Federal Updates

Additional interest rates released
As mentioned in Shoptalk Online, Edition 207, there are two categories of interest rates (besides those for existing Stafford, SLS, and PLUS loans) that are released at the end of June. These rates are now available.

TG Updates

Steer borrowers into TG's Consolidation Station
TG is pleased to announce a practical Web resource for borrowers who are contemplating consolidation. The website, called Consolidation Station, is available on TG Online at www.tgslc.org under "For Borrowers." Simply click on the link in the right-hand column.

Exit counseling booklet updated with latest rule changes
TG is offering a newly updated version of its popular booklet, "New Directions: A Guide to Repaying Your Student Loans." The updated version, hot off the presses, reflects new regulatory provisions going into effect today, July 1.

New at NASFAA: TG debuts new default prevention training model
As announced last week, TG and the Council for the Management of Educational Finance are introducing a new default aversion resource: a training guide for schools that incorporates default prevention strategies within the context of strategic enrollment management (SEM) principles. Entitled "A Clear and Present Danger to Institutional and Student Success," the model provides methods and resources to help the entire campus community affect positive change in cohort default rates by engaging with students from pre-admission through graduation.

Trends and Issues

Edufacts™ — June 2003
At an average cost of $23,385 for the 2002-2003 academic year, Texas private four-year universities are still a bargain compared to the national average. This is primarily because tuition and fees, which make up 62 percent of the cost of a private education, are $3,782 less than at private schools in the rest of the nation.

TG cosponsors chat on distance education and financial aid
Spend a summer evening finding out about online and distance education, and financial aid, during a special chat event on Mapping Your Future (MYF).

Quick Links

• TG's Consolidation Station
• TG at NASFAA

This, That, and the Other...

More than 1 out of every 4 Americans participates in formal education, according to a new statistical digest. Last fall, 24 percent of Americans were enrolled in schools and colleges, 1.5 percent were employed as elementary and secondary school teachers and as college faculty, and about 1.7 percent were employed in professional, administrative, and support positions at educational institutions.

This finding opens the 2002 edition of The Digest of Education Statistics, posted last week by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/
pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003060. The digest offers information on a variety of subjects, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, achievement, dropouts, graduates, educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons of education.

Of particular note is chapter 3 of the digest, which addresses postsecondary education. If your primary interest is student aid, be sure your reading list also includes TG's own State of Student Aid in Texas, available online at www.tgslc.org/
pdf/statefinaid.pdf.