Back to current
Shoptalk Online Contents

TG Updates

Shoptalk Online 496, March 24, 2009

TG Updates

TG to offer enhanced version of TG Loans By Web™

In early April, TG will introduce an improved version of its online application tool — TG Loans By Web™. TG Loans By Web offers a convenient, electronic way to complete the federal student loan application process. Using TG Loans By Web, borrowers can apply for a student loan, access entrance counseling, request a PLUS loan credit check, and e-sign a promissory note — all from one simple interface available day or night.

With the spring release of TG Loans By Web, TG makes a number of key changes to the electronic tool, including improvements to security, data collection, and the borrower-initiated request process.

Webinars reviewing the various changes have been scheduled. For more information, please refer to the companion article in this edition announcing various webinars on enhancements to TG Loans By Web and AdvanTG Web™.

Here is a short review of the latest enhancements to TG Loans By Web.

Improving security for TG Loans By Web
A new borrower registration process will eliminate the use of the borrower's SSN and date of birth as authentication tools. Instead, the borrower will choose a user ID and password to log in. The process for creating the user ID and password will be simple to complete. Also, a borrower will be able to reset passwords as well as access the user ID by answering a few security questions, established during the registration process.

For questions about the new security process, contact TG's product support team at (800) 332-1455.

Transferring borrowers from a lender or servicer website
The new release will allow borrowers to transfer from another lender or servicer website to TG Loans By Web. In the process, TG Loans By Web will capture the school and lender ID transferred as attributes in the Web address.

Implementing this functionality requires minimal changes to a lender or servicer site. To learn more, contact your TG account executive at (800) 252-9743, or send an message to relationship.management@tgslc.org for more information.

Adding the borrower's to e-sign form-post
As a reminder to lenders, the borrower's address will be added to the e-sign form-post that lenders receive when TG Loans By Web transitions a borrower to the lender's e-sign site.

To take advantage of this new functionality, lenders will need to modify their site to recognize and capture this new information. There will be no change in service for lenders and servicers that do not wish to use the borrower's information.

For additional implementation details, please contact your TG lender consultant at (800) 892-1357.

Simplifying borrower data collection
The process for collecting the student's address has changed. A confirmation field has been added for borrowers to enter and then confirm their address. Requesting the address twice is a standard e-commerce practice and should help identify typos in addresses.

Enhancing the borrower-initiated request process
Schools that direct borrowers to TG Loans By Web to request a loan will see several process improvements with the spring release.

In completing a request, borrowers will be notified about the status of an application and learn which institution — school, lender, servicer, or guarantor — will take the next step in the process. The message screen layout has also been redesigned.
On subsequent visits to TG Loans By Web, borrowers will have access to information they submitted as well as an on-screen message listing the status of the application.
Borrowers awaiting a final processing decision will also be able to reprint or e-sign their note.

Helping borrowers get the most from TG Loans By Web
TG offers tip sheets customized for the type of borrower — student or parent — and for each processing option — school certification or borrower request. These tip sheets concisely describe the TG Loans By Web process so that students and families can complete an MPN more efficiently.

Access and download the tip sheets from TG Online at www.tgslc.org/products/lbw/process.cfm.

For help
For questions about TG Loans By Web or AdvanTG Web, please contact TG's product support team at (800) 332-1455, or send an to product.support@tgslc.org.

TG schedules webinars on enhancements to AdvanTG Web™ and TG Loans By Web™

In early April, TG will make available several enhancements to its 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. For more details about enhancements to AdvanTG Web, refer to last week's Shoptalk Online article.

The spring release of TG Loans By Web offers a number of other key changes, including improvements to e-sign options, security, data collection, and the borrower-initiated request process. (See the previous article in this edition.)

To help users benefit from these improvements, TG has scheduled various webinars that explain the changes and offer time for customer Q&A.

Webinar times and topics
Webinars reviewing the various changes have been scheduled for each product before and after the new release. Here is a complete list.

