Federal Updates

Reauthorization: More FFELP-related provisions
Last week’s Shoptalk Online examined some of the FFELP-related provisions included in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). In today’s article, we will consider additional FFELP-related provisions included in the bill.

Updated integrated HEA available on TG Online
Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law H.R. 4137, the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). As a result, the NCHELP Program Regulations Committee has released integrated Higher Education Act (HEA) documents that incorporate changes from the HEOA. To assist customers in using this resource, TG has combined the integrated HEA into one easy-to-use, searchable PDF.

More loan purchase program guidance from ED
Over the past several weeks, Shoptalk Online has provided summaries of a series of Electronic Announcements (E-ANN) from ED on the operational details of the loan purchase programs authorized by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA). We continue this week with a quick look at the E-ANNs that have been released since our last update.

New and revised forms for FFELP participants
The NCHELP Program Operation's Default Aversion and Claim Standardization Subcommittee (DACS) has released two revised forms and one new addendum for FFELP participants, which reflect various legislative, regulatory, and operational changes.

Closed school corner
The Department of Education announces one new closure.

TG Updates

TG helps simplify lender list creation with upcoming product — List Assist^SM
To produce a preferred lender list, schools often survey lenders on their product offerings, customer service, and loan terms. TG helps to automate this process with a new product available in the fall — List Assist^SM.

Help your students plan for college costs with TG's calculator tools
College cost calculators consider many expenses that can affect a student’s decision of how much to borrow. TG offers a number of such calculators through Adventures In Education. Among other things, TG’s calculator tools allow students to project monthly loan payments, to gauge the expected family contribution, or to determine take-home pay given a certain salary level.

Make sure your students understand their options with TG's Decreasing Coursework brochure
Each year on every college campus, students drop below half-time enrollment. In doing so, and perhaps without meaning to, students set in motion a series of financial consequences, including entering almost immediately into grace or repayment on certain student loans. To help students understand the consequences of a drop below half-time enrollment or a complete withdrawal from school, TG offers a brochure, Decreasing Coursework.

Trends and Issues

Question of the week
When does each type of FFELP loan officially enter repayment?

This, That, and the Other...

They came from a range of professions — lawyers, merchants, land speculators, and shippers — though most had a second job to supplement their income. Two became president, subsequently, and a large number served as senators or representatives in Congress. Ages were disparate, some as young as 26; the oldest member, Benjamin Franklin, at 81, was ailing and had to be brought in to the assembly in a sedan chair. The delegates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were a diverse group, both politically and in terms of education, and their diversity shows in the wide-ranging document they created. Certainly, the United States Constitution benefited from the varied experiences of its authors, many of whom served in the Continental Congress or the Revolution and were passionate about their work as representatives for the various states.

To bring alive the history surrounding the Constitution and to commemorate the work of the Founding Fathers, Congress set aside September 17 as Constitution Day. If you're looking for help in celebrating Constitution Day, consider the resources that ED lists through its Web site. Among other things, you'll find biographies of the Constitution signers, suggested ways of teaching the articles of the Constitution, and other recommended federal sites including one for the Library of Congress.

To learn more about events and learning opportunities around Constitution Day, visit ED's site at www.ed.gov/policy/fund/guid/constitutionday07.html.