Common Manual

Common Manual updates

On November 16, 2006, guarantor representatives who serve on the Common Manual Governing Board approved several changes to the Common Manual. Details on these changes and a newly updated Integrated Common Manual incorporating the changes are available online at www.tgslc.org/resources/integrated_online_manual.cfm.

Special Common Bulletin Distribution — Approved Policies #850 and 851, Batch 127
Figure 13-1, the chart entitled "Information to Be Provided on the Claim Form," in the October 2006 Common Manual has been corrected to incorporate changes previously approved in policies 850 and 851 of Batch 127.

Policy 851 clarified the description of several required data elements on the Claim Form: endorser's or comaker's SSN; endorser's or comaker's last-known complete address; and endorser's or comaker's home telephone number. Policy 851 also clarified the footnote "3" that is associated with all three of these required data elements, as follows: "Refers to information that the lender must provide on the Claim Form for loans first disbursed on or after September 1, 1998." Due to an error in the October 2006 Common Manual publication, this footnote was incorrectly numbered, and was not associated with the correct data elements to which it pertains.

Policy 850 updated Figure 13-1 to align with the revised common Claim Form. A new field was added to the Claim Form to capture the amount of unpaid origination fee and unpaid capitalized interest that are included in the principal balance on the date the claim is filed. Policy 850 added a new footnote "4" to Figure 13-1, denoting that lenders are required to provide unpaid origination fee and unpaid capitalized interest information on the Claim Form for claims filed for loans first disbursed on or after September 1, 2004. Due to an error in the October 2006 Common Manual publication, this new footnote was incorrectly labeled "3," and was not associated with the data element to which it pertains.

Each of the errors has been corrected in the Integrated Common Manual update to the October 2006 electronic manual. In addition, this special common bulletin is accompanied by an attachment that contains a corrected copy of Figure 13-1. Please distribute the attachment along with this special common bulletin to your participants and manual users within your organizations. Users of a paper manual are strongly encouraged to print the attachment, remove the current Figure 13-1 from their paper version of the October 2006 manual, and replace it with the corrected Figure 13-1 provided in the attachment available at www.tgslc.org/policy/integrated_online_manual.cfm.

Effects of Consolidation Loan on New Stafford Loan Eligibility
The Common Manual has been revised to reflect a change in the treatment of the unallocated amount of a Consolidation loan by the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). The unallocated amount of a Consolidation loan is no longer included in the aggregate subsidized, unsubsidized, and outstanding principal balances on NSLDS. In addition, the financial aid administrator is no longer required to investigate whether an unallocated amount might impact a student's eligibility for additional Stafford loans, unless the school has information that conflicts with NSLDS data. If the school has conflicting information at the point at which it is certifying the loan, the school must resolve the conflict and must include the result of that resolution in the school's calculations regarding the student's eligible loan amount. The school is not required, at the point of loan delivery, to double-check NSLDS to determine if the financial aid history has changed. If, however, the school obtains conflicting information that may affect the student's eligibility in the interim between the loan certification and the delivery of funds, the school is required to resolve the conflicting information and adjust the loan amount, if necessary.

Unpaid Refund
The Common Manual has been revised to reflect that a borrower is no longer required to submit a separate sworn statement of declarations along with the Loan Discharge Application: Unpaid Refund form because the application includes that sworn statement of declarations.

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