Federal Updates

New ECASLA E-ANN provides conduit liquidity agreement
ED recently issued Electronic Announcement (E-ANN) #51, providing the Loan Agreement between the Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) Conduit Administrator Straight A Funding and the Federal Financing Bank (FFB).

TG Updates

A message from Sue McMillin, TG President and CEO
Since President Obama previewed his FY 2010 proposed budget to the nation, you have probably read many accounts and opinions regarding his recommendation to discontinue the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). TG supports the president's call for a more reliable, stable, adequately funded and efficient student financial aid system, but we join many others in the belief that the objective can be achieved without eliminating school and borrower choice of loan programs and the related services that exist today. In any event, TG strongly believes and urges that any new system provide for the delivery of the sorts of services that guarantors currently provide under the FFELP.

TG launches new service to help borrowers manage their TG accounts — myTG^SM
When students graduate or leave school, they often have multiple priorities to manage: finding a job, relocating to a new city or town, and, of course, repaying any student loans they might have. Sometimes, various demands, including demands on time, can make it hard for borrowers to stay current on their loan obligations. TG's new account management tool, myTG^SM, can help borrowers manage their TG accounts online and stay on track to repayment.

Tap into the power of TG's Positive+Balance Community^SM through an upcoming webinar
TG's "Tapping into the Power of the Positive+Balance Community" webinar will explore the site's dynamic features and explain how educators and financial aid professionals can use it to supplement financial literacy efforts on their campus.

Reminder: Register for TG's upcoming webinar on verification
Registration is open for the next in TG's series of live, Web-based, cost-free training events, which focus on current issues in the financial aid industry, as well as financial aid fundamentals. If you haven't yet registered for TG's industry training webinar scheduled for March 19, it's not too late.

TG's regional training in Colorado to spotlight legislative changes, financial literacy
TG's regional trainings offer a forum in which to examine the latest legislation, the nuts and bolts of regulations, and new developments in financial aid policy. TG's day-long workshop in Centennial, Colorado, on April 29 provides a great example.

Common Manual

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

This, That, and the Other...

Podcasts, blogs, online chatrooms, and now "microlectures" are just some of the latest pedagogical tools used in college classrooms. Microlectures make brevity a virtue, offering short bursts of information — a minute or so — in an online format. San Juan College, a community college in Farmington, New Mexico, introduced microlectures in a new online degree program in occupational safety in the fall and are now using the tool with subjects like reading, tribal governance, and veterinary studies. Designers for the course claim that such tiny bursts in an online class can teach just as well as traditional lectures — as long as they're supplemented with assignments and discussions.

Enrollment in the online occupational safety program grew to 449 by its second semester. San Juan College hopes to expand the use of microlectures to as many online classes as possible. Instructors at other colleges, such as York University in Toronto, have experimented with lectures that last about 20 minutes — particularly in online classes, where students can quickly grow bored watching a talking head on their computer screens.

You can read more about this latest teaching trend in the online Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i26/26a00102.htm?utm_source =at&utm_medium=en. Note that some articles in the Chronicle are available only to subscribers.