Wednesday, April 1, 2 p.m.-3 p.m., CDT: change transaction redesign
Thursday, April 2, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., CDT: AdvanTG Web and TG Loans By Web enhancements
Friday, April 3, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., CDT: change transaction redesign (repeat session)
Friday, April 3, 2 p.m.-3 p.m., CDT: AdvanTG Web and TG Loans By Web enhancements (repeat session)
Monday, April 6, 2 p.m.-3 p.m., CDT: change transaction redesign (repeat)
Tuesday, April 7, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., CDT: AdvanTG Web and TG Loans By Web enhancements (repeat)
Wednesday, April 8, 2 p.m.-3 p.m., CDT: TG Loans By Web's open processing and e-sign options
Thursday, April 9, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., CDT: TG Loans By Web's open processing and e-sign options (repeat)
Tuesday, April 14, 2 p.m.-3 p.m., CDT: TG Loans By Web open processing, e-sign options, and change transaction redesign
Wednesday, April 15, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., CDT: TG Loans By Web open processing, e-sign options, and change transaction redesign (repeat)

To attend a webinar
To participate, register for one of the listed webinars at www.tgslc.org/training/webinars/register.cfm.

For help
For questions about TG Loans By Web or AdvanTG Web, please contact TG's product support team at (800) 332-1455, or send an to product.support@tgslc.org.

Upcoming TG webinar taps into the power of the Positive+Balance Community^SM

TG offers a unique financial literacy website geared to the needs of financial aid educators. The Positive+Balance Community^SM combines all the advantages of an online experience — for example, easy-to-download resources — with the benefits of a social network site — users can blog on their financial literacy programs and join online conversations on financial literacy issues.

TG presenters will be leading a webinar, "Tapping into the Power of the Positive+Balance Community," which explores the dynamic features of the Positive+Balance Community (www.PositiveBalance.org) and explains how financial aid professionals and educators can use the site to support financial literacy education efforts on their campuses.

During the webinar, participants will learn how to use the Positive+Balance Community to:

Download training materials,
Create a profile page and post blog entries,
Start discussion groups, and
Keep current on financial literacy news and events.

To register
The webinar will be offered on Wednesday, March 25, from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., CDT.

Register through TG Online at www.tgslc.org/training/webinars/positivebalance.cfm?cid=CID_PBC_001&action=register3&addy=[].

Join the community.
The Positive+Balance Community is an online destination for financial literacy solutions and support. Visit www.PositiveBalance.org to sign up for your free membership.

Questions?
For questions regarding the upcoming webinar, contact Margie Harvey, TG's financial literacy program manager, at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4859, or send an message to margery.harvey@tgslc.org.

Spring edition of Enrollment Management Journal available

The spring issue of TG's scholarly publication, the Enrollment Management Journal: Student Access, Finance, and Success in Higher Education, is now available.

An issue of the Enrollment Management Journal can cover a variety of subject matter, including admission standards, tuition, financial aid policies, uses of student data software, need-based and merit-based aid, and other issues that directly pertain to successful student enrollment. As the journal's publisher, TG aims to advance knowledge about these critical areas and make new and relevant data available to practitioners, researchers, and policy makers.

TG released the spring 2009 edition in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this issue, the "Scholarship and Research" section offers discussion on a wide range of subjects, including:

"Is Higher Education the Great Equalizer? Examining Early Occupational Attainment by Race, Class, and Gender," which uses national data to examine one of the more common measures of success — the employment and earnings levels of college graduates. The article focuses on differences between males and females as well as racial and ethnic groups;
"Financial Aid and Engagement: An Examination of How a Private Scholarship Program Facilitates Access, Retention, and Success for Low-Income Students," which uses a qualitative methodology to investigate the impact of a private tuition scholarship program on low-income students' access to a four-year postsecondary experience; and
"First-generation Students' Acquisition of College Knowledge: Examining the Effectiveness of Outreach Programs in South Texas," which evaluates the effectiveness of two outreach programs in South Texas, GEAR-UP and Upward Bound, in preparing minority, low-income, and first-generation students for college.

The second section of the journal, "From the Field," highlights enrollment management activities or strategies that have proven successful, such as:

The Enlace program in the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District in California. Enlace focuses on the goal of increasing the success and persistence rates of Latino/a students; and
The efforts to improve first-year retention at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including three initiatives that students have reported as influential in their first-year experience.

To learn more
For additional information or to subscribe, please visit www.tgslc.org/emj.

The Enrollment Management Journal, which is available by subscription only, is an initiative of the Council for the Management of Educational Finance.