knowledgeable on kind of how the changes are coming. That might feel like a bridge twofold. So what can you do in the Meantime? Go to StudentAid.gov StudentAid.gov is the front door of the U.S. department of Education's kind of home as it relates to federal student aid.

Melanie Storey [00:18:29]: Look up or just Google federal Student Aid estimator. We can drop a link somewhere. But the federal student Aid estimator, it's not a full fafsa, even though the FAFSA is much faster and easier now. And I'm going to put a plug in there, but it's not time. But if you're say a junior, right, A sophomore or junior, you're on the front end of this. Go to the federal student Aid estimator, ask you maybe five, six, seven questions. It's pretty easy. You don't need to bring any paperwork and it'll just give you an estimate of what is called your student aid index.

Melanie Storey [00:18:55]: It'll Give you a sense of what your family circumstances might make you eligible for the outcome of that estimator. That SAI is really important because every school that your young person might be considering also is required to have something called a net price calculator. And I'm getting into the weeds, but follow along with me here, right? The net price calculators is an estimate of the types of aid they provide to a family generally like yours, based on the outputstudentaid.gov site. And so use those net prices. Be realistic. If I had one like magic wand I could wave, I was like, please, can we move away from the narrative of elite drinking? Can we move away from the narrative that there's a single school for every individual? You know, like there's a single aspirational school. It really needs to be about fit. It needs to be about academic fit, social fit, financial fit, and students need to be academically, socially and financially ready for post secondary education.

Melanie Storey [00:19:53]: So starting to hone in on what that social, academic and financial fit is, one of the things you can do is understand what you might be eligible for generally and then at schools that might be that you might be interested in or your student might be interested in, and then start building your lists, having the conversations, understanding what the overall cost of colleges, tuition, room and board, how far away from home, what is the transportation going to look like, what other options are for housing are there. Right. There's some costs that you can control and some that you have less control over. So if I, and I do advise families at times, you know, who are first generation, first interactions with post secondary education, is to do the research up front, be open in those conversations and be open to all of the types of institutions that might be available to you that really I think there is a lot of words around aspirational schools and it's great to have an aspirational school and if it works out, great. But I want to caution people by being too myopic, that and then not necessarily making smart financial decisions and maybe not getting the right return on their investment because of that.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:59]: I think in student affairs we be the very first to support students in their journey to find the right university or college for them. We're big proponents of community college education, of technical college education, and figuring out if the four year university is the right move for a person or if it's going to be one of the privates or if it's going to be a large public. There's different, there's something for everybody at the higher education level. So Long as we're supporting students in the journey they want to find.

Melanie Storey [00:21:24]: So yeah, that it really is. That's such a big piece. But I didn't even mention private colleges. But you know, when I talk about price, people always think private colleges are out of reach, but they often have more money to give. Right. Like. So that's why I really want you to. I want people to think broadly about their lists and do the work to see what might be a fit.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:21:40]: So on the other end of this we have some changes to institutional accountability as it applies to federal financial aid. And I think this is where student affairs plays a big role in supporting students through persistence to degree completion and then ultimately helping them help students set themselves up for success in the job market. But I think these institutional changes also maybe turn the mission of higher education for us. And I think that's a debatable point for some, maybe not for all. Some would say that higher education is to expand critical thinking skills. And for those who have kind of the luxury of time and the privilege of the financial freedom to go to college, it's about learning how to think about and solve problems. For others it's only about job preparedness and earnings capacity. And I think that this, this institutional accountability measure probably pushes us towards the latter because it has introduced some earnings measures for universities.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:22:34]: Would you mind sharing kind of the CliffsNotes version of what this is and how it's going to affect our day to day work?

Melanie Storey [00:22:41]: Yeah. So you know, you talk about sort of the critical thinking and you know, I'm a liberal art arts graduate, big fan, see the value but it doesn't, doesn't diminish the importance of. I also needed to get a job when I graduated. Like I don't always see those things in opposition. I do see it as a yes and but it does. I think it is reflected in OB3. And just again back to this value of higher education. It isn't all about earnings and getting a job, but it all has to be a little bit about.

