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TG Updates

Shoptalk Online 495, March 17, 2009

TG Updates

TG enhances AdvanTG Web™, TG Loans By Web™, and Integrated Default Assistant™

In a changing market, TG makes a priority out of offering products that help add efficiency and convenience to student loan processes. In early April, TG will make available several enhancements to its flagship application and loan management system, AdvanTG Web™, and its online loan application tool, TG Loans By Web™. Among other things, these enhancements help simplify change transaction management and open loan processing to any combination of FFELP lender, school, and guarantor.

In early April, TG will also introduce an enhanced version of its default management tool for TG loans — the Integrated Default Assistant™ (IDA™). IDA offers schools and lenders an online, interactive application for tracking and managing their TG cohort default rate performance.

Webinars reviewing the various changes will be scheduled for each product before and after the new release. Watch for information about times and dates of these webinars in a future issue of Shoptalk Online.

Here is a short review of added features and enhancements.

AdvanTG Web's change transaction management
In the change transaction area of AdvanTG Web, TG has made several improvements which will significantly streamline the process for schools that enter change transactions directly within AdvanTG Web, either as the standard process or to address exceptions.

AdvanTG Web will have a new change transaction menu, making all of the pertinent loan information easily accessible and more user-friendly. Loan information will be displayed at the top of each detail screen with "expand/collapse" functionality to minimize scrolling.

The change transaction redesign helps reduce possible rejects of change transaction records by guiding users to appropriate transactions according to the disbursement or loan status.

Modifications have been made to other areas of change transactions to make processing easier and more efficient. Among other things, these changes:

Eliminate dependency on CommonLine terminology. Screen menus feature plain-language options.
Make available current values for easier entry and processing of records; fields for entering changes are separate.
Consolidate all @1-09 (disbursement-level changes, pre-disbursement) and @1-10 (disbursement-level changes, post-disbursement) transactions into a new Change/Add Disbursement screen. Also, facilitates the @1-07 (loan period, grad date, and grade-level changes) transaction. The new screen allows users to:
- Submit changes to all disbursements on a loan from one screen;
- Submit a hold/release request when adjusting the disbursement amount or date;
- Add a new disbursement; and
- Adjust corresponding loan level information such as loan period dates.
- The screen combines 12 individual transactions from the previous change transaction main menu into one screen.
Combine both steps of a reallocation procedure into one screen. This change applies to both create and edit screens for change transactions.
Offer a new mass hold/release feature, which:
- Applies to all loans in a school's AdvanTG Web database;
- Provides filter criteria to the mass hold/release feature, including disbursement date, disbursement number, and loan type.
Add ability to create change transactions from an application or disbursement roster record.

TG Loans By Web
The enhanced version of TG Loans By Web adds flexibility to the application process by allowing for any combination of school, FFELP lender, or guarantor. Here is a short list of other changes.

Provides a new borrower registration process, which helps ensure borrower security.
Merges incoming lender-originated certification requests with outstanding TG Loans By Web certifications.
- TG Loans By Web will combine the two records, keeping the best source of information for each field.
- Application records will maintain the school's CommonLine unique ID.
Modifies the existing e-sign feature and the option to reprint pre-guarantee applications, including:
- Provides e-sign option to borrower in cases where lender does not provide feature or prefers that TG provide it.
Allows for lender's marketing name;
Offers ability to display school's recommended lender list for private loans;
Adds the borrower's e-mail to the e-signature data sent to lenders.
Improves messaging to schools in cases where a recommended lender modifies its profile related to new loans for a school.

AdvanTG Web's import feature
TG has enhanced its AdvanTG Web import tool so that users can now import up to 20 files at one time. AdvanTG Web's import tool also provides asynchronous import, which allows users to continue working while the import process runs in the background.

Integrated Default Assistant
IDA is designed to help schools, lenders, and servicers achieve successful default aversion goals for their TG loans. Using IDA's query feature and pre-formatted reports, schools, lenders, and servicers can pinpoint student populations at risk of delinquency or default. IDA also offers customizable letters for notifying student borrowers of their status.

