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TG Updates

Shoptalk Online 172, September 17, 2002

TG Updates

Reminder: Free Fall Teleconference Coming Soon

There's still time to plan to participate in TG's upcoming telephone conference on Student Loan Forgiveness and Employee Repayment Programs, which will be held on Thursday, September 26, 2002. The telephone conference will feature Sam Wilson, TG's Assistant Vice President of Customer Assistance, and Steven Smith, TG's Assistant Vice President for Strategic Planning.

The telephone conference, scheduled from 2-3 p.m. (CDT), will include discussions of teacher and child care forgiveness programs for Stafford borrowers as well as a few employee benefit programs, such as the Federal Student Loan Repayment Program, that are offered by employers. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

This event is free of charge and open to unlimited participants from any institution. Please submit any questions in advance to Sheila Casey at sheila.casey@tgslc.org to ensure that your specific questions are answered. Registrants will receive a web address where they can review materials related to the topic prior to the telephone conference.

Participation
To register and obtain further details, contact Premiere Teleconferencing at (800) 289-0579 and reference confirmation number 462649. On Thursday, September 26, 2002, registrants should call (800) 474-8920 promptly at 1:50 p.m. and again reference the confirmation number.

TG Offers Listing of Private Student Loans

In the upcoming Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, TG is hopeful that Congress will strengthen the existing federal need-based financial aid programs. While TG advocates this action to correct the imbalance between need-based and other types of aid, TG also supports an increase in the current Stafford loan limits, thereby allowing more students to borrow as needed within the federal programs. Even if those increased limits are approved, however, the cost of attendance at institutions across the country continues to rise, and increasing numbers of students may turn to private loans to bridge the gap between their financial resources and their educational expenses.

The growing need for private loans has prompted schools to research various private lenders to assist their students in making informed decisions about this form of financial aid. TG, with the assistance of the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP), has made this research simpler by adding to its innovative information resources for customers a Private Student Loan Directory at www.tgslc.org. This comprehensive listing, compiled semi-annually by and posted in agreement with the Greentree Gazette, includes information on all lenders offering private education loans.

The directory details various specifications and benefits set by each lender, including:

Annual loan limits,
Interest rate formulas,
Origination fees and other fees, and
Maximum repayment periods.

The directory is also categorized by subject matter areas, making it easy to search for lenders that have particular private loan programs for individuals in certain categories. These categories include:

Students participating in graduate study, second degree programs, or teaching credential programs;
Students participating in law, dental, medical, or health professions studies;
Parents or eligible sponsors of K-12 students;
Students seeking consolidation/home equity/tuition payment loans; and
Students in specific regions or states.

Currently available in PDF, the Private Student Loan Directory will be modified in Spring 2003 to allow students, families, and financial aid professionals to search for particular lenders or to sort the listing by available interest rates or benefits.

More Information
TG has the ability to disburse non-TG FFELP and private loan funds through its enhanced Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) process on AdvanTG™. For more information about this process, see Shoptalk Online Edition 151.