Melanie Storey [00:23:07]: There are very few who have the privilege of just going to enjoy the experience and free think and I don't know what happens after that. Like at the end of the day, you know, there is a responsibility there but so OV3 introduces accountability as you mentioned, a new accountability framework that will hold institutions accountable for earnings of their graduates to be higher than those earnings of a student who only has a high school diploma. That's the clip Note the devil is always in the details. Someone who may only have a high school diploma may go into a high skill trade and have high significant income. As student affairs professionals, financial aid professionals know this too. Those first three, four years of earnings are not your strongest earnings directly out of college. Right. I think we have some concerns right around the details of the data.

Melanie Storey [00:23:55]: If we're going to be held accountable. And I, and I. Let me just be clear, my members in higher education, we should be held accountable for delivering on the opportunity that we are marketing. The question is how does one measure it? Where does one measure it in the arc of one's life? Very few metrics will be perfect and this is the one that we have now. And so I think what your question and lead up is kind of answering to though is, you know, will it change the, the dynamic of our institutions to be admitting and encouraging students to move into what are more our higher paying careers or you know, kind of early on whether or not that is their, you know, sort of where they want to head? And I think that's a, I think it's an open, it's an open question. I think it will. We're going to have to look at the first few years of this data and see what it kind of looks like. You know, right now we don't, we don't have very good proxies.

Melanie Storey [00:24:45]: So it's really hard to get a sense of that. There will be again going back to this negotiative rulemaking, a regulatory process around the accountability metrics later this year and early in 26. Those will be important conversations to help us define how this accountability will be measured and applied. But it is an important and dramatic shift and it's not new though. Just to be clear, there are already something called gainful employment and financial value transparency. VT for those of them know that has been in place under a regulatory structure for some time. And to be clear, it has been challenged and removed and restarted. I think we're on like our fourth round of it.

Melanie Storey [00:25:21]: The department has already gotten data, they've collected data and they have data in house that is eagerly awaiting to be reported out around some of this gainful employment and financial value transparency. The thing about OB3 is that now it's in statute, now it's statute is more powerful. It's rooted in statute versus a regulatory effort. And so, and it differs a little bit from gefbt. So our hope is that we can get to a single set of accountability metrics. We don't want to double up the burden on institutions and make it meaningful for policymakers to assess institutions. But maybe more Importantly for students and families to get a sense of the value they might be getting at a particular institution. But it is higher education bristles at the idea of earnings being our only outcome.

Melanie Storey [00:26:03]: And that's appropriate, but it is an important outcome. And so I think we need to work on a yes and as opposed to just a no.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:26:09]: Let's talk about graduate students. There was an elimination of Grad plus loans, which is going to have some deep impacts on anyone earning a master's, doctoral or professional degree. Some of the limits that are put in the Grad plus loan or the grad loans that are still available won't cover the costs of some of these educational experiences. Some people might be in the middle of their experience right now and these changes are going to come in a year. And I know that they have a year to figure out how to finish paying for that particular educational experience. Particularly worried about things like medical school. We see medical school price tags more than a mortgage in some places. And the only way to complete them for some students are through these types of loans.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:26:49]: So how are we going to get our graduate students to the finish line knowing that these are, these are coming.

Melanie Storey [00:26:55]: Yeah. So this was a big. This was. And fast and significant change, largely, as you said, focused on graduate students. On the elimination of Grad Plus. Let me take, let me take your question about those who are currently engaged in their programs right now. There are provisions in the law for grandfathering those who are currently enrolled into the Grad plus program and into the existing loan limits as long as they stay in the program and they don't switch programs or schools. So not ideal.

Melanie Storey [00:27:20]: But there is grandfathering. It isn't just, it's not quite the cliff effect next year. This is something that is also being discussed in the negotiated rulemaking about how long this grandfathering will last. Students may take longer to finish their programs. I believe the language in the law is something like, like three years, the end of their program or three years. And so if someone takes four years, are we really kicking them out? Right. I guess so. I think we're trying to understand three full time years.

Melanie Storey [00:27:46]: Right. Like there's lots of things we can debate around that. But the grandfathering provisions for those who are currently engaged I hope will provide a softer off brand for those folks. But for students who are just looking to embark on their graduate education, this is a much more daunting kind of reality because the truth is that Grad plus is, is going away. And let me, let me start with a little tough talk here around why I think this happened and why I think Congress acted pretty abruptly here is that there was a lot of frustration when we talk about return on investment, that there were at least a few marquee, particularly master's degree programs that were charging significant six figure tuitions that realistically were not going to have of payoff that one would expect from that. Now students make choices. Students make choices of their programs. They make choices.

