Federal Updates

PLUS auction cancelled
ED announced the cancellation of the competitive loan auction pilot program for parent PLUS loans (auction). The announcement states that during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 award years, FFELP parent PLUS loans may be made by any eligible lender to parents of students attending eligible educational institutions in any state.

ECASLA Electronic Announcement #55
ED has issued Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA) Electronic Announcement #55, providing instructions for obtaining access to information from ED's servicer for the Master Loan Sales Agreement (MLSA) Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP) letter.

ED reminds schools about professional judgment for special circumstances
In light of the current economic challenges, ED recently released Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-09-04, reminding schools that they may use professional judgment (PJ) when determining a student's eligibility for federal student aid.

TG Updates

TG Annual Training Conference set to begin next Wednesday
Next week, TG kicks off three days of industry training designed to address a broad range of financial aid interests, from default aversion and professional judgment to tips for implementing a campus financial literacy program.

TG launches enhanced version of TG Message Central^SM
This week, TG will roll out a new version of its customer notification service, TG Message Central^SM. TG Message Central provides schools and lenders with news about TG, including information about product enhancements, processing schedule changes, conferences, and workshops.

Trends and Issues

Register for third installment of IBR webinar series
Next week, the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) continues its series of webinars focusing on the new Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan that will be available to borrowers beginning July 1, 2009. The next webinar in the series will highlight lender- and servicer-related IBR issues.

Policy potpourri
What does it matter if a school uses "active" or "passive" confirmation for purposes of loan notification? What's the difference?

This, That, and the Other...

Community colleges across the nation are stepping up to help workers who have lost their jobs. In Pennsylvania, all 14 community colleges are offering plans for tuition assistance to adversely affected local students. There's no strict accounting of how many of the nation's 1,200 community colleges are following suit. However, many colleges are making similar gestures, with examples to be found in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington state.

Oakton Community College, outside Chicago, launched its "Reboot" program this winter for local residents who were laid off after January 1, 2008. Tuition is free for at least one semester for five high-demand subjects, including computer programming.

Still, community colleges often can't find enough money, staffing, or space to keep up with demand. Many colleges face surging enrollments from adults in need of new training and from young people seeking affordable higher education.

Federal stimulus spending, designed in part to fund worker re-education, should provide some relief.

Read the complete article in The Christian Science Monitor at www.csmonitor.com/2009/0411/p99s01-usgn.html.