Federal Updates

Neg Reg begins
As reported in Shoptalk Online Edition 383, ED has launched a series of negotiated rulemaking or "Neg Reg" sessions to discuss potential regulatory changes under the umbrella of Student Loan Issues, with the first session held last week from December 12-14.

TG Updates

TG holiday hours and Shoptalk Online break
TG will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, December 25-26, for the Christmas holiday and on Monday, January 1, for the New Year's holiday.

Spotlight on TG's Public Benefit Grant Program: Texas A&M University — Corpus Christi
For the academic year 2007-08, Texas A&M University — Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) will offer grants to 25 eligible students living in the Houston area through its Need to Succeed program. TG awarded $102,500 to TAMU-CC for use in this program, which will provide grants to student recipients in their first and second year on campus.

Product spotlight: TG's Credit and Debt brochure
To help your students understand credit and manage potential credit card debt better, TG has put together a Credit and Debt brochure. You can mail this pamphlet to students once they enroll at your school, or provide it in the financial aid office lobby for easy pick-up and stow in a notebook or backpack.

Reporting Back: 2001
In 2006, TG marked its 25th year as a guarantor in the FFELP industry. To celebrate, Shoptalk Online has looked closer at TG’s work, featuring information from TG’s annual reports. The annual report for 2001 notes a number of achievements in various areas, including larger guarantee volume, broader industry training, and revised technology products.

Trends and Issues

Question of the week
I just received an alternative loan application for one of my students. I know, from reading an article in Shoptalk Online, Edition 385, that when I learn of a student's alternative loan, whether the school certified it or not, I must take that alternative loan into account when determining the student's federal student aid eligibility. Should I consider the alternative loan as estimated financial assistance, which may reduce the student's eligibility for need-based aid, or should I handle it as I do other types of non-need-based loans (e.g., unsubsidized Stafford), which can be used to replace the student's expected family contribution (EFC)?

This, That, and the Other...

These days, leaving home for college has taken on a modified meaning. More students are using computer video programs to "visit" their parents; or they're flying home more often thanks to cheap air fares; or they're driving back given college schedules that leave students more free time. A 2005 study of students at Middlebury College in Vermont found that undergraduates communicated with their mothers and fathers an average of 10.41 times a week. Whether this is a sign of over-attachment or of a healthy need to balance school and private life is in debate by various campus administrators and parents themselves.

Read the complete New York Times article that describes the rise in student visits at www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14nest.html?ref=education.