Melanie Storey [00:28:36]: You know, they are, they, they have agency in these decisions. Right. So I don't, I don't, you know, want to dismiss that, but I think certain members of Congress and key members of the committee saw the combination of these high tuitions, limited return on investment and the combination again back to PSLF and this expectation of hundreds of thousands of dollars being, being forgiven. And they were like this was not the intention of these, this was not. And they saw it as being, they saw it as institutions, not all institutions, but some institutions being bad actors in terms of taking advantage of the programs. I say that just because I want, I think it's important, you know, we can hand wring and teach Nash like why would they do this? And I sometimes feel like we lose clarity that we're not always all perfect actors like and sometimes we have to, but we do have to operate as a community and sometimes some of members of our community don't always operate as we might wish. So I say that, you know, I do think that is at least part of what seeded where we are. But what do we do now? I can tell you that NASA and our institutions are working hard to figure out how we might fill the gap.

Melanie Storey [00:29:41]: Whether it is an institutional funds, state funded loan programs, private loan programs with Advantage Advanced, you know, kind of safety nets and benefits as we can, particularly to help lower income students access capital to pursue graduate degrees. Right. We don't want to close that much. Like we believe in need based aid and the opportunity to access higher education for all students who desire it, regardless of their income. This can extend into graduate programs as well. And I think, you know, that is what we are currently focusing on. What can we get in place quickly that is supportive and student focused in order to help students pursue post secondary education that's on the grad plus elimination. It's gotta be just a pure.

Melanie Storey [00:30:23]: What other vehicles can we find? What other capital vehicles can you support that are student friendly to do that? On the loan limit piece we're currently negotiating with the department, the negotiations are around what constitutes a professional degree which is eligible for higher loan limits versus a graduate degree. There's A lot of rain going around. And I think that's going to be an important conversation to help define what kind of capital is available. But I'll be honest, like, I think Congress is hoping that it puts downward pressure on the tuitions that are being charged on these programs. I don't know if that's a realistic hope in this world, but I do think they are hoping that institutions get creative in ways, in terms of how we finance and develop and design these programs to make them more financially accessible to students. And so I think, I think we have an opportunity and an obligation as institutions to try to think creatively around that as well.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:11]: Let's talk about Pell. Pell has a new program called Workforce Pell, which is something that I'm wholly unfamiliar with. So I'll just be very honest about that. My understanding is that I believe you have to. It's kind of like work study adjacent ish. For Pell eligible students. Is that incorrect?

Melanie Storey [00:31:28]: So Pell grants, generally you have to be enrolled in a program that is, you know, I think I gotta remember like 15 weeks, right? Or like, you know, it has a le associated with it, which really made it. It kind of was initially something that differed, made Pell different than some of the Department of Labor programs for shorter kind of certificate, very vocationally focused programs. The expansion of Pell Grant eligibility to short workforce programs plus Workforce Pell are, is making students who are enrolled in these kind of vocationally focused certificate, 6 to 8, 6 to 10 week programs eligible for Pell Grants. And to be clear, like a lot of our community colleges, a lot of our vocationally focused for profit institutions offer great vocationally focused programs that are very short in length, these are great for retraining, and then someone can go into the workforce with the certificate. They historically have not been eligible for Pell. So this is quite a bipartisan effort to expand eligibility to Pell Grant programs to Pell grant dollars for more of these programs. And so the tricky part is we want to make sure these are high quality programs, right? Like much else, when we are expending federal dollars, we want to be good stewards of those dollars. So part of the implementation of Workforce Pell is identifying programs and certifying programs as eligible.

Melanie Storey [00:32:46]: So institutions will have to go through a process to demonstrate the value of the program. It needs to have been in place for a number of years. There's, there's a few things in the law around that, but so, but it really just an expansion of eligibility of Pell to these more vocationally Shorter term programs. So again, a different pathway of opportunity for students to leverage Higher Education act funds towards career goals.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:11]: Thank you for clarifying that. So clearly I had completely misunderstood its original intention, but this is good stuff.

