Federal Updates

ED releases DCL to provide guidance on general HERA provisions
Last Friday, ED issued Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-06-05, providing details on certain (non-loan-related) provisions of the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (HERA).

ED provides clarification on prior year charges
ED recently provided guidance to NASFAA on the definition of "prior award year" in the use of current year Title IV funds to pay minor prior year charges.

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

TG Updates

2006 TG Conference presentations now available online
Did some members of your staff miss the 2006 TG Conference last month? Was there a particular presentation that you would like to see again?

TG Conference session on cash management inspires interesting questions
At the TG Annual Conference, Caring for Our Generation and the Next, TG offered a session on the cash management provisions titled Caring for the cash: Cash management for schools. That session, presented by Cynthia Mayberry, manager, Texas consulting, included great discussion by participants and generated several interesting and challenging policy questions.

TG team members recognized at Mapping Your Future^® annual conference
Mapping Your Future presented four TG team members with the Mapping Your Future annual Award of Excellence during its conference in Atlanta last week. The team members were honored for their participation in and support of the nonprofit organization.

Reporting Back: 1987
The Annual Report for 1987, titled Texas Traditions & TGSLC, details TG's increasingly interactive relationship with its partners and the financial aid community as a whole, as well as its growing awareness of the need to prepare for future trends.

Question of the week
Dear Colleague Letter FP-06-05 announced the availability of the new addenda and revised Plain Language Disclosures (PLDs) for distribution to federal loan borrowers. Is this distribution the school's responsibility or the lender's responsibility?

Trends and Issues

TG sponsors chat about financial aid and education debt
Students and parents can receive answers to their questions on financial aid and managing student loans and consumer debt during a live chat event on the Mapping Your Future website (www.mapping-your-future.org) on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 6 p.m. CDT.

This, That, and the Other...

TG has released the 2006 editions of the State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) and the School Fact Sheets. Both are available for download from TG Online.

The SOSA offers members of the student financial aid community, policymakers, and their staffs an overview of key facts relating to student financial aid in the state. The report presents 82 one-page insights into how student aid in Texas compares to other states and to the nation as a whole. The report is available on TG Online at www.tgslc.org/pdf/SOSA.pdf.

The School Fact Sheets include pertinent information about Texas educational institutions, including two- and four-year public and private institutions and proprietary schools. The documents provide key data about the schools, the lenders they work with, and the students they serve — including demographics, typical federal student loan debt loads, and cohort default rates.

The School Fact Sheets are available in both an interactive HTML version and a printer-ready PDF format. The School Fact Sheets can be found at www.tgslc.org/publications/index.cfm. Printed copies of the four-volume School Fact Sheets will be available mid-month.