Federal Updates

Congress approves another HEA extension
On Tuesday, May 6, Congress approved S. 2929, a "clean," short-term extension of the Higher Education Act (HEA). S. 2929 is retroactive to the expiration of the previous extension, with effective dates of "as if enacted on April 30, 2008" through May 31, 2008. The bill has been sent to the president for his signature.

New loan limits effective July 1, 2008
With the signing into law of H.R. 5715, the "Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008" this week, the financial aid community must now begin to prepare for the increases in annual and aggregate loan limits contained in the bill. In response to the many inquiries TG has received about these increases, we are providing a quick reference guide that we hope will be helpful.

School Preferred Lender Lists: Are You Ready for July 1, 2008?
As a reminder, new regulations that become effective July 1, 2008, were published as final rules on November 1, 2007. As noted in these rules, if schools choose to develop and use a preferred lender list (PLL), certain disclosures must be provided by the school.

Closed school corner
The Department of Education announces five new closures.

TG Updates

Join TG at the 2008 Annual Community College Forum
The Annual Community College Forum is a unique workshop experience geared for Texas' two-year postsecondary community. The forum offers an opportunity for representatives from Texas' two-year colleges to discuss unique challenges they face in the administration of federal and state financial aid programs.

2007 TG Annual Report available online
TG's Annual Report for FY 2007 is now available to download or to request in printed form. The report provides a profile of TG's work in the FFELP over the course of the fiscal year with a special focus on TG's dedication to broadening college access and retention. It also highlights TG's financial strength as a corporation, investing in the right technology to serve students, schools, and lenders into the future.

TG offers students online tools to understand credit cards
TG provides students an instant education on the use of credit cards through two new, online tools available in Adventures In Education. These tools demystify sometimes hard-to-read credit card statements and offer a gauge on costs given typical credit card interest rates. Together, they should help students understand the potential liability heavy credit card use represents.

Trends and Issues

Question of the week
If a student dies during a payment period/period of enrollment, must the school perform the return of Title IV funds (R2T4) calculation?

Common Manual

Common Manual Updates
Information on recent updates to the Common Manual.

This, That, and the Other...

Students on the hunt for a higher education loan have a new option available to them: a person-to-person (P2P) social lending Web site called Fynanz. The Web site is the first of its kind geared strictly for college students looking for an educational loan. Essentially, the site lets borrowers create an online listing — or request — for a loan amount and interest rate. The listing comes with a short biographical profile of the borrower's education and achievements to date. Students can request unsecured loans from $2,500 to $20,000, to be repaid over 10-20 years. Lenders place "bids" on the listed loans, using the student's academic record and credit ratings as a basis for making an offer.

To learn more about this modified form of lending, read the complete article at www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=18426.