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Shoptalk Online Contents

Federal Updates

Shoptalk Online 137, January 15, 2002

Federal Updates

Neal Combs to Participate in 2002 Neg Reg

The December 11, 2001, Shoptalk Online (Edition 134), contained an article regarding ED's call for nominations for participation in the 2002 Negotiated Rulemaking sessions. TG is pleased to announce that Neal Combs, TG Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Operating Officer, has been selected to participate on the team that will negotiate program and other school issues.

Teams
Negotiated Rulemaking, or Neg Reg, is broken down into "teams." This year, there are two teams: Team I will negotiate student loan issues and Team II will negotiate program and other school issues.

Representing 2-year public colleges on Team II will be Claire (Micki) Roemer from Tarrant County College
Representing lenders, secondary markets, and loan servicers will be:
- On Team I, Jane Stewart of the Southwest Student Services Corporation
- On Team II, Francine Andrea of the New Jersey Higher Education Assistance Authority
Representing guaranty agencies will be:
- On Team I, Scott Miller of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Association
- On Team II, Neal Combs of Texas Guaranteed, and as alternate, Carl Buck of the New Mexico Educational Assistance Foundation

Agenda
Most of the issues on the 2002 Neg Reg agenda for each team stem from the FED.UP Initiative, although there are some non-FED.UP issues. The FED.UP Initiative was developed by the House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness of the Education and Workforce Committee to solicit ideas from those involved in federal student financial aid about federal regulations that should be revised or removed. For more information on the FED.UP Initiative, see Shoptalk Online Edition 120 or visit the FED.UP web site at http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/107th/education/fedup/index.htm.

In addition, all of the issues on the agenda can be resolved within the bounds of regulations (i.e., Neg Reg does not address items that would require statutory change). Furthermore, ED chose issues for the agenda that are likely to be successfully negotiated—that is, that stand a good chance of reaching consensus. Specific issues on the agenda are available on ED's Negotiated Rulemaking web site, at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/rulemaking/index2002.html.

Sessions
There will be three Neg Reg sessions this year. Each team will meet during each of the sessions. The meeting dates are as follows:

Session 1—week of January 14
Session 2—week of March 4
Session 3—week of April 22

Your Input
TG welcomes input from its customers on the issues to be negotiated at Neg Reg and encourages you to submit comments to Vickie Tanner, TG Assistant Vice President of Customer Services, at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4526 or to send an e-mail message to vickie.tanner@tgslc.org. TG will keep its customers informed about the Neg Reg sessions via Shoptalk Online and via the Lender/School Advisory and TASFAA listservs and TASFAA and ATLE board meetings.

Current Special Allowance Rates

The following special allowance rates apply for the quarter ending December 31, 2001:

The average of the bond equivalent rates of the 91-day Treasury bills auctioned during the quarter ending December 31, 2001, is 1.97 percent.
The average of the bond equivalent rates of the quotes of the three-month commercial paper (financial) rates in effect for each of the days in the quarter ending December 31, 2001, is 2.07 percent.

The FFELP special allowance rates for the most recent quarter are available at http://www.tgslc.org/pdf/SA12312001.pdf.

Questions
For questions about special allowance rates, contact TG Customer Assistance at (800) 845-6267 or send an e-mail message to cust.assist@tgslc.org.

Veterans Benefits to Increase

On December 27, 2001, President Bush signed legislation that will increase higher-education benefits for veterans under the Montgomery GI Bill. The compromise legislation (HR 1291), known as the Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, will mean incremental increases in benefits in January 2002, October 2002, and October 2003.

As a result of the legislation, a veteran with a minimum of three years of service would see benefits increase by more than 50 percent—from the current $650 to $985 per month by October 2003. Once the changes are fully implemented, total benefits for a veteran seeking a bachelor's degree would increase from the current $23,400 to $36,900.

The act is available for review online at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/
getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_bills&docid=f:h1291enr.txt.pdf.

Closed School Corner

Newly Reported Closures
TG School ID#	School Name/ School Address	Unofficial Closure Date	ED's Official Closure Date
008431000	Casco Bay College 477 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101-3483	N/A	07/31/1999

Note: It appears that Casco's assests were purchased by Andover College (009292000). According to the accrediting agency, they are treating this as a closure. Therefore, the Department will treat it as a closure. Student Arrangements: Students were allowed to transfer their credits into Andover College (009292000) to complete their programs of study.