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EDUCATION FINANCE LEADER DELIVERS RESOURCE IN RESPONSE TO ONGOING FAFSA® ISSUES

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AscentUP’s “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College” Provides Much Needed Solution

SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ascent is committed to helping students plan, pay and succeed throughout their education and is proud to launch the “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College” through its partnership with AscentUP, a professional training and career readiness platform. A completely free resource AscentUP created for nonprofits, high schools, parents, and students, the interactive 10-minute guide offers an answer to this year’s adverse updates to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) application process.

The 2024–25 FAFSA form updates were intended to provide financial aid eligibility to more students through a streamlined application. Unfortunately, a three-month delay in the form’s access, coupled with debilitating errors and miscalculations, meant a 27 percent decrease in submissions compared to last year. Additionally, nearly 20 percent of FAFSA submissions to date need to be reprocessed due to student aid index calculation errors and incorrect tax data provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The impacts are so great that local governments have even declared this a “state of emergency” as seen most recently in West Virginia.

While many await their FAFSA fates, AscentUP’s “Guide” offers actionable tools to assist students and families in evaluating and making educated decisions around which college to attend and how to make it a financial reality. Through The Bright Futures™ Engine, students begin the course by learning how to select their ideal college based on criteria including costs, majors, faculty, location, and on-campus experience.

After understanding how to select their future college, students are guided through the options to make education affordable, including federal financial aid, scholarships, and employment. This includes an overview of how the FAFSA process is intended to work and what its results mean for families’ financial possibilities as well as where private loans can fill the gap between FAFSA and the actual cost associated with their selected college. Lastly, the Guide defines and educates students on common terms and strategies to pay off loans quickly and with confidence.

“As passionate arbiters of student success and ensuring loans result in positive outcomes, we are frustrated with the Department of Education’s lack of performance for college-bound students,” said Ken Ruggiero, co-founder and CEO of Ascent. “AscentUP’s ‘Ultimate Guide to Paying for College’ offers transparent and accessible tips and best practices to alleviate the stress students and families naturally face during their college application and admissions process. Our guide is even more crucial in the wake of this year’s appalling FAFSA errors.”

Because most higher education institutions require students to secure enrollment with a nonrefundable deposit by May 1, many still don’t know how much aid they will be eligible for, if at all. Consequently, approximately 700,000 students face an impossible decision surrounding college acceptance and the prospect of attending college at all. These blunders will further widen the education-to-employment gap that low income and first-generation students already experience. AscentUp and its Guide aims to help as many students as possible navigate the staggering repercussions created by this year’s FAFSA updates.

As a leader in outcomes-based lending and education finance, Ascent is committed to offering students the wrap-around support services and educational resources that are designed to help borrowers succeed and lead financially independent lives. Its investment in AscentUP and the “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College” advances its mission of setting students up for success, regardless of hardships or external forces.

To learn more about the “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College,” Ascent and its AscentUP program, visit ascentup.com/ultimate-guide-paying-for-college.

ABOUT ASCENT 
Ascent is a leading provider of innovative financial products and wrap-around student support services that enable more students to access education and achieve academic and economic success. Everything Ascent offers is designed by leading industry professionals and with advanced technology and innovation to increase every student’s ability to plan, pay, and succeed. Ascent’s rare Outcomes-based Loan provides funding to credit-invisible borrowers who generally do not benefit from traditional credit. Ascent products also include: Cosigned Loans, Solo Loans, Career Loans, Parent Loans, Graduate Loans, Access Loans, Enterprise Loans and Impact Loans. 

For more information, visit www.ascentfunding.com

ABOUT ASCENTUP: 
AscentUP is dedicated to bridging the education-to-employment gap and empowering students to achieve their full potential in the workforce. Through comprehensive training, coaching, and experiential learning opportunities, AscentUP aims to equip students with the skills and confidence needed for career success. For more information, visit AscentUP.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/education-finance-leader-delivers-resource-in-response-to-ongoing-fafsa-issues-302177533.html

SOURCE Ascent Funding

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Link Engineering Company (LINK) Receives VCA Authorization for Euro 7 Brake Emissions Type-Approval Testing

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LIMBURG, Germany, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Link Engineering Company (LINK) announced that its laboratory in Limburg, Germany, has been authorized by the United Kingdom’s Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) to conduct witnessed brake emissions testing for vehicle type-approval programs.

This authorization enables LINK to support manufacturers pursuing Euro 7 compliance while expanding its brake emissions testing capabilities. Building on its ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, LINK was among the first organizations to receive accreditation from DAkkS (Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle) for brake emissions testing.

