TG Updates

TG Conference keynote to offer an artful vision for the "Kaleidoscope of Dreams"
Motivational speaker and artist Erik Wahl will set the tone for this year's TG Conference, "Kaleidoscope of Dreams," with his keynote presentation "The Art of Vision" during the conference's opening session at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 21.

Federal Updates

Current special allowance rates: quarter ending March 31, 2004
Special allowance rates for the quarter ending March 31, 2004, are now available.

Closed school corner
The Department of Education announces three new closures.

Trends and Issues

Spanish-language financial aid awareness materials from TG help prepare new generations for college
TG has long recognized the importance of providing college and financial aid knowledge to all potential college students. Because we are based in Texas, a state with one of the largest Hispanic populations, TG offers a range of useful resources to make sure both English- and Spanish-speaking families and students have access to college and financial aid information.

Edufacts™ — March 2004
The college experience is centered on going to class, doing homework, writing papers and taking exams. But learning can happen in many ways, and take many forms. A student's college education is influenced by the activities — academic, social, athletic and personal — in which he or she is involved. Student engagement, or the "frequency with which students participate in activities that represent effective educational practice," has been analyzed by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. The results are compiled in its report, the 2003 National Survey of Student Engagement. The NSSE study indicates that this type of involvement in a student's education translates into a positive undergraduate experience.

Common Manual

Training brief illustrates how Common Manual policies move from idea to publication
A new training brief from the Common Manual Policy Committee traces the path of a policy proposal throughout the development process, from idea to publication.

This, That, and the Other...

Mapping Your Future (MYF), a public service website sponsored by TG and other guarantors, has grown by leaps and bounds since its debut in 1996. The following statistics from MYF illustrate how popular some of its innovative features have become:

• About 38 percent of the approximately 6,500 participating Title IV schools now use one or more types of MYF Online Student Loan Counseling. MYF offers entrance and exit counseling for both Stafford and Perkins loans.
• Mapping Your Future responded to more than 8,500 feedback messages from families, students, schools, and other visitors last year.
• Live chat events on hot topics such as student loan forgiveness have generated more than 300 questions from student loan borrowers within the first hour.

Learn more about MYF and other innovations brought to you by TG at next week’s TG conference. Look for the MYF session on Thursday at 2:45 p.m. or come up to the fourth floor mezzanine at any time for more information.