The professionals who help students pay for college, recently met the network and learn from each other.

It's an opportunity to address challenges, changes and new opportunities in college affordability.

Laura Rogers has more from Bowling Green.

I was a first generation college student.

I had no idea how I was going to pay for college.

Destiny O'Rourke is passionate about helping students, no matter their circumstances, afford college.

I was fortunate to get some scholarships, but I really needed something to help fill in the gaps.

She has a lot of experience in the financial aid space and says it's more than meets the eye.

On the surface.

It looks like helping students complete forms and interpreting policies and dealing with regulations and things like that, but really it's providing access and opportunity.

More than 148 administrators from across the state recently gathered in Bowling Green for the fall conference.

The Kentucky Association for Student Financial Aid administrators.

The people who are working on the college level actually creating aid packages for the students.

The people who are out talking to students about going to college and how to pay for it.

Many students turn to grants, scholarships and loans to offset the rising cost of college.

And these professionals help connect them to the resources they need.

We really have to help families navigate and let them know college is affordable.

It is attainable.

It is important for them to get together and to have a chance to learn from each other, to hear each other stories, to learn how different things are being interpreted and implemented and moved into action at their campuses.

Things are always changing in the financial aid world.

Some of those changes came about with last year's passage of The One Big, Beautiful Bill, which limits how much in federal loans parents can borrow to cover their child's education.

In the past, there was no cap on how much a parent could borrow for a student, but now it's a cap of $20,000 per dependent, and it's the lifetime cap of 65,000.

There are also new borrowing limits based on their enrollment intensity, how many credits they're taking.

So if they're enrolled in six hours, they can only have six hours in loan eligibility, where at one point they could borrow their annual loan limit.

They can also help students navigate the cost without borrowing a penny.

It is obtainable to get a degree, and you can't get through higher education without borrowing loans, depending on what you want to study and where you attend.

The conference also brought attention to a growing problem with fraudsters using stolen identities to claim federal student aid.

There's a national crisis with identity theft, and so we're trying to prevent that to protect taxpayer dollars.

We have sessions on a and how.

We can navigate that as a financial aid office and as an industry.

As a volunteer professional organization with members representing 80 public and private colleges and universities, as well as the community college system.

It is not uncommon for us to call, text or email one another across the state for guidance.

Or how do you do this policy?

Or can you share this so I don't have to reinvent the wheel?

We all love what we.

Do, and we all feel a passion for the students and families that we help.

And that's why we're here and that's why we're doing what we do.

Will meet again in April for its Spring Conference for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Laura Rogers.

This was the first time the conference had been held in Bowling Green since 2017.

They also raised money for the center for Courageous Kids, a nonprofit camp for children with disabilities or lifelong illnesses.

Located in Allen County.