TG Updates

Sylvia J. Espelage joins TG as a regional account executive for California

Sylvia Espelage, who has 30 years of experience in the student loan industry, recently joined TG as a regional account executive based in San Jose, California. She will be responsible for the Northern California region.

For the past five years, Espelage was director of school relations for Northern California for College Loan Corporation. From 1998-2002, she was a senior marketing representative for Bank One Student Loans in southern Ohio and West Virginia.

Espelage also spent 10 years as a marketing and sales executive with Chase Manhattan and its subsidiaries in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. And she worked as a financial aid counselor for nine years — four years at Cincinnati State Technical College and then five years at College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from College of Mount St. Joseph.

“Sylvia knows the Northern California territory well and has strong relationships in the industry that make her an ideal choice for this new position,” said Kevin Struckhoff, TG’s assistant vice president for relationship management and consulting. “She will continue to work closely with schools and will be a great asset as TG expands service to colleges and universities in California.”

To learn more
Espelage can be reached at (800) 252-9743, ext. 6738, or by e-mail at sylvia.espelage@tgslc.org.

  Back to Top

TG and Mapping Your Future™ make updates due to new final regulations

Mapping Your Future (MYF) has begun to update its Web site content and applications, including the Online Student Loan Counseling (OSLC) sessions, to reflect changes due to implementation of final regulations issued on November 1. With assistance from the content team, OSLC team, and other volunteers, and upon receipt of additional guidance, the staff will make additional updates.

About OSLC
OSLC enables schools and students to meet federal loan counseling requirements conveniently. It also enhances the loan management education of the student by actively involving them in the counseling — making OSLC an important default prevention tool. OSLC can provide busy school staff with an opportunity to spend more time with those students needing assistance in the loan process. It is a free service provided by the guaranty agencies from around the country that sponsor MYF, as well as the friends that support the Web site.

For more information
To learn more about MYF's services for students, families, and schools, visit the Web site at www.mapping-your-future.org.

  Back to Top

Spotlight on TG's Public Benefit Award Program: Training support for the National College Advising Corps

High school counselors play a growing role in the transition that students make from high school to college. More and more, counselors work on the front lines with teachers, serving as mentors to students, charting out possible educational and career tracks, and offering necessary training to prepare students for college. However, the ratio of counselors to students is low according to the American School Counselor Association — nationally, an alarming 1 counselor for every 479 students.

An association of organizations, including the National College Access Network (NCAN) — a nonprofit association of counseling professionals devoted to improving access to postsecondary education for first-generation, under-represented, and low-income students — offers some help. NCAN, along with ten colleges and universities, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have spearheaded an initiative called the National College Advising Corps, which provides under-represented high schools with guides, or “advisors.” These guides work right along side guidance counselors, helping students through the college admissions process, including financial aid applications and scholarship searches.

“While high school counselors cover a range of services, our advisors focus on just college admissions,” said Dr. Nicole Hurd, executive director of the National College Advising Corps. “Within that area, however, they do quite a few things to help students, including offering advice on the right coursework, explaining the college testing process for things like the ACT and the SAT, and even providing tutoring about essay-writing for the college application.”

Advisors are chosen by a committee made up of representatives from the ten colleges and universities, various local K-12 institutions, and NCAN. The advisors go through a rigorous training program on many aspects of admissions and financial aid. According to Hurd, the advisors benefit from direct contact with professionals in the field.

“We bring in financial aid officers who talk about how financial aid is packaged,” said Hurd. “Our guides also learn more about financial literacy and what college students need to know to manage their money during college.”

One of the great advantages of the program is that guides are “near-peer,” that is, they’re close in age to students, which gives their message more “credibility,” according to Hurd. “Students can more easily identify with them and feel empowered by them,” she said.

Long-term goals
The National College Advising Corps aims to increase matriculation rates for under-represented students, and, so far, the results have been impressive. The first program established at the University of Virginia saw matriculation rates rise as much as 20 percent in some areas of the state. Guides logged over 7,000 advising appointments and 400 classroom visits.

Dr. Hurd sees the program expanding to 20 university-based programs with outreach to a potential 1,500 students.

TG supports the program with a Public Benefit grant that helps fund training services for the guides, including various national workshops on mentoring and other skills. NCAN was one of 46 organizations and higher education institutions to receive a grant for the 2007-08 academic year.

About TG's Public Benefit Award Program
To receive funds, organizations were required to submit proposals that addressed the issue of access to postsecondary education and that focused on the needs of first-generation college students, students from high schools with low college-going rates, and/or students who are underrepresented in higher education. Application materials for 2008-09 will be available in January 2008.

To learn more
If you'd like to learn more about TG's Public Benefit Grant Program, you'll find a description of its purpose and process on TG Online at www.tgslc.org/publicbenefit/index.cfm.

  Back to Top