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TG Updates
TG issues new publication to help schools increase student retention and success
TG has issued a new publication that studies the reasons for success and failure of students on campus, and makes recommendations on how to encourage student retention and persistence.
Engaging Faculty and Staff: An Imperative for Fostering Retention, Advising, and Smart Borrowing was written to provide useful insights and strategies for institutions to use in order to increase student retention, persistence and postsecondary success — and to reduce the burdens of student loan defaults.
The publication was a joint project of TG and the Educational Policy Institute, an international organization in Virginia Beach, Va., dedicated to the study of educational opportunity.
The book explains the many reasons for success and failure for students on campus, and provides information on what causes many students to drop out of college. It also provides a background of student success issues, and introduces faculty and staff to a model for student retention and persistence.
The publication also examines how faculty/student relationships can support student engagement on campus, leading to future student success. The three types of advising important for student success — academic, financial and career counseling — are examined. Additionally, institutions of higher learning are encouraged to develop early warning systems to identify students who are at risk, and to intervene to keep them on the path to graduation.
Jacob Fraire, TG's assistant vice president of educational alliances, said the Engaging Faculty and Staff book provides a compelling case for engaging the academic community in adopting policies and practices that promote academic success, student retention, and debt management.
"It is our intent that faculty and staff may not only gain a greater understanding for the complex issues affecting student persistence and educational debt, but also identify specific ideas from this book that they can adopt on their respective campus," Jacob said.
Copies of the publication may be ordered online at http://tgorder.tgslc.org/acb/stores/3/product1.asp?SID=3&Product_ID=169, or by calling (800) 252-9743, ext. 4546.
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TG product trainer Lisa Felder helps customers get the most out of TG's products
To do her job well, TG product trainer Lisa Felder relies on three things: her insight about what customers need, input from TG product and support teams about product training needs, and a desire to make processes simpler for schools and lenders.
Lisa gleaned her insight from more than 14 years of experience in a variety of customer-facing positions with TG — from collections to customer service to product management. Her desire to simplify customer processes springs from a genuine dedication to schools and lenders and their mission to help students get a degree. She also enjoys the opportunity to connect with customers in person and over the phone.
"That is really the best part of my work, getting to work directly with customers and having that interaction," said Lisa. "It's nice to hear comments and e-mails from our customers telling us how our training has helped them make their own shops more efficient, which in the end helps their students. It's nice to know that TG helped to make that difference."
Taking the customer perspective
As product trainer, Lisa plays an integral role when TG rolls out new products or enhances existing ones. Through webinars, in-person demos, and step-by-step tutorials published online, and in Shoptalk Online, Lisa walks school and lender customers through new features and tools. Her goal is to make schools and lenders aware of changes and point out ways to use TG products so that, ultimately, customers can cut time and effort from their loan processes.
Lisa has a comprehensive knowledge of TG's products — AdvanTG Web™, TG Loans By Web™, Real Time Access, and TG EFT, to name a few — which she's gained from years of working with them. In training, she follows a simple rule: Look at the process the way a school or lender would and present information with an emphasis on simplicity, directness, and a desire to maximize processing efficiency.
"Schools and lenders sometimes follow very different process flows, but TG's AdvanTG Web and other products can accommodate these differences," said Lisa. "I demonstrate how customers can apply our software to meet their needs, whatever flow they follow."
Support from within
Lisa doesn't work alone. She relies on an assortment of professionals from across TG to understand product updates and to deliver training. Staff involved in every phase of maintaining TG's software collaborate with Lisa, crafting the best training experience for customers.
"We work on a 'train the trainer' concept," said Lisa. "My expertise is based in part in what others who are closely involved with the product tell me. I also work with the software of course, focusing on what customers need to know given their process flow."
Customer response has been strong with training scores averaging 4.26 on a scale of 1 to 5. This is great news to Lisa who takes pride in helping schools and lenders use TG software in the most efficient ways.
Lisa hails from San Antonio, Texas. She graduated from Texas A&M, eventually moving to Austin where she began work with TG in the collections department. Outside work, Lisa is a dedicated mother, involved in her son's activities such as basketball and cub scouts. When Lisa is not busy with her son, she enjoys going to listen to live music and traveling.
To learn more
You can learn more about TG's product training by visiting TG Online at www.tgslc.org/training/webinars/index.cfm. Notices about upcoming webinars are posted here. You can also send an e-mail message to Lisa at lisa.felder@tgslc.org.
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TG-supported program helps "open doors" for San Antonio parents and students interested in college
There is no magic formula for making sure that students go to college. But more research, including studies conducted by the Department of Education, show that parents play a key role in their son or daughter's educational success. According to ED, the more parents involve themselves in their children's education, the more likely their son or daughter will get good grades and feel motivated to go onto college.
Making parents into education advocates for their children — and for their local community as well — is precisely the premise for an outreach program founded in Texas called "Abriendo Puertas", or Opening Doors. Abriendo Puertas is a grass-root, community-based initiative, designed to strengthen the parental support system for Spanish-speaking high school students. The program educates parents on the necessity and process for graduating from high school and then going on to obtain a college degree. Parent volunteers receive training on a range of other topics, including how to teach other parents, understanding the No Child Left Behind Legislation, and even collaborating with schools and community organizations in outreach efforts with students.
The program was originated by Texas A&M University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for the Rio Grande Valley communities of Texas. It's been adapted, with the help of a grant from TG's Public Benefit Grant Program, to serve the needs of Spanish-speaking families and students in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD).
Learning the dynamics of teaching others
According to Dr. Hector Aldape, associate director for the Abriendo Puertas program, the experience turns parents into a resource for other parents who don't understand the college process, or who may need a model for helping their child in his or her college endeavor.
"What we're seeing is that our parents are becoming their neighborhood's point of contact regarding education questions," said Hector. "What this does is establish a volunteer liaison between the school and other parents, who would never venture into the school environment."
Certain parent volunteers elect more intensive training in a wide range of topics besides outreach. They learn the fundamentals of inter-group dynamics, project management, and even program presentation.
"Once trained, these 'master volunteers' go out into their communities armed with flipcharts, handouts, and supplies, to teach others of the importance of high school completion and college attainment," said Hector.
Parents who 'graduate' from the program are charged to provide outreach to 20 other families. Generally, parents work with other families in the vicinity of their home. However, many choose to train in pairs to provide support and reinforcement. Training is provided in small group settings using simple-to-read bilingual and bi-cultural curriculum.
The program's success should be exponential. Once trained, the SAISD will have 25 volunteers who will have completed the more than the 30-hour training program for "master volunteers." In addition, 500 parents will have graduated from the 15-hour more basic course. These families will in turn reach out to others in their towns and communities, which may provide a bridge to greater work throughout Texas.
"These efforts will serve as the foundation to expand the Abriendo Puertas program into other school districts and areas of San Antonio and the state," said Hector.
The Abriendo Puertas Initiative has been nationally recognized by the Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's "College for Texas" campaign.
About TG's Public Benefit Award Program
To receive funds, organizations are 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. TG is currently accepting application materials for 2008-09. Proposals are due March 7, 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.
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Correction to Shoptalk Online article on financial aid telethon
In last week's edition of Shoptalk Online, an article misstated who volunteered to answer phones for the College Access and Affordability Telethon, hosted by TG and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). In fact, volunteers from the Texas Women's University G-Force served on the phones. We regret the error.
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