Shoptalk 525, October 13, 2009

Industry Update

New loan purchase programs guidance

ED has posted several new announcements regarding the loan purchase programs authorized by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans (ECASLA).

ECASLA announcement #72, published on October 5, announces a 0.79 percent participant yield rate for the quarter ending December 31, 2009. This rate should be used when calculating Participant (i.e., ED's) Yield on Participation Principal balances that have been funded by ED during the quarter of October 1, 2009, through December 31, 2009.
ECASLA announcement #73, published on October 8, provides the Agreed Upon Procedures and Statement of Compliance instructions for lenders participating in the 2009-10 loan participation purchase programs.
ECASLA announcement #74, published on October 8, includes instructions for submission of a corrective action plan for Agreed Upon Procedure finding in the 2009-10 loan purchase programs.
ECASLA announcement #75, published on October 8, includes instructions for obtaining access to ED servicer loan information for 2009-10 Master Loan Sales Agreement Agreed Upon Procedures.

More information
The complete announcements and attachments are available on ED's ECASLA Web site at http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/ffelp.

ED issues reminder to Eligible Lender Trustees

On October 2, ED released Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) FP-09-07 regarding Eligible Lender Trustees (ELT). The letter reminds ELTs of their responsibility to evaluate the program capabilities of the entities for which they agree to serve as trustee lender, and to monitor the activities of those entities to ensure their compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

More information
The complete DCL is available on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals Web site at http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/FP0907.html.

ED releases final volume of the 2009-10 FSA Handbook — TG offers complete bookmarked version

With the release of Volume 6 of the new 2009-10 Federal Student Aid Handbook (FSA Handbook) — Managing Campus-Based Programs — all volumes of the latest edition of the FSA Handbook are now available. To assist customers in using the FSA Handbook as a whole, TG has combined all of its volumes into one easy-to-use, searchable PDF. The PDF includes bookmarks of all the individual volumes, as well as bookmarks of the chapters and appendices within each volume.

What's new?
As shown below, ED has provided new or additional guidance on several topics within Volume 6:

Chapter 1: Participation, Fiscal Procedures & Records

Treatment of FWS in 90/10 calculation (page 6-2)
Transfer of funds: FWS to FSEOG or Perkins, and FSEOG to FWS (page 6-6)
Grants for off-campus and community service (page 6-14)

Chapter 2: Operating a Federal Work-Study Program

Disasters and flexible use of funds (page 6-26)
Emergency response and preparedness (page 6-29)
Civics, emergency response, and other teaching projects (page 6-30)
Increase in Job Location and Development limits (page 6-41)

Chapter 3: Making Perkins Loans

Increased Perkins loan limits (page 6-49)
Federal Perkins MPN (page 6-51)

Chapter 4: Perkins Repayment, Forbearance, & Deferment

Elimination of the 20/220 criterion for the economic hardship deferment (page 6-68)

Chapter 5: Perkins Cancellation

Teachers in a low-income education service agency (pages 6-77 and 6-79)
New cancellations for public service (pages 6-80 through 6-82 and 6-85)
Deceased student and family estate (page 6-86)
Discharge due to inability to engage in gainful activity (page 6-86)
Disability discharges received on or after July 1, 2008 (page 6-87)

Chapter 6: Perkins Billing, Collection, and Default

Elimination of defense of infancy (page 6-100)
Deceased student and family estate (page 6-101)
Change to rehabilitation requirement (page 6-105)
Mandatory assignment (page 6-107)

Accessing the bookmarked FSA Handbook
To access this practical research tool, visit TG Online at www.tgslc.org/resources/fsa_handbook.cfm.

For questions about the 2009-10 FSA Handbook, contact TG customer assistance at (800) 845-6267, or send an e-mail message to cust.assist@tgslc.org.

Closed school corner

The following table provides a list of newly reported school closures and corrections from the Postsecondary Educational Participants System (PEPS) and from the September 2009 Closed School Monthly Report supplied by ED. Schools listed are those with which TG has done business or to which TG has otherwise provided services.

Newly reported closures
OPE School ID	School Name/Address	Unofficial Closure Date	ED's Official Closure Date
02263105	Anthem College-High Tech Inst-Atlanta 2450 Piedmont Rd. NE Atlanta, GA 30324-3398	N/A	06/26/2009