As Euro 7 regulations introduce brake particle emissions limits for the first time, vehicle and brake manufacturers require specialized facilities, technical expertise, and accredited testing capabilities to achieve certification. Only a limited number of organizations worldwide possess the equipment, expertise, and recognized accreditations needed to support these programs.

The addition of witnessed type-approval testing capabilities positions LINK as a comprehensive partner for the global automotive and brake industries, offering customers an end-to-end solution from development testing through regulatory certification.

“Achieving VCA approval is a major milestone that underscores LINK’s leadership in brake emissions testing,” said Marco Zessinger, Managing Director, Link Engineering Company GmbH. “Manufacturers are facing new regulatory demands under Euro 7, and they need testing partners with both technical expertise and recognized accreditation. Our Limburg laboratory can now support witnessed type-approval testing, providing customers with a streamlined path to certification while further strengthening LINK’s position as a trusted industry partner.”

About LINK
Link Group, Inc. (LINK), parent to Link Engineering Company, Link Industries, and Tescor, consists of businesses that offer customized solutions, with a focus on delivering high value to each of their customers. Offerings consist of the design and manufacture of customized, high-precision test, research, simulation, quality control, and thermal solution equipment; comprehensive test services; and in the case of Link Industries, customized, high-precision cutting tools. LINK’s corporate headquarters are in Plymouth, Michigan (US), with manufacturing and design facilities, laboratory and vehicle test operations, and support teams around the world.

Established in 1935, LINK prides itself on being family-owned, currently led by the second and third generations of the Link family. As many of our team members have been with LINK for a generation or more, the LINK team is equipped with a wealth of knowledge, providing decades of hands-on experience, creativity, and care, supporting our global customer base with highly-technical solutions.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/link-engineering-company-link-receives-vca-authorization-for-euro-7-brake-emissions-type-approval-testing-302832635.html

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BrighterBalance Named a Gold Friend of CASE in Support of Special Education Leaders Nationwide

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BrighterBalance, a real-time behavioral data documentation platform for K-12 special education and MTSS, has been named a Gold Friend of CASE, the Council of Administrators of Special Education. The designation for companies that support CASE’s work advancing leadership and professional development for special education administrators nationwide.

DULUTH, Ga., July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — BrighterBalance, a real-time behavioral data documentation platform built for K-12 special education and MTSS environments, today announced it has joined the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) as a Gold Friend of CASE. The designation recognizes companies that support CASE’s mission of advancing leadership, advocacy, and professional development for special education administrators nationwide.

“It was like having a second memory, and it made her feel less burned out and more confident in her work with students.” Tania Amerson, Bartow County Schools, Executive Director Special Education

BrighterBalance was built to address a gap that special education leaders know well: the 20 minutes before escalation, the behavior a teacher witnessed and tried to redirect, the patterns that live in notebooks and memory rather than in structured, defensible records. The platform enables educators to log behavioral data in under 10 seconds, captures real-time patterns across the school day, and generates progress monitoring reports ready for IEP and BIP review, without adding burden to already stretched teachers and support staff.

“We are pleased to welcome BrighterBalance as a Gold Friend of CASE. The documentation burden on special education teachers is real, and it is contributing to burnout at a time when we can least afford to lose them. Tools that make real-time behavior capture frictionless and that produce records teachers and administrators can rely on are exactly the kind of innovation our members need. We look forward to seeing BrighterBalance’s impact in CASE member districts.”

Brigid Bright, Associate Executive Director, CASE

Early results from districts reflect the impact at the classroom level. Tania Amerson, executive director of exceptional education, Bartow County Schools, shared what she heard after one semester: “What we heard using BrighterBalance surprised me. It wasn’t just about documentation. It was about feeling supported in the moment. One teacher told me it was like having a second memory, and that it made her feel less burned out and more confident in her work with students. That kind of impact on teacher wellbeing and retention is what we are always looking for.”

“Special education leaders are navigating increasing documentation requirements, growing legal pressure, and a student population with more complex needs than ever before,” said Melissa Cook, Co-Founder of BrighterBalance. “Being a Gold Friend of CASE means we are committed to building tools that serve their teachers and their students.”

The platform’s approach mirrors lessons from academic MTSS, where continuous real-time data has replaced periodic snapshots as the standard for intervention decision-making. BrighterBalance brings that same philosophy to behavioral documentation, giving teachers a mobile-first capture tool that works with the methods they already use and feeds directly into their district’s MTSS infrastructure.

BrighterBalance is currently available to individual teachers and school districts, with enterprise pricing designed to support district-wide adoption. The platform integrates with MTSS platforms including Panorama Education and Branching Minds, and exports structured data compatible with major student information systems.

