Dear Colleague:
We are pleased to announce an additional set of webinars in our Wednesday Webinar Series, a series of live webinars which cover a variety of topics related to the Title IV programs. The webinars provide the most recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) and the office of Federal Student Aid, including statutory and regulatory updates. Operational information and reminders are also shared. Participants are encouraged to ask questions by typing them into the chat during the webinar and a live Q&A session follows each presentation.
Federal Student Aid staff will present the next set of webinars in this series in January–February 2025. More webinars that address topics of interest to the financial aid community will be announced in the future.
You do not need to register for these webinars. Participation will be available on a first come, first-served basis and we can accommodate up to 20,000 attendees in each session.
Refer to the sections below for more information about each webinar, including instructions to add reminders to your calendar for the sessions that you would like to attend.
Wednesday Webinar Series Schedule and Links, Winter 2025
All sessions are scheduled for 1–2:30 p.m. Eastern time (ET). There may be a difference between your local time and Eastern time. To determine local time and its Eastern time zone equivalent, go to time.gov.
See below for complete details about each webinar, including the link to join on the day of the event.
2025–26 ISIR: What to Expect
Date/Time: Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, 1–2:30 p.m. ET
The Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) continues to be a critical resource that schools rely on for making decisions about Title IV aid every year. The wealth of information within this tool makes it indispensable for packaging and disbursing grant and loan funds. Join us for this Wednesday Webinar session to discover how to mine necessary data from the 2025–26 ISIR and make corrections. Plus, explore key terms, fields, data values, and comment codes, complete with screen shots from the 2025–26 ISIR.
Link to Join Webinar:
Microsoft Teams Live Link for 2025–26 ISIR: What to Expect Webinar, Jan. 15, 2025
Professional Judgment and Dependency Considerations
Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, 1–2:30 p.m. ET
Navigating the authority granted for professional judgment can be challenging and complex as a financial aid administrator. This session examines the factors involved in properly exercising professional judgment and defines key terminology beneficial to understanding the process, including the difference between special and unusual circumstances. We also discuss dependency considerations specific to unaccompanied homeless youth and foster care youth and we will walk through helpful real-life scenarios.
Link to Join Webinar:
Adding a Webinar Invitation to Your Calendar
To add an iCalendar invitation to your calendar now, to remind you of the webinar details, follow the instructions below:
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Log into the FSA Training Center.
Note: If you do not have a username and password for the FSA Training Center, select "Create new account" at the bottom of the log-in page and follow the instructions to create a username and password.
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Select the “Upcoming Webinars” icon on the home page.
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Locate a webinar in the table and select the iCalendar file to download and save the invitation to your calendar. The invitation includes the webinar link. If Outlook is not your default calendar, you may download the iCalendar (.ics) file and then upload it to your system calendar. The table on the Upcoming Webinars page also includes a link to the webinar.
Additional Webinar Resources: Handouts, Recordings, and Transcripts
A PDF handout will be available for download the day before the live webinar in the “Upcoming Webinars” section of the FSA Training Center. Leave behinds, if any, will also be available for download. Once you log in, select the “Upcoming Webinars” icon on the home page and locate the webinar in the table to download the presentation materials.
A recording of the webinar and a transcript will be posted on the FSA Training Center the week following the live webinar. Once you log in, go to “Recorded Webinars and Training” on the main menu bar, select “Webinars and Training Videos,” and locate the recording and transcript in the “Application Process and Student Eligibility” category.
We look forward to your participation in this webinar series. If you have questions, please contact us at helpdesk.fsatraining@ed.gov.
Sincerely,
Federal Student Aid