Melanie Storey [00:33:16]: I mean, you're not deep. There's no need for you to be deep in the weeds on that. It really is. It's a Pell Grant. It's just now Pell Grant for a different set of programs.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:24]: Is there anything else in OB3 that student affairs professionals could benefit from knowing that maybe we're not paying close attention to or maybe it's like a tiny technical detail or something that. That might have been. So I have my doctor's in public policy. And so I always think about like, what is the, the small thing that's one sentence long that actually completely changes the meaning of a thing? Because we all know those are in there.

Melanie Storey [00:33:46]: Yeah, boy, you're not kidding. I mean, you've covered a lot of it. But I'll tell you, like one technical detail we are watching pretty closely. And it is almost like a sentence. And this, I'll explain what it's called. Loan proration. So what this means is, is that your loan eligibility will be prorated by the number of credits that you are enrolled. So in order to be eligible for the full loan amount, you would be enrolled in 9 to 12 credits.

Melanie Storey [00:34:11]: Right. But as you drop down in credits, your loan eligibility will diminish in a prorated fashion. So that sounds, I mean, but that has not been the way the programs have operated. If you're eligible for a loan, you're eligible for a loan. So proration is kind of a like, wait, what? Because not many graduate students are. Particularly for graduate students who we know are already getting hit on grad plus and other things often are only enrolled in 6 credits, 8, 9 credits. So what will that mean for their loan eligibility? So that holistically is something we're watching. That's in the law.

Melanie Storey [00:34:42]: That's going to happen. But what we're really watching is how will they implement it? So if I'm a student and I'm enrolled in 12 credits and then life happens, because life. And I'm like, oh gosh, I'm going to drop that class or I'm going to drop two classes and take this other. So now Mulane rolls for seven credits, that's going to. Now we're going to have to ask you to hand back some of your loan funds. If we've already. So when, when does that proration happen? Student affairs and financial Aid Administrators hate to go back to students and say, oh, we gave you money, now we have to take it back. Like that's the worst case scenario.

Melanie Storey [00:35:13]: Right. That's terrible. Predictability and transparency and clarity are so clutch for planning. So communicating to students that like, you're eligible for this amount of borrowing based on your current course selections, your enrollment, and again, life happens. So it's not in any way, but just understand there's new consequences to making, having to make changes. And that is this like tiny little thing that I am. I just is going to catch a lot of students off guard next fall.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:43]: One of my foci in student affairs has been fundamental needs. Security. So food security, housing security.

Melanie Storey [00:35:48]: Yes.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:48]: And my mind immediately went to, well, that money's probably already spent on rent and food. And if we're, if we're required by the government to claw it back from a student, that's going to create a housing crisis. I can already kind of hear it coming. So that's a really important nugget.

Melanie Storey [00:36:04]: So communicating. And this can happen with your folks. With my folks, we will do, we will shout this from the rooftops. It'll be on every financial aid letter you get, every communication. But you know, students are busy, no shade on them. Right. Like these things can kind of come and go. But just understand this is a significant change that can really upend, as you said, you know, very fundamental needs and kind of stuff that we're spending a lot of time and negotiating.

Melanie Storey [00:36:31]: At what point is it locked in? Is it at certification disbursement? Right, because the loan, you know, you sort of, you know, there's a progression that happens with loans awarding, you know, and so we are trying to make sure that we minimize the impact of this on students as much as possible. But that is. Yeah, that's the sneaky. That's the sneaky1 in OB3 for us, I think.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:36:53]: Speaking of this particular area, our season's theme is on the value of Student affairs. And so I'm going to ask you our three themed questions. The first, when you think about the value of student affairs, what comes to mind first and why?

Melanie Storey [00:37:07]: I feel like student affairs humanizes higher education. Student affairs professionals are the human face and warmth of what can feel like a very opaque and intimidating industry at times, particularly for our most vulnerable populations. And so I am a first generation student, as I mentioned, my son is not. And it was still amazing to me the things that he didn't understand and didn't know despite I have a career in some of this work and So I just saw how much, much work and effort the professionals at his institution did to bring clarity and warmth and humanization to what can feel really overwhelming for students.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:37:46]: Can you share a specific story or moment when you saw the value of student affairs come to life? And maybe this is from the financial side of the house, given that's where you've been centered.

