Federal Updates

Neg Reg wrap-up: Consensus reached on loan issues
After meeting for their third and final sessions, negotiators for Team I (general and lender loan issues) and Team II (school-based loan issues) reached consensus on the agenda items for the current round of Negotiated Rulemaking (Neg Reg). These new regulations will implement changes made by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA).

ED releases E-ANN on executed conduit liquidity agreement
ED recently issued Electronic Announcement (E-ANN) #59, providing the Executed Liquidity Loan Agreement between the Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) Conduit Administrator Straight A Funding and the Federal Financing Bank (FFB). ED also included two amendments to the Liquidity Loan Agreement, which are reflected in the Executed version.

Closed school corner
The Department of Education announces two new closures.

TG Updates

TG's industry webinar series offers satisfactory academic progress training
The Higher Education Act requires a student to maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP) in his or her course of study to be eligible for federal student aid. That seems simple enough. However, the duality of SAP's quantitative and qualitative standards, along with frequency, consistency, and consumer information requirements, can confound even someone well-versed in the regulations. To provide some help in understanding SAP, TG presents a free webinar.

2009 TG Annual Training Conference materials available online
If you missed TG's 2009 Annual Training Conference, or couldn't make all the sessions you wanted to attend, TG offers the next best thing: workshop slides and handouts for a number of presentations.

New issue of TG Connection features refreshing resources for financial aid professionals
The latest edition of TG's quarterly magazine on financial aid trends and issues — titled "Refreshing resources for the financial aid professional" — offers tips on how to grow in the financial aid field, boost morale in the office, and find relevant resources to share with students, among other things.

Trends and Issues

TG receives questions on unsubsidized Stafford loan for dependent student who lacks parental support
Recently, Shoptalk Online offered details regarding the provision in Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), that allows a school to award an unsubsidized Stafford loan to a dependent undergraduate student whose parent refuses to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and has ceased to provide financial support. Questions remain about this new provision. To address these questions, TG provides examples of dependent students in different scenarios.

Mapping Your Future^® helps schools meet new counseling requirements under the Higher Education Opportunity Act
In addition to requiring a school to provide general information during loan counseling, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) also requires a school to provide school-specific information to its students. For a school that uses Mapping Your Future^® for its entrance and exit counseling, it can easily meet these school-specific counseling requirements using the free customized page of Mapping Your Future's Online Student Loan Counseling (OSLC).

Policy potpourri
The Unemployment Deferment Request contains a requirement for the applicant to be registered with a private or public employment agency. Does an online employment agency or service meet this requirement?

Common Manual

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

This, That, and the Other...

In today's economic environment, most parents feel apprehensive about saving enough for their child's college education. The best approach, according to some experts, is to break down the process of saving into smaller pieces, for example, the "20-20-20" method. In this approach, a parent saves $20,000 before his or her child begins college by putting aside $50 a month starting at birth — assuming a six percent annual return. The parent then pays $20,000 out of current income while the student is in college. Finally, the dependent takes out $20,000 in federal student loans over four years. Saving this way should help cover the current average cost of attending four years at a public university, about $60,000.

To learn more about saving methods that some financial experts recommend for college, read the complete New York Times articles at www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/lieber-saving-t.html.