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<p class="MsoNormal">If you did not yet see it, President Trump released his <a href="https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/11556/Trump_s_Fiscal_Year_18_Budget_Eliminates_SEOG_Reduces_FWS_and_Raids_Pell_Surplus">
FY 2018 budget request</a>. While these are just requests, only affect discretionary funding and does not touch on mandatory spending, and would have a long way to go before anything is
<a href="https://www.nasfaa.org/federal_budget_appropriations">signed into law</a>, the potential negative impact on the funding of federal aid programs is worrisome.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our programs have been whittled away at with painful budgetary measures the last several years, and our students continue to feel the effects. If the true intent of the administration is to "focus on streamlining and simplifying funding
for college," I am all for it. But, as aid administrators who see the impact on our students every single day, let's make a collective effort to remind our federal legislators that any streamlining and simplifying needs to be done in the process of reauthorizing
the Higher Education Act. Our aid programs need to be examined in a wholesale manner during reauthorization, not whittled and whacked at during some attempt to improve the bottom line for the purposes of a press release. Regardless of political party affiliation,
I would venture to say that we can all agree that our students deserve an intentional examination of the programs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mendy Schmerer, M.Ed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Assistant Director<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Office of Student Financial Aid</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">1106 N. Stonewall, Rm 301</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Oklahoma City, OK 73117</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">(405) 271-2118, x 48817 (p)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">(405) 271-5446 (f)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Mendy-Schmerer@ouhsc.edu"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:blue">Mendy-Schmerer@ouhsc.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><a href="http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/"><span style="color:blue">http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><img border="0" width="39" height="39" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D29E35.F79EA3F0" alt="FB-f-Logo__blue_29"> Become our fan on Facebook:
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/OUHSCFinancialAid"><span style="color:blue">www.facebook.com/OUHSCFinancialAid</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;color:black">CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;color:black">This email, including any attachments, contains information from The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, which may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for
the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify
the sender immediately by a “reply to sender only” message and destroy all electronic and hard copies of the communication, including attachments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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