Based on customer feedback, TG recently added features to IDA to make the tool even more versatile and effective. These changes:

Provide the ability to forecast a three-year cohort default rate for the institution's TG loans.
Help schools identify at-risk borrowers based on pre-defined attributes, including graduation status and academic level.
Offer a filter for identifying delinquent borrowers who can affect the institution's cohort default rate for TG loans.
Include a sort order option for user-specified delinquency ranges.
Provide schools the ability to generate letters in English only or Spanish only, or with an English front page and a Spanish back page.

For help
For questions about updates to TG's products, please contact TG's product support team at (800) 332-1455, or send an e-mail to product.support@tgslc.org.

Positive+Balance™ training examines the links among advertising, consumer spending, and debt

Each day, Americans view hundreds of ads that vie for their attention and urge them to pull out their checkbooks. According to Advertising Age magazine, American companies spent $149 billion in 2007 on advertising.

A Positive+Balance™ presentation, The Brewing Storm: Consumerism, Advertising, and Debt, examines consumerism and the advertising industry's influence on spending. The session highlights some of the latest consumer debt statistics and examines the role of advertising in shaping consumer values and in motivating consumers to buy.

Wants versus needs
According to Margery Harvey, TG's financial literacy program manager, advertisers appeal to consumer insecurities in order to make a sale.

"We like to spend money on things we don't really need that make us feel better about ourselves," said Harvey. "Advertisers promise us that we will be more successful, beautiful, popular, or athletic if we spend our money on their products. It's very effective."

The Positive+Balance presentation considers some of the methods advertisers use to market products to young people. Many ads target children and teens because they influence how their parents spend money. According to the National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), "tweens" (8-12 year olds) influence more than $30 billion in purchases by parents.

The Brewing Storm encourages students and consumers of all ages to view ads with a critical eye. "When students are taught how to be smart consumers, they will start to recognize the manipulative practices advertisers use to get them to spend their money on 'wants' and not 'needs,'" said Harvey. "More critical consumers will be better prepared to manage their personal finances and avoid overwhelming debt."

TG trainers are available to present The Brewing Storm: Consumerism, Advertising, and Debt. Presentation slides and an accompanying handout can also be downloaded free of charge from the Positive+Balance Community^SM, TG's online resource for educators and financial aid professionals seeking financial literacy solutions and support.

To learn more
For more information about Positive+Balance, visit TG Online at www.tgslc.org/PositiveBalance. If you would like TG's assistance in developing, implementing, or improving your financial literacy efforts, contact your account executive at (800) 252-9743, or send an e-mail message to positivebalance@tgslc.org.

You'll also find a wealth of information and resources on financial literacy through the Positive+Balance Community. To sign up for a membership, visit www.PositiveBalance.org.

The 2009 TG Annual Training Conference is set to debut on Wednesday, April 22, at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin, Texas. The three-day conference offers an excellent forum for learning more about regulatory and industry issues, including program changes required by legislation such as the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA) and the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA).

The early registration fee is $50 if attendees register by Tuesday, March 31. Early registration rates for hotel accommodations at the Renaissance will also expire on March 31.

Varied agenda, great training
If you're considering your options for the spring conference season, you'll find no better bet than TG's comprehensive conference program. The agenda includes two general sessions held daily along with more than 50 breakout sessions over the course of three days. Attendees have their choice of interactive presentations and workshops on a variety of issues important to industry professionals, including financial literacy, default prevention strategies, Income-Based Repayment, entrance and exit counseling best practices, and more.

Both the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and the Department of Education (ED) will be presenting sessions. THECB will lead breakout sessions offering information on the latest developments for both Texas public and private higher education institutions. ED will be presenting a session on Academic Competitiveness and SMART grants as well as leading the conference's Federal Update.

The conference offers a variety of other sessions, including:

A review of a commissioned study on student aversion to borrowing,
TG's public policy Web page,
Best practices in customer service,
TG's Positive+Balance Community,
Creativity workshops,
A customer panel on TG's List Assist^SM, and
FAMS breakouts.

The conference agenda is available online and offers a day-by-day breakdown of sessions according to subject and time. The agenda provides a tool for choosing what sessions to focus on, learning more about keynote speakers, and planning for evening events. Receptions are scheduled immediately following general sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Each day of the conference, local Austin talent will provide some rhythmic entertainment for conference attendees.

To learn more and register
Find out more about this year's varied agenda by visiting TG Online at www.tgslc.org/tgconference/index.cfm. You can register for the conference at www.tgslc.org/tgconference/register.cfm.