Federal Updates

ED Makes Call for Reauthorization Recommendations
ED recently issued a Federal Register notice soliciting comments and recommendations on proposals for amending and extending the Higher Education Act (HEA). This notice officially launches ED's efforts to collect input from the higher education community regarding the upcoming HEA reauthorization. Although scheduled for this year, reauthorization is not likely to be completed until late 2004 or early 2005.

TG Updates

TG Simplifies Alternative Loan Funding for SAGU and Wells Fargo
Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) and Wells Fargo recently partnered with TG to deliver the first alternative loan funds through TG's enhanced Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) process.

Trends and Issues

Hotline, Chat Event to Inform Students about Admissions, Financial Aid Options
College-bound seniors from the graduating class of 2003 are in the final phase of deciding which college or university to attend. To assist in the admissions and financial aid process and to determine eligibility for federal student aid and many scholarships, the Texas Association for College Admission Counseling (TACAC) and LoanSTAR Systems are sponsoring a college information hotline.

Common Manual

Common Manual Updates
Information on recent updates to the Common Manual.

Legislative Update

The January 9, 2003, issue of the Legislative Report provides updates on newly introduced federal legislation, continuing resolutions on federal budget issues, preliminary work on HEA reauthorization, and a new enrollment period for the Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan. Read the details at www.tgslc.org/lege_report/index.cfm.

This, That, and the Other...

Health professionals pursuing careers in clinical, pediatric, contraception and infertility, or health disparities research have until January 31, 2003, to apply for loan repayment benefits of up to $35,000 per year. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers competitive loan repayment programs that not only repay qualified education debt directly to participants' lenders, but also reimburse participants for federal and state taxes owed on the repayment benefits.

Details on the NIH loan repayment programs and eligibility criteria are available at http://www.lrp.nih.gov/.

Take a look at Adventures In Education, TG's Public Awareness website.