TG Updates

2006 TG Conference, Caring for our generation and the next, kicks off today in Austin
More than 730 financial aid and higher education professionals are gathering for the opening day of the 2006 TG Conference at the Hilton Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas. The three-day event has come to be known as one of the premiere training events in the industry.

Reporting Back: 1986
TG's 1986 Annual Report details a year of growth and achievement for the corporation, with added emphasis on technical training, communication with customers, and industry leadership.

Question of the week
Can a school have a policy for students who have authorized that their funds be delivered by direct deposit, and who have been awarded both a Stafford and a PLUS loan, that any credit balance (whether it is composed of Stafford funds or PLUS funds, or both) is sent to the student's bank account?

Trends and Issues

Meeting Notes: Larry Burt talks about his recent appointment to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance
Larry Burt, associate vice president and director of student financial services for the University of Texas at Austin, recently was appointed by Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education, to serve on the nation's Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. Following Dr. Burt's first meeting with the Committee on April 4, Shoptalk Online took the opportunity to visit briefly with him about his appointment and his role as a Committee appointee.

Common Manual

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

This, That, and the Other...

More middle- and upper-middle-class parents are limiting what they will pay for their children's higher education, according to an April 10 New York Times article. While financing a college education has long been a strain, parents seem willing today to pass more of the burden on to their children, financial aid officers say. Many are worried about affording retirement and say their fixed costs eat up their income. Others have not saved enough or are helping pay for care for their aging parents.

"What I've really seen in the last 10 years is a generational shifting of the responsibility" to pay for college, said Ellen Frishberg, director of student financial services at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "Our parents helped us pay for school. These parents are not as willing to help their children pay for school."

To read the article in its entirety, visit www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/education/10aid.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.