Melanie Storey [00:37:55]: Yeah. So I think in many ways, I think student affairs professionals are also like the navigators of higher education for students. Right. Like. Like when you don't know what an office hour is. Right. Like, is it office hour when you don't bother the faculty? Oh, no, no. Office hours are when you do bother the faculty, you know, and bother is not the right word there, of course, but.

Melanie Storey [00:38:16]: And so I have heard time and time again, time and again, you know, students who feel overwhelmed. Money is a very sensitive topic for families. For students, it feels very vulnerable. You talk about food and housing insecurity. These are. Are incredibly emotional spaces, but essential, essential to the journey of higher education that they, you know, that they have stable and that they see. And I. And so for me, I have seen and witnessed time and time again student affairs professionals connecting students with the financial aid professionals who can feel very much like no people sometimes because they are the ones, you know, they're the gatekeepers to dollars.

Melanie Storey [00:38:56]: And so they, I think, unnecessarily can have a reputation as not being as warm, but they are fully committed to trying to solve the financial financial issues. And I think student affairs and financial aid working together are an incredibly powerful duo. And I've seen countless examples of helping, saying like, your father lost their job, your mother has had a traumatic medical issue. We can get you more aid. Like, we can change things. Like. And it just. That isn't in the mindset of students.

Melanie Storey [00:39:25]: And so pairing that humanization over to the financial side, I think is incredible.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:39:29]: I always love to think of our financial aid partners as the people that help us try to get to. Yes.

Melanie Storey [00:39:33]: And creatively, that's where they want to be. That's where they want to be.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:39:38]: So especially if you're listening and you work in maybe student care, case management, or in any sort of advising role, if you haven't met your financial aid partners, they're a great resource to help us try to figure out how do we find aid without necessarily negatively impacting a student's future ability to borrow or what the impact of maybe like an emergency loan will have on that student, that type of thing. It's good stuff. And then our third question is what do you think Student affairs needs to do to be better understood and better seen in today's educational environment?

Melanie Storey [00:40:09]: I think we all need to be better at being strategic leaders. It's really hard and I feel this way for my members too. We're day to day dealing with individual students, with cases, with compliance, with, with. I mean, it's, the workload is extraordinary. But we are essential to the smooth functioning and success of students on our campuses. And so I think it is incredibly important that our student affairs leaders and our financial aid leadership be at the table with our presidents and chancellors solving the problems, the big problems, and bringing our voice to what we can bring to those problems. What solutions can we offer, what creative endeavors can we collaborate on? I feel like oftentimes the C suite is the chancellors, the business officers, maybe admissions and enrollment. But there's just incredibly important voices coming from student affairs and from financial aid that I want at the table.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:58]: Before we transition into our commercial break, I would love to hear from you on if you have any tips on, I suppose, demystifying the inner workings of the U.S. department of Education, because I feel like all of us in Student affairs have interacted with elements of what the department has put out at some point. Some of us have participated in negotiated rulemaking. Typically that's been around Title IX for most of us or other areas like that. So is there anything that you can say that will help humanize a bit of this thing that is the department?

Melanie Storey [00:41:26]: Yeah, you know, I mean, it's, this is a particularly tough time for that because generally, historically what I would have said is, is to really build relationships with the folks in your regional offices because those are the folks that have direct access into the Washington, D.C. based folks, but have a closer relationship with the institutions. Unfortunately, with the reduction in staffing at the Department of Education, a lot of those regional offices were gutted. So that is a little bit harder. If I have a tidbit, I don't have a really very good one right now. It is a pretty tough time. It is really about person and relationships. But the tidbit I might have is this.

Melanie Storey [00:42:00]: If you are calling the call centers, if you're trying to get an answer to a question and lagging, you're not getting it or it doesn't feel right. Those call centers are generally staffed by contract contractors. These are hard working, well meaning folks, but they're also racing to catch up with what is happening at the department. The real, the real answers are often found in escalations and escalations mean, it gets to someone who is a U.S. department of Education employee who's going to have to look at it and go into the systems or do whatever they need to do. Understand it. And so while it takes more effort and more lift, it is a little bit exhausting. On behalf of your folks and mine, if it doesn't feel right and you're not getting an answer, ask for escalation.

