Our school relations staff will be attending the following events this month:
| October | |
|---|---|
| October 14 – 17 | NYSFAA Conference (New York, NY) |
| October 17 – 19 | FASFAA Conference (Destin, FL) |
| October 21 — 24 | PASFAA Conference (Champion, PA) |
| October 24 — 26 | OASFAA Conference (Tulsa, OK) |
| November | |
| November 5 – 7 | NJASFAA Conference (Atlantic City, NJ); NCASFAA Conference (Greensboro, NC) |
FFELP is not getting a lot of support in the press today, but the following commentary by Dick George, which appeared in the Sheboygan Press on September 25, 2007, defends the private-sector lending program and discusses the downside of government lending.
Continue reading A different view of FFELP »
As a financial aid professional, you know how easy it is for students to fall for shady lending offers. While the new legislation may be tying your hands when it comes to helping your students select the right lender, you can still help them make the right decision with Evaluating a Lender, a lender-neutral brochure T.H.E. has recently created. Evaluating a Lender offers students step-by-step instructions on asking the right questions and learning the basics of the borrowing process.
Students can use Evaluating a Lender to:
The brochure even includes a lender scorecard so students can compare lenders side by side.
To order Evaluating a Lender, just go to our Tools and Resources page and enter your order. Once the e-mail automatically generates, simply provide the name of the resource(s), the quantity desired, due date, shipping address and contact information. We’ll do the rest.
As it stands today, the law that went into effect on October 1, 2007, could signal an end to economic hardship deferment as we know it by eliminating debt-to-income ratio. In the past, if a borrower’s monthly payment was greater than 20% of their income and if their income minus their debt was not greater than 220% of the Federal Poverty Level, they qualified for economic hardship deferment. As a result, most medical residents were eligible for this deferment because of the substantial difference between their monthly loan payment and their residency income. Eliminating debt-to-income ratio would leave forbearance or repayment as the only options. To see how this would affect medical students about to enter residency, please see “Losing debt-to-income ratio: what it would mean for students entering residency” below.
But as of October 11, 2007, there is record of an email exchange between a high ranking official at the Department of Education to an official at NCHELP communicating that the department will be retaining the debt-to-income ratio. Based on this information, T.H.E. and our servicer, Great Lakes, are continuing to process new economic hardship applications under debt-to-income ratio.
Continue reading Will legislation affect economic hardship deferment for medical students? »
We’ve added a new capability to THEO Online – you can now cancel or withdraw a loan application online. Just go to THEO Online and log on, entering the borrower’s Social Security number and then go to the Application Detail page. If you do not currently have a THEO Online user ID, please contact us and we can set this up for you over the phone. This new capability is another option in assisting schools with their processing. Of course, our customer service staff is also available via phone and e-mail if you prefer.
On September 27, 2007, President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The new legislation went into effect October 1, 2007. For a breakdown of these changes, see our College Cost Reduction and Access Act highlights chart below.
Because of the new regulations, T.H.E.’s new loan terms for all loans disbursed on or after October 1, 2007, are as follows:
Continue reading President Bush signs new legislation: what changed, what didn’t »
