Federal Updates

ED to allow limited access to NSLDS
As previously reported in Shoptalk Online, on April 18 ED suspended access to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) for financial partners — lenders and guarantors — in order to examine the database for instances of "unauthorized use of NSLDS" (per an ED announcement titled Access to NSLDS-Update #1, released April 20).

ED keeps things status quo for ACG and SMART for next year
It appears that 2007-08 is going to look a lot like 2006-07 under the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant Programs.

Accreditation Neg Reg gets one more chance
ED officials decided late yesterday that ED would hold a one-day meeting in late May or early June to allow participants another opportunity to come to overall consensus on the approximately dozen issues that the Accreditation team was charged with negotiating. Shoptalk Online will report on the outcome of that final meeting.

TG Updates

TG introduces TG Versatile Routing^SM
TG has launched TG Versatile Routing, a proprietary service that simplifies and enhances guarantee processing, routing, and reporting for lenders that use a single lender identification number (LID) with multiple servicers to obtain TG loan guarantees.

Spotlight on TG's Public Benefit Grant Program: the Mobile Go Center
Hitched to a pickup, the trailer — or Mobile Go Center — becomes a rolling education outreach event, offering students and families in border counties, like Jim Hogg, Webb, and Zapata, vital information on planning for college.

Trends and Issues

Accurate and timely enrollment status reporting is critical for Grad PLUS
Since the implementation of Grad PLUS loans, the industry has discovered several ramifications of the extension of PLUS loans to graduate and professional students. The program is very beneficial to graduate and professional students — they can borrow under a federal program, with a low interest rate and borrower benefits, up to the cost of attendance minus estimated financial assistance. But it's also a little confusing: the borrower enters repayment while in school, though he or she immediately qualifies for a deferment.

Question of the week
If a student is taking preparatory coursework for admission into an undergraduate program of study, and the student is seeking a Stafford loan, is the student eligible for the increased base Stafford annual loan limit of $3,500 effective July 1, 2007?

Legislative Update

The House Education and Labor Committee convened in a public hearing on April 25 for two hours to hear from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Discussion centered on the attorney general's investigations into the student loan programs. Cuomo made five major points during his testimony, or in response to questions, which, for the most part, found agreement with the bipartisan Committee. To learn more about the public hearing, read the full Legislative Update report on TG Online at www.tgslc.org/lege_report/index.cfm.

This, That, and the Other...

To mark April's national financial literacy month, the U.S. Treasury launched its first financial education television commercial to encourage Americans to save for important life events. The "Choose to Save" public service announcement, a product of a partnership with the American Savings Education Council (ASEC), promotes free government resources for financial planning available on the website www.MyMoney.gov. The 30-second public service announcement, part of ASEC's broader Choose to Save series of radio and television spots, can be found at www.treas.gov/financialeducation.

The ad directs viewers to the federal government's one-stop shop website for personal finance information. The MyMoney.gov website, available in both English and Spanish, has links to materials that teach the importance of saving for retirement, managing credit cards, investing, avoiding scams, and many other useful subjects. Users can also test their financial literacy knowledge with the Money 20 quiz.