Members of Congress, and representatives from the Department of Education and Health and Human Services participate in these meetings. These workshops are open to the education community and specialists and experts are often invited to participate. Past workshops have covered institutional refund policies, the administration of financial aid programs, and analysis of important legislative developments. Additional focus groups, task forces and conferences have addressed concerns related to the Perkins Loan, Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Student Loan and other various loan and grant programs. Block grants could result in a reduction of support for programs which require payback or work participation.
Block grants favor non-participation and require no repayment.
Opening new avenues of access to post-secondary education must include full participation of the prospective students who are assisted by the aid programs. For example, the Department of Education has proposed curtailment of funds to schools having a delinquency rate exceeding a specific percentage. With regard to improving collections, emphasis must instead be placed on the collection of outstanding delinquent loans and on the prevention or recurrence of defaults. The government's imposition of flat percentages, resulting in reduction of available funds for schools, does not address the problem and provides no incentives or opportunities for change. Prominent in the work shed of organization communication tools has been the highly regarded monthly newsletter, The Torch .