TG Updates

TG's 16th Annual Training Conference receives enthusiastic reception
On Wednesday, April 23, TG debuted its 2008 annual conference — "Training today, preparing for tomorrow" — in Austin, Texas. More than 420 financial aid professionals from across the U.S. gathered to attend their choice of some 67 workshops and seminars.

Federal loan programs will meet demand despite stresses, says conference presenter
The Washington Update conference session addressed the state of the industry and congressional efforts to manage current problems.

Project on Student Debt founder considers loan burden affecting students and families
More college students are leaving school with higher amounts of loan debt, and the trend is affecting society at various levels, said Robert Shireman at the opening session of the TG Annual Training Conference.

Conference session offers insight on daily experience of TG's default prevention team
A typical day for TG's default prevention team involves a hectic but coordinated effort to help borrowers who need assistance or may be in peril of going into delinquency or default.

Conference spotlight: Developing and implementing a Financial Aid Code of Conduct
Given the recent rethinking of relationships between various partners in the student loan industry, a practical code of conduct is now an important consideration for financial aid offices. One conference session in particular — Developing and Implementing a Financial Aid Code of Conduct — addressed this issue.

Growing issues on campus: Financial literacy and identity theft threat
More universities are taking a considered look at the financial literacy skill levels of their students. The partnership between the financial aid office of one such university and the university’s newly-created financial literacy program offers one example.

Be the "voice of reason and calm" for students and families, says conference presenter
The conference session — "Economic Turmoil and Private Student Loans" — presented an overview of the current situation in student lending and offered suggestions on how financial aid professionals can help their students navigate the rough waters of today’s loan markets.

Trends and Issues

Question of the week
Is a school required to collect W-2 forms for the verification process?

This, That, and the Other...

Education Sector, a Washington-based research group, recently released a report that claims that national graduation rates for African-Americans at four-year institutions lags behind white students by about 20 percent. In its findings, however, it cited some examples of success — particular colleges and universities whose graduation rates showed near-parity between whites and blacks.

According to the report, these institutions do similar things to keep retention high among blacks, including studying the impact of different interventions on student outcomes and continuously making improvements on these results.

The report contends that improving student retention is fundamentally an academic undertaking and cites particular strategies for success — setting up an early-alert program that monitors the progress of freshmen; establishing freshmen in "learning communities"; giving students access to individualized instruction; and encouraging them to give each other academic support are a few examples.

The source for this week's "This, that, and the other" is located at http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/04/2569n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en.

Note that The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a paid subscription to review some content.