Federal Updates

Secretary releases letter urging early, voluntary compliance with proposed regulations
On August 9, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings released an Electronic Announcement in which she encourages schools and lenders to consider early implementation of certain elements of the proposed regulations regarding preferred lender lists and prohibited inducements.

ED issues general provisions proposed regulations
On the heels of the proposed regulations for the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National SMART Grant programs issued by ED last Tuesday came the long-awaited proposed regulations for general provisions.

TG Updates

TG offers schools added flexibility in disclosing their lender list selection process
Although proposed regulations governing preferred lender lists have not yet taken effect, many schools want to add more transparency to their lender list selection process now. TG takes these concerns seriously. In fact, TG recently added a new feature to its Web-based student loan application software — TG Loans By Web™ — to help schools make a full and clear disclosure to borrowers about lender list selection.

Trends and Issues

Sticky situations: Modules and mini-sessions
A school with standard term-based programs often does creative things with some of its terms to provide students with flexible scheduling and coursework options. Many of these creative approaches include the use of modules and/or mini-sessions, particularly in the summer. This article addresses some common issues that arise with modules and mini-sessions.

Give yourself an entrance/exit counseling checkup
With the traditional fall semester just a couple of weeks away, schools will be making sure that their first-time Stafford loan borrowers complete entrance counseling. Now is the time to double-check that the entrance and exit counseling you are providing to your students has all of the requisite components.

Question of the week
Can a borrower receive teacher loan forgiveness for his or her Federal Consolidation loan?

Legislative Update

After several years of inaction during the 108th and 109th Congresses, the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization is finally nearing completion. The conference committee report on the budget reconciliation bills will be passed by the House and Senate in September after the committee staffs adjust the differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of the legislation during the August congressional recess. The provisions included in the Senate-passed HEA reauthorization legislation may be included in the conference committee deliberations, or may be taken up later in the fall by the House. Learn more about the latest developments with reauthorization and the budget reconciliation process by reading the full Legislative Report on TG Online at www.tgslc.org/lege_report/index.cfm.

This, That, and the Other...

On August 2, 2007, TG guaranteed the largest single-day dollar volume of student loans in its history — $89,402,617. About 13,000 students received a guarantee for well over 16,000 loans. Only 113 of these loans were "rejected" for errors in processing, which could be due to incomplete or incorrect information or because the student requested a Stafford loan amount that exceeds his or her aggregate loan limit.

The volume of the August 2 guarantees — and certainly the speed with which they were processed — pays testament to the strength and efficiency of TG's technology. It also puts a spotlight on the behind-the-scenes workings of its loan guarantee staff, who work long hours during peak season ensuring all applications are processed quickly. TG's loan guarantee team diligently reviews applications that have been rejected, tracking down incomplete or missing information and fixing all problems that can be fixed. Its objective is to save time for schools and students during the guarantee process and ensure students a timely guarantee.

To learn more about TG's guarantee processes, contact the loan guarantee operations team at (800) 446-5616, or send an message to lgo.helps@tgslc.org.