Melanie Storey [00:42:39]: Ask for the name of someone with an ed.gov email. That's, that's the way to get an answer and be persistent. And the nuclear option, if it's preventing students from enrolling, if students can't get access to funds, if it, if it is significantly impacting their journey to the point where they're going to have to drop out, the nuclear option is to call your member of Congress or have the student reach out to the member of Congress. And I don't say that with any joy because that is really hard on my former colleagues at the department to get these inquiries. But sometimes when a student's future is at risk, it's the only option. And I ask that you do it judiciously and only when a student's future is truly at risk. But it is a way to get what you need.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:43:19]: It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris to learn what's going on in the NASPA world. Thanks, Jill.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:43:26]: So excited to be back in the NASPA world. And there's a ton of things happening in NASPA. NASPA recently signed a letter with 21 higher education associations to congressional leaders urging Congress to restore FY 2025 funding for minority serving institutions, MSIs that was terminated by the Department of Education and to maintain and expand support for HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs in 2026. Citing the role these institutions play in serving students with the greatest financial need. This letter, as well as many of the other most pressing policy and advocacy updates states are housed on the policy and advocacy website. On the NASPA website. If you have not had an opportunity to be able to explore the policy and advocacy website, I highly encourage you to do so. With everything that is happening today and all the changes that are happening seemingly daily, it's important to stay on top of what is happening not only at the federal level, but in your state.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:44:29]: And NASPA is doing everything that they can to be able to track things that are happening both at the federal and at the state level that are impacting our institutions. I highly encourage you to spend some time there. Come back on a regular basis and see what the updates are, and you'll probably see some changes along the way as well in regards to new things that are coming and things that you may want to explore as well. On the NASPA website, some of you may in the past have taken a look at and identified that we have a great bookstore with books that have been written for NASPA itself, and one of those books is Careers in Student Affairs, a holistic guide to professional development in Higher education. This book was written a while back, back in 2017, but the information that is in it is as pertinent today as it was when it was written, and it provides a comprehensive look at being a higher education administrator, integrating perspectives from both research and practical applications. It's a reader friendly book addressing contemporary issues in higher education that are not typically covered in a graduate curriculum, but that employers expect student affairs professionals to be prepared for from their first position and beyond. The book is written for both new professionals and those transitioning to further levels of leadership, so it provides a cross section of topics that apply to various levels of experience. The book is filled with information and advice to assist you in your developing plans for career longevity and success.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:46:06]: Each chapter includes a question for reflection to help readers develop a career plan. It's organized into two parts. The first part focuses on professional performance and explores issues such as trends and contemporary challenges in higher education, developing professionalism and support networks and ways to navigate important issues such as organizational cultures, politics, conflicts and ethics and the second part looks at professional development with chapters that delve into defining personal and professional success, advancing a career in student affairs, becoming an effective supervisor, transitioning to faculty roles, and giving back to the profession. This is an amazing book and if you haven't had an opportunity to read it it I highly encourage you to take some time to explore it and see all of the amazing things that Peggy Holweis and Kelly Peck Parrott put together as they were putting this book out into the world. And I think you will find that it is an amazing book that can follow you throughout your career. You can find out more by going onto the NASPA website, going under Research and Publications to the bookstore. The early registration for both the 2026 NASPA Institute for New AVPs as well as the 2026 NASPA AVP Symposium are coming up on December 7, 2025. Both of these institutes are amazing learning opportunities for those that are either new to being an AVP or those that are currently AVPs and want to be able to learn and grow from others that are in similar roles as mentioned, the NASPA Institute for New AVPS is a foundational three day learning and networking experience designed to support and develop AVPs in their unique and challenging roles on campus.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:48:00]: It's appropriate for AVPs and other senior level number twos who report to the highest ranking Student affairs officer who have been serving in their first AVP or number two position for no longer than two years. The 2026 NASPA AVP Symposium is a unique and innovative three day program designed to support and develop AVPs and other number twos in their unique campus leadership roles. Leveraging the vast experience and knowledge of sitting AVPs, the symposium will provide high level content through a variety of participants engagement oriented session types. The professional development offering is limited to AVPs and other number twos who report to the highest ranking Student affairs officer on campus and have substantial responsibility for divisional functions. Additionally, VPSAs and the equivalent who are presenting during the symposium may also register at the discounted rate and attend the Institute for New AVPS is happening January 22nd to 24th in Denver, Colorado and the symposium is happening January 24th to 26 in Denver, Colorado. This offers opportunities for an individual to attend both or only attend one of the three day sessions every week. We're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within the association, so we are going to be able to try and keep you up to date on everything that's happening and allow for you to be able to get involved in different ways ways. Because the association is as strong as its members and for all of us we have to find our place within the association, whether it be getting involved with a knowledge community, giving back within one of the the centers or the divisions of the Association.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:49:45]: And as you're doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself where do you fit, where do you want to give back each week. We're hoping that that we will share some things that might encourage you, might allow for you to be able to get some ideas that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say hey, I see myself in that knowledge community. I see myself doing something like that. Or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to think beyond what's available right now to offer other things things to the association, to bring your gifts, your talents to the association and to all of the members within the Association. Because through doing that all of us are stronger and the association is better. Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is happening in naspa.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:50:39]: Chris, thank you. As Always for another informative week of NASPA World. We always love learning what's going on in and around naspa. And Melannie, we've reached our lightning round all about you. We have seven questions for you in about 90 seconds.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:50:54]: Ready to go?

