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TG Updates

Shoptalk Online 519, September 1, 2009

TG Updates

TG and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln release the fall edition of Enrollment Management Journal

Each issue of the Enrollment Management Journal: Student Access, Finance, and Success in Higher Education explores a variety of enrollment-related subject matter, including admission standards, financial aid policies, and successful student enrollment strategies. As the journal's publisher, TG seeks to advance knowledge about these critical areas and make new and relevant data available to practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. In collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, TG has published the fall 2009 edition of the publication.

Inside this issue
This issue of the Enrollment Management Journal features articles addressing attrition in online programs, professional development for adjunct faculty, and student and parent understanding of the student loan process. Here's a closer look at particular articles.

"Inflated or Not? An Examination of Grade Change" — Students face pressures to earn high grades in order to gain admission and to secure financial aid. Faculty members face pressures also. To qualify for a tenure-track position, instructors are partly dependent on positive student reviews. In a case study format, this article examines how these pressures may influence the grading process.
"Barriers and Bridges to Success: Factors for Retention of Nontraditional Mexican American Students in Teacher Education" — Colleges and universities are striving to develop preparation programs for a more diverse population. This article describes a successful teacher preparation program for a rural area with a large number of minority residents.
"Faculty and Administrator Perspectives on Online Course Retention: A Case Study" — Online courses and programs are growing. However, student retention in online education is dropping. This article examines the reasons behind the attrition and offers suggestions for improving retention.
"Student Ambassador Programs: Boosting Enrollment Through Peer Recruitment" — The campus tour plays an important part in the college selection process. This article examines how various public, 4-year institutions organize and conduct this important component of their recruitment programs.

From the field
The "From the Field" section focuses on activities and programs that reflect and inform practice in enrollment management. The first of two articles in this section focuses on the professional development of adjunct faculty at community colleges. The second article focuses on how to improve communication between student loan providers and servicers and the institutions they serve.

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.

Registration is open for the next in TG's series of live webinar training events, which focus on timely and important issues in the financial aid industry. Please plan to join us for a discussion of cash management on Thursday, September 17, from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Central time.

Cash management is one of the more highly regulated areas of federal student aid administration. This session will explore the cash management rules, including the timeframes for the disbursement and delivery of funds, the handling of credit balances, and the notices and authorizations a school must send to and obtain from students and borrowers.

To register
Register for this webinar at www.tgslc.org/training/webinars. You can also access recordings of previous industry webinars at this link by clicking on "Archived Training Modules, Recordings, and Materials." Be sure to check out TG's Financial Aid for Rookies (FAR) series linked from this page. The FAR series provides free, on-demand fundamental financial aid training.

Find out more about TG webinars through new online resource

TG offers an assortment of webinar trainings that provide insight on industry and policy issues as well as TG products. TG has created a "TG Webinars" Web page to help schools, lenders, and servicers register for upcoming webinars and provide quick access to archived webinars.

Handy tool for training and planning
The new TG Webinars page is a feature of the recently redesigned TG Online. Accessed from the "Training Opportunities and Events" page, TG Webinars helps users to:

Review a list of upcoming industry and product webinars and then select and register from those available; and
Choose from a list of stored industry and product training modules, recordings, and materials that offer help for those who missed a scheduled webinar but would benefit from the information.

You can also access TG's Events Calendar, which offers a list of TG's training events, from the Training Opportunities and Events page.

Learn more
Watch for notices about upcoming industry and product webinars in Shoptalk Online and TG Message Central, TG's online customer notification system. These articles include a link to the webinar registration pages. However, if competing priorities prevent your webinar participation, TG offers access to webinar recordings and materials via the TG webinar page.

Join TG at fall industry workshops and conferences

The fall conference season is winding up. If you're planning to take a training break to sharpen your industry skills, TG offers a wide-ranging set of sessions at various events, including workshops on regulatory change, developing a preferred lender list, and motivation on the job.

TG's trainers will be presenting at conference gatherings in Illinois, Minnesota, and New Mexico, to name just a few. To learn more, read through the following short session descriptions. During each session, participants will be able to interact with TG's experts on regulatory and student loans issues. A complete listing of conferences which feature TG training can be found online at www.tgslc.org/abouttg/calendar.cfm.

A partial list of TG's upcoming conference and regional trainings

Illinois Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (ILASFAA) Fall Workshop, Peoria, IL., October 1; Des Plaines, IL., October 9

For the Love of It^®: Each of us has the ability to love what we do by making a contribution to those around us and expressing gratitude. When you work for the love of it, you serve as an inspiration to yourself and to those around you. Find out how you can live your work life with this paradigm in mind.

Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA) Annual Conference, Minneapolis, M.N., October 18

Unraveling the Challenges of Preferred Lender Lists: Is your school searching for the best way to implement a preferred lender list (PLL)? In this session, a panel of school and guarantor experts will review the federal requirements for a PLL and discuss best practices for creating and implementing a PLL.

Southwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (SWASFAA) Annual Conference, Albuquerque, N.M., December 9-11

Show What You Know: Using a game show format, TG's presenters pose a series of challenging policy questions on current federal student aid topics to attendees. Participants will enjoy the fun, interactive nature of the presentation and leave with valuable, practical regulatory information.

To learn more
Would you like to learn more about the many industry training opportunities TG offers through its Speakers Bureau? Visit www.tgslc.org/speakers/index.cfm to review the complete training catalog. Keep in mind that TG can adapt a particular training session to meet the needs of your financial aid office. To find out how, contact your account executive at (800) 252-9743, or send an e-mail message to relationship.management@tgslc.org.

Speed up your loan change request process with TG's on-demand processing

In processing change requests for student loans, time is of the essence. TG's on-demand processing for change requests can provide results in minutes, saving time and worry for schools, lenders, and servicers.

To start using on-demand change request processing, school and lender users need only contact their account executive to have the option made available through AdvanTG Web™ (AW). Once online in AW, schools and lenders can follow these simple steps for using the on-demand process.

Select the loan to modify and create the appropriate change transaction(s). The change transaction screens will have command buttons displayed at the bottom.

Click "Submit" at the bottom of the screen.

The results page will then appear. If all changes are processed, the screen will display this notice: "All the change(s) you submitted for this loan have been successfully processed." Changes are recorded in TG's mainframe, and the loan is updated immediately within the AdvanTG Web database.

If changes are not successful, the user's results page will have this message: "The change(s) you submitted for this loan encountered issues. Please review the error codes to address the issue(s) and resubmit your change request."

The change type and disbursement number are provided along with the Commonline^® error code. The user will be able to make corrections to the change request and then submit the request again.

To learn more
If you would like more information about on-demand processing, or wish to begin using this option, please contact your TG account executive at (800) 252-9743, or send an e-mail message to relationship.management@tgslc.org. For any technical questions on TG's products, contact TG product support at (800) 332-1455, or send an e-mail message to product.support@tgslc.org.