Trends and Issues

TG's director of public benefit operations Kristin Boyer works with schools to make college a reality for more students

Kristin Boyer brings two considerable strengths to her job: her career-long dedication to the cause of higher education and her genuine love for what she does. As director of operations for TG's public benefit program, Kristin helps lead TG's philanthropic efforts in college access and retention. Each day, she serves as steward for TG's program, ensuring its long-term direction and working closely with schools and other institutions.

TG has awarded nearly $10 million in grants to 100 institutions and nonprofit organizations to advance access to college, student retention, and educational research. This academic year is the third consecutive year that TG has awarded competitive grants through its Public Benefit Grant Program. TG's grant funds help an eclectic set of projects, including initiatives that offer need-based grants to students; student mentoring and internships; pre-college outreach to students and families; academic support and instruction; student retention; student transfer guidance and support; and education research.

The variety is something Kristin finds stimulating, while the work itself is something she feels passionate about. "It's incredibly rewarding when you can open up the possibilities for a student or help remove or at least minimize some of the obstacles that they thought were insurmountable," said Kristin. "Ultimately, education helps everyone. It's not only the individual that benefits, it's also society as a whole. A college-educated student is more likely to engage in civic activities, be more productive, and contribute more to the community."

Seeing results first-hand
For Kristin, a typical work day could involve any number of things. She might be making presentations to prospective applicants about the types of projects TG funds. She could be reading and evaluating progress reports from current grantees, or visiting schools to talk with the staff involved in a project. Or she could be reviewing research on issues that affect access to higher education or retention and student success.

"And I'm always interested in exploring new ways of serving students and families through our program," said Kristin.

Kristin finds one aspect of her job particularly rewarding — witnessing first-hand the benefits that grants can provide students. Last year, she attended the closing ceremony for a summer college-awareness program that TG had funded. Afterwards, several students approached her to say how much they appreciated the school's program and TG's support of it.

"One of the students was from Montana and just happened to be staying with his grandparents in Texas, who had signed him up for the summer program," said Kristin. "He said that, until this program, he didn't think college was even a remote possibility, but now he knew it was an attainable goal. That's the kind of feedback we love to get!"

Building a career around college access
Kristin's previous jobs have all prepared her in some way for her present work. After college, she accepted a position as a middle school teacher in Hutchinson, Kan. She then got some direct experience in financial aid by serving for two years as an admissions and financial aid counselor for McPherson College, a small, private school. She transferred to the college's communications office, eventually serving as associate director of development and director of communications.

Her varied aptitude was helpful when she came to work for TG as a senior communications specialist, and then, two years ago, took her current job with TG's Public Benefit Program. Each position built on skills she gained in a prior job and provided relevant experience for philanthropic work in college access and retention. According to Kristin, directing operations for TG's Public Benefit Program is a great fit for her professional and personal interests.

"When proposals come in, it's thrilling to see what strategies and programs are proposed to help students achieve their educational goals," said Kristin. "Then, when the final reports come in, we get to see the actual impact that the program has made in students' lives."

Helpful strategies
In her work, Kristin has come across a variety of ideas for broadening access for students, especially for first-generation students. If a school or other institution is looking for help in starting a program or adding to a current one, she has a number of suggestions; however, she notes that these strategies do not universally apply, and all may need to be tailored to meet the needs of students or the campus. A few noteworthy practices that schools may consider include these:

• Use a case-management approach to improve student access and retention.
• Establish partnerships between higher education and business communities to make educational pathways relevant to students and easy to navigate.
• Focus on parental and community support as a means to improve educational access for underserved populations.
• Encourage supplemental instruction to motivate student participation and success.

TG's Public Benefit Program can help organizations and campuses to try out some of these strategies by funding a pilot year or by expanding a current program. If successful, these programs can be brought to scale or incorporated into standard practice.

About TG's Public Benefit Award Program
To receive funds, organizations are required to submit proposals that address the issue of access to postsecondary education for low-to-moderate income students.

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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TG and Mapping Your Future® announce updates to counseling sessions

Mapping Your Future has updated eight Online Student Loan Counseling (OSLC) sessions to comply with regulatory changes, where applicable, and to add consistency to the text. These sessions include:

• Stafford entrance
• Stafford exit
• Stafford and Perkins combined entrance
• Stafford and Perkins combined exit
• Grad PLUS entrance
• Grad PLUS exit
• Stafford and Grad PLUS combined entrance
• Stafford and Grad PLUS combined exit

Among other changes, the subsidized Stafford interest rate has been updated to 6 percent for undergraduate students; a revision of the aggregate loan limit for Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) borrowers has been made; and the Grad PLUS entrance language required by regulations effective July 1 has been changed.

Other changes
With assistance from the OSLC team and other volunteers, the staff will make additional updates on July 1, including:

• Adding a new loan limit chart,
• Removing references to the 6.8 percent subsidized Stafford interest rate for undergraduate students,
• Updating the Spanish Stafford entrance and Spanish Stafford exit counseling sessions, and
• Adding an improved indebtedness customization option.

The improved indebtedness customization option will allow schools to provide an average loan figure per loan type. The current process allows schools to enter one average loan figure per counseling session.

More information
If you have questions about the updates and changes to the Online Student Counseling sessions, contact Mapping Your Future at feedback@mappingyourfuture.org.

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Question of the week

Q.: May a school choose whether to participate in the TEACH Grant Program?

A.: Yes. ED published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on March 21, 2008, which provides the following proposed regulation in 34 CFR 686.4(a):

"A TEACH Grant-eligible institution that offers one or more TEACH Grant-eligible programs may elect to participate in the TEACH Grant program."

Of course, these are proposed regulations, and ED has not yet released final regulations. However, since the TEACH Grant negotiated rulemaking (Neg Reg) committee reached consensus on all of the proposed regulations, it is highly unlikely that this language will change in the final regulations.

To access the Federal Register in which this NPRM is published, go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-5196.pdf.

In addition, for more information on the TEACH Grant Program, see DCL GEN-08-07 — just released — on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Website at http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/060308GEN0807.html.

Do you have a question?
If you have a question that needs an answer, feel free to Ask TG™. Ask TG is TG's online query tool for borrowers, schools, and lenders. It includes a database of frequently asked questions about financial aid, student loan processing, and TG's products and services. To submit a question to Ask TG, visit tgslc.custhelp.com.

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