Melanie Storey [00:50:55]: Okay, let's go.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:50:56]: All right, question one. If you were a conference keynote speaker, what would your entrance music be?

Melanie Storey [00:51:01]: Oh, that's Easy, Girl on Fire. I did that this summer.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:03]: Number two, when you were five years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Melanie Storey [00:51:07]: Ooh, when I was 5 years old? Probably like a librarian. I was a real, like, book nerd when I was little.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:13]: Number three, who's your most influential professional mentor?

Melanie Storey [00:51:16]: Ooh, my most, my most influential professional mentor is probably Becky Timmons, who was a great friend and mentor when I worked serving college and university president.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:27]: Number four, your essential higher education read.

Melanie Storey [00:51:30]: Inside Higher Ed, the Cron, and now occasionally, Politico every day.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:34]: Number five, the best TV show you've.

Melanie Storey [00:51:36]: Been binging lately, Ted Lasso. I just watched it a second time through.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:39]: They're filming right near where I live at the moment.

Melanie Storey [00:51:41]: I love that, you know, Ted Lasso is fundamentally optimistic in the face of lots of adversity, and I, I, I resonate with that.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:48]: Number six, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to in the last year.

Melanie Storey [00:51:52]: Smartless, I find funny and engaging. Kind of a mindless entertainment for me. And it's smart.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:58]: And finally, number seven, any shout outs you'd like to give, personal or professional?

Melanie Storey [00:52:02]: Well, I will say I would like to. I'll always give a shout out to my NASA, to my NASA team. As I said, I'm just five months in to this incredible opportunity. And whenever you come into a new organization, especially after they had a long serving, beloved leader, change is hard and they have been amazing. So Beth Maglione and all the other folks at NASA have really been, have fast become great colleagues, but also friends, and I appreciate that.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:28]: I have deep respect for all the work that you all are doing, and I'm very grateful that you were willing to share your subject matter and expertise with the NASPA community. If NASPA members would like to join you or learn more about nasfa, how can they find you and your team?

Melanie Storey [00:52:42]: Yeah, so our website, of course, is NASFA. N a s n faa.org if they want to reach me directly, you're welcome to email me. I'm happy to receive emails. And that is story with an E. So S T O R e m for melanie.org and so welcome all feedback and input.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:53:02]: Melanie, thank you so very much for sharing your voice with us today.

Melanie Storey [00:53:05]: Thanks Jill. I appreciate it. Have fun.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:53:11]: This has been an episode of Essay Voices from the Field brought to you by naspa. This show is made possible because of you, the listeners. We continue to be so grateful that you choose to spend your time with us. If you'd like to reach the show, you can email [email protected] or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr. Jill L. Creighton. We welcome your feedback and your topic and guest suggestions always. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show and leave us a five star review on as Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening now.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:53:41]: It really does help other student affairs professionals find the show and helps us to become more visible in the larger podcasting community. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton. That's me, produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan, Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.