About BrighterBalance

BrighterBalance is a K-12 behavioral data documentation platform purpose-built for special education and MTSS contexts. Faster than paper and smarter than memory, BrighterBalance gives educators a real-time capture layer that produces defensible, structured records at the classroom level before behavior escalates to the office. BrighterBalance is available at brighterbalance.app.

About CASE

The Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) is an international nonprofit professional organization providing leadership, advocacy, and professional development to more than 6,200 administrators responsible for the implementation of IDEA and Section 504. CASE is a division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

Media Contact

Melissa Cook, BrighterBalance, 1 6784479600, melissa.cook@brighterbalance.app, https://brighterbalance.app/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/brighterbalance-named-a-gold-friend-of-case-in-support-of-special-education-leaders-nationwide-302831692.html

SOURCE BrighterBalance

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K-Bro Announces Release Date, Conference Call and Webcast for Q2 2026 Financial Results

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(TSX: KBL)

EDMONTON, AB, July 22, 2026 /CNW/ — K-Bro Linen Inc. (the “Corporation”) will release its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 after market close. The Corporation will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss the results on Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (7:00 a.m. Mountain Time).

The conference call will include prepared remarks from Linda McCurdy, President and CEO, and Kristie Plaquin, Chief Financial Officer.  After the prepared remarks, the Corporation will accept questions from analysts and institutional investors.

Date:  Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Time:  9:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. MT)
Call:    1-888-510-2154 (Canada and USA)
            437-900-0527 (International)

To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register and enter your phone number at  https://emportal.ink/4wAkiCY to receive an instant automated call back. 

Participants are asked to call at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.  For those unable to participate on the live call, a replay will be made available until August 12, 2026 by dialing 1.888.660.6345 (Canada and USA), passcode 36338.  The public is invited to listen to the live conference call or the replay.

This conference call will be webcast live over the internet and can be accessed by all interested parties at the following https://app.webinar.net/WpVkGB4wN7E 

To listen to the live webcast, visit the Corporation’s website at least 10 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. For those unable to listen during the live webcast, an audio replay will be available shortly after the conclusion of the conference call for a period of 90 days.

CORPORATE PROFILE

K-Bro is the largest owner and operator of laundry and linen processing facilities in Canada. K-Bro provides a comprehensive range of general linen and operating room linen processing, management and distribution services to healthcare institutions, hotels and other commercial accounts.  K-Bro currently operates eleven processing facilities in eight Canadian cities: Québec City, Montréal, Toronto, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Fishers was established in 1900 and is an operator of laundry and linen processing facilities in Scotland, providing linen rental, workwear hire and cleanroom garment services to the hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors. Fishers’ client base includes major hotel chains and prestigious venues across Scotland and the North East of England. The company operates five sites in Scotland and the North East of England with facilities in Cupar, Perth, Newcastle, Livingston and Coatbridge.

Shortridge has operated as a family run business since the 1990s and is based in Cumbria, with plants in Lillyhall, Dumfries and a distribution depot in Darlington. It specializes in providing high quality laundry services to local independent hospitality businesses, including hotels, B&Bs, self-catering units and restaurants.

Stellar Mayan (previously known as Star Mayan) is a holding company that owns 100% interests in three operating businesses: Synergy, Grosvenor Contracts and AeroServe. Stellar Mayan is a leading commercial laundry business in England, serving the healthcare and hospitality markets. Typical services offered include processing, management and distribution of healthcare and hospitality linens, including sheets, blankets, towels, surgical gowns and other linen. Star Mayan has seven operating facilities strategically located across England: Bermondsey, Derby, Dunstable, Sheffield, Slough (2), and St. Helens, in addition to a distribution depot in Manchester.

Additional information regarding the Corporation including required securities filings are available on our website at www.k-brolinen.com and on the Canadian Securities Administrators’ website at www.sedar.com; the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (“SEDAR”).

K‑Bro est le plus important propriétaire et exploitant de buanderies au Canada. K‑Bro fournit une gamme étendue de services de buanderie aux établissements de soins de santé, hôtels et autres clients commerciaux. K‑Bro exploite actuellement dix usines dans huit villes canadiennes: Québec, Montréal, Toronto, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver et Victoria.

Vous pouvez obtenir des renseignements supplémentaires sur la Société, y compris les documents déposés auprès des autorités de réglementation, sur notre site Web, au www.k-brolinen.com et sur le site Web des autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières au www.sedar.com, le site Web du Système électronique de données, d’analyse et de recherche (« SEDAR »).

SOURCE K-Bro Linen Inc.

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