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TG Updates

Shoptalk Online 514, July 28, 2009

TG Updates

TG hosts second Financial Literacy Symposium of 2009 in Chicago

On July 21, financial aid professionals from across the country joined TG at its second 2009 Financial Literacy Symposium, held in Chicago. School representatives from as far away as Washington, D.C., gathered to discuss techniques that could help students manage their finances. The event was the third financial literacy symposium TG has hosted in two years, and the first outside of Texas.

Guest speakers Bryant Anderson, director of student financial services at Illinois College of Optometry, and Jeanne Locarnini, assistant director of student financial assistance at Loyola University Chicago, shared their experiences in designing and implementing financial literacy education programs. Participants then divided into smaller groups where they could hold a dialogue on developing financial literacy initiatives for students.

Sharing insights and information
Increasing student awareness and participation in financial literacy efforts proved to be a popular conference topic. To boost attendance at financial literacy events at the Illinois College of Optometry, for example, Anderson and other program administrators solicit input from students on ways to make personal finance topics more interesting. Discussion sessions last fifteen minutes, and generally take place after large class lectures. Anderson uses games and prizes to make learning about personal finance concepts more engaging.

"Bryant brought a lot of fresh ideas to the table," said Bob Ugiansky, Positive+Balance Community℠ webmaster. "His approach is very unique, and it really seems to work judging from the number of students who participate in his events." Generally, attendance at the school's financial literacy events surpasses 150 students per session.

According to Ugiansky, TG's symposium provided a unique opportunity for financial aid professionals. "The focused dialogue and small size of the discussion groups allowed for a more interactive format," he said. "It was almost difficult to break for lunch because people were so engaged in the conversation."

TG's financial literacy segment manager Margie Harvey added another dimension to the discussion by showcasing TG's financial literacy products and services, including the Positive+Balance™ training program for students and financial aid administrators; the Positive+Balance Community, an online social media tool for financial aid administrators interested in financial literacy; and TG's Adventures In Education website.

To learn more
To find out more about TG's varied financial literacy products and services, contact Margie Harvey at (800) 252-9743, or send an message to margery.harvey@tgslc.org.

Reminder: Register today for TG's IBR webinar

In the next several weeks, TG will offer two webinars on Income-Based Repayment (IBR), which just recently became available to eligible borrowers. For those who qualify, IBR can minimize monthly loan payments, and even provide loan forgiveness in certain cases. Educating borrowers about this repayment plan, whether through loan counseling or other means, is vital to realizing IBR's potential benefits.

To help schools understand the ramifications of IBR, TG offers two "IBR Basics" webinars, one planned for August 5 and an additional webinar offering the same content for August 20. Among other things, the sessions provide a high-level introduction to IBR, describes how borrowers can qualify for the plan, and offers some ideas for educating borrowers about IBR.

Webinar times

Wednesday, August 5; 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Central Time
Thursday, August 20; 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Central Time

To register
Register for TG's IBR webinar online. Schedules for other industry-related webinars are published quarterly. Watch Shoptalk Online for notification of registration availability.

Prepare for the next academic year with TG's 2009-10 Academic Year Planner

If you're looking for a beautifully designed planner that comes with abundant space for recording dates and events important to your schedule, you'll find a great resource with TG's Academic Year Planner for 2009-10. But don't wait to order — the calendar starts in August.

The 13-month 2009-10 TG Academic Year Planner combines several practical organization tools in one notebook-sized publication. It offers a portable calendar with plenty of notes pages for writing down information. The back pages provide an address book for maintaining addresses and phone numbers of business associates.

The planner's layout serves to inspire in several ways. The first page of each month features information on a range of financial aid subjects, from access and outreach to default prevention and financial literacy. The planner offers motivational quotes from historical figures such as Aristotle, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. And the stylized illustrations for each month offer brightly colored images that evoke the season in distinctive and graceful ways.

To order the TG Academic Year Planner
You can order the 2009-10 TG Academic Year Planner for your financial aid office by visiting TG Online.

Got a financial aid question? Ask TG™

In financial aid, good customer service means getting comprehensive answers fast. TG provides multiple ways of getting those answers: Strong call center support, training on varied policy and industry issues, and an online query tool that works like an electronic guru on all things financial aid.

Ask TG™ is an online database of questions and answers on financial aid topics for schools, lenders, borrowers, families, and students. It also provides a convenient way to query TG's customer service teams via an online form. Ask TG's information covers a wide range of topics collected from the more than 29 years that TG has provided customer service to schools and students. To date, visitors have viewed more than 75,000 answers to FAQs and asked nearly 3,000 original questions of the database — many of which have been added to the FAQs to help those with similar inquiries in the future.

All-purpose tool
Ask TG is supported by the teams that TG customers already rely on. Questions about TG products are fielded by staff in the product support group. All other inquiries on financial aid and student loans are handled by the TG customer assistance team and other knowledgeable staff within TG. Questions on defaulted accounts are handled by TG's collections area.

Ask TG is available through interfaces that serve the unique needs of two different groups of TG customers:

Financial aid and student loan professionals can access Ask TG through TG Online by selecting the "Schools" or "Lenders" links.
Families, students, and borrowers access Ask TG through TG Online by selecting the "Borrowers" or "Families & Students" links.

The tool offers a versatile set of features to help schools and other customers get the most from their query. Ask TG visitors can:

Submit questions for direct answers on student loan and financial aid issues. Visitors who need a need a hard copy can print the answers for their files.
Browse or search archived questions and answers.
Set up an individualized "My Stuff" profile to organize questions submitted and answers received.
Subscribe to receive updates by if the answers are later revised because of policy or regulatory changes.

Have a question or want to know more?
If you aren't already using Ask TG, be sure to access this continually updated student loan resource the next time you visit TG Online.

After taking a look around, please take a moment to tell us what you think. Submit your comments or suggestions by clicking the "Provide Feedback" link on the Ask TG main page at http://tgslc.custhelp.com. You can also contact the TG customer assistance team at (800) 845-6267, or send an message to cust.assist@tgslc.org.