Federal Updates

President Bush releases proposed budget for FY 2007
On February 6, 2006, President Bush submitted his proposed budget for FY 2007 to Congress. Consistent with last year's budget process, the president has expressed the goal of maintaining fiscal responsibility in an attempt to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009.

ED no longer requires schools to consider "unallocated" amounts on NSLDS
As reported in an NSLDS Newsletter released last week, ED has reversed a previous policy that required financial aid administrators (FAAs) to determine if "unallocated" amounts reported on a student's financial aid history on NSLDS affect a student's eligibility for subsequent Stafford loans. Effective January 2006, FAAs are no longer responsible for making such determinations. Further, per ED, NSLDS "does not use unallocated amounts when calculating aggregate subsidized, unsubsidized, and combined outstanding principal balances." As a result, the manner in which Consolidation loans are displayed on the NSLDS Web pages has also been modified.

ED delivers draft FY 2004 cohort default rates
On February 13, ED electronically transmitted draft cohort default rate notification packages (eCDRs) for FY 2004 to all schools located in the United States. Through eCDR, the schools receive draft cohort default rate packages instantly and electronically rather than through courier service as hard copy. Foreign schools are not required to participate in this electronic process. Foreign school CDR notification packages were mailed February 13.

President signs Deficit Reduction Act; corrections to last week's edition
Our readers spotted a few errors in last week's Shoptalk Online. TG has corrected the version of the articles archived on our website, and wants to make sure that you are aware of the changes.

TG Updates

TG's FY 2005 Annual Report available
TG's Annual Report for FY 2005 is now available. The report illustrates TG's strong financial position and highlights our accomplishments during the past fiscal year, including public benefit activities TG has initiated, operational efficiencies gained, and corporate goals TG has achieved. The report also features examples from many of our business partners about the quality of service they receive from TG.

TG participates in TERP
On February 11, TG will become a Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP) participant. If you are a lender or servicer customer of both TG and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), you receive your enrollment data from both TG and the NSC. If you choose to participate in TERP, TG now can modify your customer profile to suppress the creation of enrollment records, which would allow you to receive all of your TG enrollment data directly from the NSC.

Reporting Back: 1982
TG's second Annual Report, issued June 30, 1982, reported on TG's first full year as a loan guarantor and on the further efforts of TG's board and team members to develop and maintain a fully functioning guarantor for the state of Texas. TG experienced tremendous growth in loan volume, school customers, lender partners, and TG team members during FY 1982.

Find a TG training event near you
Financial aid officers look forward to two things come February: the end of the spring peak season and some free training to help them do their jobs even better. While TG can't make peak season end any faster, our professional trainers and presenters can provide your staff with some free training this year, as they travel around the country to various conferences and other events.

Question of the week
What is TG's PLUS Credit Connection?

This, That, and the Other...

A new report by the American Council on Education (ACE) estimates 1.5 million students who would probably have been awarded Pell Grants in 2003-04 did not apply for them. That's up from ACE's estimate in a previous survey of 850,000 who missed out on aid in 1999-2000, the Associated Press reported in a February 13 article.

The ACE study, released Wednesday, finds the percentage of undergraduates completing FAFSA actually rose from 50 percent to 59 percent over the four-year period it studied, and the total number of applications increased by nearly 3 million, to 11.1 million.

But the number of low-income students who did not file rose from 1.7 million to 1.8 million, or 28 percent of low-income students. And that was a time when the government expanded the Pell program, so ACE estimates 1.5 million people who failed to apply would have received grants — a figure that represents only students who still managed to enroll somewhere. It doesn't include people who never made it to college at all, and might have done so with aid.

To read the article, visit http://www.chron.com/
disp/story.mpl/ap/
nation/3652546.html.