TG to Sponsor National Distance Education Conference

Texas Guaranteed (TG) has been actively participating in the national dialogue on distance education and its impact on higher education and student financial aid. As a continuation of those efforts, TG will help sponsor a national distance education conference presented by Higher Education Washington, Inc. (HEWI) and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). The conference is scheduled for October 29-30, 2001, at the Inn and Conference Center at the University of Maryland University College.

Conference Issues
The conference, "Distance Learning: The Future of Education," will cover a wide range of distance education issues of interest to schools and lenders. In addition to discussion about student financial aid for distance education, the conference will also include panel discussions about "being a virtual educator," intellectual property, corporate e-learning, LAAP grants, accrediting standards, and many other sessions designed to help expand the distance education dialogue.

"The exciting thing about distance education," said TG President and CEO Milt Wright, "is that it uses technology to reach more students. Through distance education, millions more Americans may be able to pursue their educational and career dreams, right from their own homes."

TG's Role in Distance Education
TG first took an interest in distance education when it won a prestigious Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) program award to develop learnstudentaid.org in partnership with NASFAA and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Learnstudentaid.org will be the nation's first program to teach the profession of student financial aid administration online. Steve Smith, TG Assistant Vice President for Strategic Planning and Development, will be speaking about learnstudentaid.org at the conference.

In addition to learnstudentaid.org, TG is participating in efforts to understand and develop ways to deliver financial aid to distance education students. Distance education is a rapidly expanding trend in higher education. TG estimates that in 1999 – 2000, 72 percent of postsecondary institutions offered some form of distance education, double that offered in 1997 – 1998, just two years earlier. TG along with the UT TeleCampus (the distance education consortium of the University of Texas System), presented a session on financial aid issues in distance education at the 2001 TG Conference in Austin. The session highlighted many of the current issues facing campuses dealing with distance education.

Conference Speakers
One of the conference keynote speakers will be Dr. Bruce Chaloux, Director of the Southern Regional Education Board's Electronic Campus and the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory. The Distance Learning Policy Laboratory is an ambitious project (also funded through a LAAP grant) that seeks to understand how national and state policies affect the development of distance education. TG is participating in the Policy Laboratory's efforts to understand and recommend improvements to financial aid policies and distance education.

Other conference speakers will include:

• Tony Digiovanni, President of University of Phoenix Online, keynote speaker on Oct. 30
• Peter Margolis, Academic Services Consultant, eCollege
• Mark Smith, Associate Director of Government Relations, American Association of University Professors
• Frank Russell, President and Chief Operating Officer, Geo Learning
• Gordon Macomber, CEO and President, NYU Online
• Jack Goetz, Dean, Concord University School of Law
• Ellen Blackmun, LAAP Project Director, NASFAA
• Steve Smith, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Planning and Development, Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation
• Kay Gilcher, Distance Education Demonstration Program, US Department of Education
• Joe McCormick, Vice President National Affairs, Apollo Group
• Dees Stallings, Executive Director for Higher Education Services, VCampus Corp.

Distance Learning and Financial Aid
NASFAA's participation in "Distance Learning: The Future of Education" emphasizes the importance of financial aid as one of the many critical topics of discussion for the future of distance education.

According to John Dean, President of HEWI, "NASFAA's desire to co-present this conference further solidifies the need for continued financial aid reform for e-learning students. Their presence and support will help bring financial aid regulation reform into the spotlight and give attendees insight into another dimension of the distance learning initiative that is sweeping our nation."

More Information
To register for the conference and learn more about the agenda, speakers, and hotel accommodations, visit www.hewi.net, or call Anne Popovich, HEWI, at (202) 842-4989.

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