Shoptalk 541, February 23, 2010
TG Report
TG to offer financial literacy symposium for proprietary schools
For many schools, creating a financial literacy program can be a challenging process. For others, shaping a program already in place offers its own difficulties. TG is hosting a symposia series on designing and implementing campus financial literacy programs for various types of schools, including public and private institutions. On Tuesday, March 30, TG will offer a special symposium geared for the needs of proprietary schools and students. Mimi Coenen, national loan education manager with Kaplan Higher Education, will share her experience in managing a financial literacy program for a proprietary institution.
Offered in Philadelphia, the free, day-long seminar will allow attendees to examine and discuss a variety of financial literacy topics, including the following:
- Financial literacy — a school case study
Learn about and discuss the specific methods employed in building and implementing a corporate-wide financial literacy program designed to meet the needs of families and students. - Roundtable discussion
Dig deeper into the case study experience and uncover symposium takeaways. Discuss the case study, ask questions, and engage in dialogue with peer participants. - Creating, implementing, and assessing your own on-campus financial literacy program
Consider best practices, lessons learned, and common concerns during this interactive session. - Building a community
Learn about and discuss TG's Positive+Balance Community℠, a social networking site created to foster dialogue among financial aid professionals who are developing and managing financial literacy initiatives. Registered users of the site can share best practices, connect with colleagues, and download useful presentations. - TG resources
Explore how TG's offerings can support campus financial literacy efforts. Participants will also be able to share their ideas on improving TG's financial literacy products and resources.
To register
Join TG for the Philadelphia symposium, or register for another symposium event through TG Online.
To learn more
For answers about the 2010 TG Financial Literacy Symposia, please contact Margie Harvey, TG's financial literacy segment manager, at (800) 252-9743, or send an email message to margery.harvey@tgslc.org.
Register for TG's upcoming industry-training webinars
In the upcoming months, TG's policy and regulatory experts continue a free webinar series on topics of interest to financial aid professionals, including current issues in the financial aid industry and financial aid fundamentals.
Interested participants need only a computer with Internet access and the ability to use speakers or headphones. TG will provide presentation materials for each session, which can be downloaded, viewed, or printed. A Q&A will follow the presentation portion of each session.
For convenient, on-demand training sessions, each webinar is posted to TG's online webinar archive within a day or two of the broadcast.
Join TG for the following webinars:
- TG's Positive+Balance Community℠: Strengthening collegiality and sharing practices — Thursday, March 18, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Central Time, and 3 p.m.-4 p.m. Central Time
Last year, TG developed and implemented the Positive+Balance Community℠, a social networking site that fosters dialogue among professionals creating and managing financial literacy initiatives. The site allows participants to share ideas and collaborate on the subject of financial literacy, as well as gain access to helpful resources. TG's director of financial literacy operations will discuss TG's results with the website to date and how TG intends to strengthen the resource to ensure that it is a viable, collaborative tool for financial literacy practitioners and educators. - IBR — a tool to help students manage repayment — Thursday, April 15, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Central Time, and 3 p.m.-4 p.m. Central Time
Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is a repayment option available to Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP) borrowers. IBR will benefit certain borrowers by minimizing monthly payments and by providing loan forgiveness in some cases. Educating borrowers about this repayment plan and its benefits — whether through the loan counseling process or other communication — will provide the key to realizing IBR's full potential. This session presents a high-level introduction to the IBR plan, including how borrowers qualify for IBR, the forgiveness component of IBR, the benefits IBR provides to the borrower and the school, and ideas for educating borrowers about IBR. - Know who you owe: Helping students manage split-loan servicing — Thursday, May 6, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Central Time, and 3 p.m.-4 p.m. Central Time
Today, more and more student borrowers are likely to contend with multiple loan holders (aka "split-loan servicing") as a result of ED's student loan liquidity programs and the increasing number of schools switching from one federal student loan program to another. This webinar will help financial aid administrators understand split-loan servicing considerations from both the school's and the borrower's perspective, and explore strategies that can serve students as they repay their federal student loans. - Professional judgment — It's your call — Thursday, May 20, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Central Time, and 3 p.m.-4 p.m. Central Time
Designed to allow flexibility on a case-by-case basis, the professional judgment provisions in the Higher Education Act can make even the most experienced aid administrator feel a little "up in the air." This webinar revisits the provisions and policies relevant to professional judgment situations including dependency overrides, awarding unsubsidized Stafford loans to dependent students who lack parental support, and waiving the new academic completion requirement for Pell Grant recipients' second scheduled awards.
