Back to current
Shoptalk Online Contents

TG Updates

Shoptalk Online 134, December 11, 2001

TG Updates

2002 TACAC Hotline to Include Online Chat

On Saturday and Sunday, January 19 and 20, 2002, the Texas Association for College Admission Counseling (TACAC) and LoanSTAR Educational Loans will conduct a College Information Hotline at LoanSTAR's headquarters in Bryan, Texas.

As in years past, the hotline will offer families and students an open invitation to call a toll-free number—(800) 347-3475—to ask financial aid and admissions questions each day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Again in 2002, financial aid, admissions, and counselor volunteers will be on hand throughout the weekend to use their expertise to provide those answers.

The 2002 hotline will also offer an added bonus: an Adventures In Education online chat, which will expand access to the valuable information offered through the hotline. Anyone with Internet access can join the chat event by going to www.AdventuresInEducation.org. Once on the site, visitors who select the chat session will be guided to the live event.

Additionally, LoanSTAR will award a $500 scholarship to one lucky caller each day of the Hotline event.

More Information and Questions
Adventures in Education is a public service website sponsored by TG that delivers free education and financial aid awareness information to families and students. For questions about the chat event, contact Michelle Enriquez at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4675, or send an message to michelle.enriquez@tgslc.org.

For questions about the hotline, contact Debbie Perez at (979) 845-3741 or Andrea Schrock at marketing@loanstar.com.

Additions to AdvanTG™ Manual Offer Help with Reports and Change Transactions

TG has added two new easy-to-use sections to the AdvanTG 3.0 Manual—the Change Transaction Addendum and the Reports Addendum—to help users get the most out of the AdvanTG reporting and change transaction functions.

Change Transaction Addendum
The Change Transaction Addendum incorporates the information that was originally offered in the change transaction "cookbook" distributed at TG's Annual Conference in April 2001. It includes a screen shot of each Change Transaction window along with an explanation of the required data for each. In addition, the reference offers a list of TG's OnLine Access function codes and a list of available Change Transaction Reports.

Reports Addendum
In addition to basic instructions for creating reports through AdvanTG, the Reports Addendum provides summary information about each report, including screen shots of the windows through which users set up their report criteria and details about the following items:

Selection Type;
Report Type;
User (school, lender, or both);
Content/Purpose;
Suggested Run; and
The required settings for each screen shot shown.

The Reports Addendum also includes a sample of each report type.

More Information and Obtaining Your Copy
The addenda were originally distributed at the November TG Users Group meeting. They are designed to be inserted into the three-ring binder users received with their original AdvanTG 3.0 Manual.

Users who have not yet received copies of the Change Transaction Addendum and the Reports Addendum can request them by contacting Joyce Henderson at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4546 or by sending an message to joyce.henderson@tgslc.org.

TG Presenters Share Expertise at Fall Training Conference

Several TG team members participated as session presenters and moderators at the 2001 National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) Fall Training Conference in November in Salt Lake City, Utah. NCHELP represents a nationwide network of guaranty agencies, secondary markets, lenders, loan servicers, collectors, schools and other organizations involved in the administration of the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

TG takes an active role in NCHELP activities and typically has several representatives presenting at NCHELP conferences. This year, Rinn Harper, Assistant Vice President of Claims, was the conference co-chair. TG also provided assistance on sessions covering a variety of topics, including default prevention, disaster relief, teacher loan forgiveness, and electronic standards.

The following TG team members contributed to the success of this year's Fall Training Conference:

Michelle Anderson, Senior Policy Advisor, Policy and Regulatory Affairs—"The Common Manual e-Collection: Faster, Higher, Stronger"
Phillip Cervin, Assistant Vice President, Collections—"National Database for New Hires is a Winner"
Jacob Fraire, Assistant Vice President, Educational Alliances and Partnerships—"Going for the Gold: Innovations in Default Prevention and Debt Management"
Rinn Harper, Assistant Vice President, Claims—"Cross-Country Claims: An Endurance Event Like No Other"
Laura Kowalski, Senior Policy Advisor, Policy and Regulatory Affairs—"Regs 101: The Sport of Student Loans" and "Beyond September 11th: Implementation of Disaster Relief"
Kyle Smith, Assistant Vice President, Loan Guarantee Operations—"Fanfare for CommonLine Release 5"
Sam Wilson, Assistant Vice President, Customer Assistance—"Teacher Loan Forgiveness: Teaching for the Gold!"

Materials from all of the conference sessions will be posted this month on NCHELP's website at www.nchelp.org/events/past_events/Training_2001/Fall%20Agenda.htm.