On Wednesday evening, Congress passed legislation to reopen the federal government and increase the nation's borrowing limit. Circulation of federal funds for students and researchers has been reactivated and the National Archive, among other governmental facilities for academics, have resumed, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The legislation prevents a national default, which would likely have resulted in increased student loan expenditures and decreased financial aid for academics. Military members started to receive tuition-assistance benefits and Merchant Marine Academy, which was closed for weeks, has reopened. The legislation is only temporary fix, as another spending cut is set take effect by mid-January.
Approximately 700 people attended an information session on Monday for 10 health-related positions at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the Valley News reported. DHMC is looking for 10 coders to transcribe patient records and medical services into numeric code, information insurance companies utilize to process payment. Demand for coders has increased as the Affordable Care Act has given more people access to health insurance. Tracy Sunderland, a coder at DHMC, emphasized that coding plays a significant role in connecting patients and insurance companies.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in its second annual report on student loans, summarized over 3,800 complaints that it received in the last year, The New York Times reported. The bureau, an oversight agency that tracks student loans from private lenders, projected that private student loans currently total up to $165 billion. While the report was not based on a representative sample of borrowers, complaints help elucidate where there is "a mismatch between borrower expectations and actual service delivered," the report said. Confusing or inaccurate payment processing complaints were among the most frequent that the bureau received from Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30.