To register
Register for these webinars online. Click each webinar link to begin the registration process. Schedules for additional webinars will be published regularly and announced in Shoptalk.
Offer your students TG's "Money Management 101" training, now available online
Teaching college students the basics of smart money management isn't always the easiest task. Students manage competing priorities, including part-time or full-time jobs in some cases. Many have a varied schedule and can't always attend financial literacy trainings offered on campus. To help, TG has placed its financial literacy training session "Money Management 101" online for easy viewing.
TG's "Money Management 101" is designed to teach students a number of simple but important lessons in money management, including how to establish and maintain a spending plan, minimize debt, keep good financial records, invest in the future, and use credit cards wisely. The "Money Management 101" presentation illustrates each of these concepts with facts and offers helpful tips on putting these ideas into practice. The session forms one workshop in TG's extensive financial literacy program for students. Other sessions focus on effective credit card practices, budgeting for expenses, and saving, among other topics.
The "Money Management 101" presentation is available through TG's Adventures In Education (AIE™) website, an online resource for students planning for college and preparing for a career.
To learn more
View the "Money Management 101" presentation available on AIE.
TG announces upcoming webinar on Hispanic-Serving Institutions
To maintain a competitive economy, the U.S. depends on an educated workforce. Latinos make up the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, according to the Census Bureau. Many colleges and universities, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), are crafting programs to support Latinos in their higher education pursuits. TG offers assistance through its Public Benefit Grant Program, a competitive grant program designed to help advance access to college, student retention, and educational research.
A recent study conducted by Excelencia in Education and funded by a grant from TG's Public Benefit Grant Program examines enrollment and retention issues for Latino students. TG will host a webinar on the findings of the Excelencia study, titled "Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Serving Latino Students." The webinar will explain some of the challenges facing HSIs and offer strategies for promoting student success and college completion rates at these institutions.
Webinar time
Thursday, March 4; 1:30 p.m. Central Time
To participate
Register for the "Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Serving Latino Students" webinar.
More about the Public Benefit Grant Program
TG's Public Benefit Grant Program is administered based solely on merit and need, and without regard to the business of TG or any form of quid pro quo consideration. Learn more about the program.
TG adds more convenience to encryption service for customers
TG looks for ways to simplify its processes and products for customers. Enabling more customers to receive secure, encrypted email in a transparent way is one example.
TG secures its outbound email messages in one of two ways — via an encryption product provided by Cisco Systems®, called Cisco Registered Envelope Service (CRES), or through Transport Layer Security (TLS), a security protocol already built into many commercially available email gateways. Here's how the two methods work.
- CRES encrypts email containing non-public personal information, including borrower and loan data. Customers, such as borrowers, schools, lenders, and servicers, receive encrypted email as an attachment to regular email.
- TLS encrypts any message sent from TG to an email gateway which accepts TLS encryption. TLS unencrypts the message when it reaches the recipient email gateway, so the message reaches the user's inbox as though it were plain-text.
March enhancement
TG has been using encryption products for several years; however, TG has only been able to use TLS on a limited basis until recently. Enhancements have been made to TG's email gateway and encryption services so that TLS can be used more often.
Starting March 1, more customers may receive email from TG that has been encrypted but which appears as regular email. Customers need do nothing more to read the email than select and open it. Customers will be able to identify encrypted messages by text running across the bottom of the email below the signature line. This text reads: "This email was encrypted either through Cisco Registered Envelope Service®, or using Transport Layer Security, a transparent point-to-point encryption method."
Questions
For questions about the latest enhancements to TG's encryption software, contact TG customer assistance at (800) 845-6267, or send an email message to cust.assist@tgslc.org. Customers will also find information about TG's encryption service through TG Online at www.tgslc.org/security/securemail.cfm.
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