We thank you for working with us in financing higher education for so many deserving students this past year. It has been an honor, and on behalf of T.H.E., we wish you a happy and safe holiday season.

With the next presidential election only a year away, FinAid.org, a nonprofit resource for student financial aid information, has started a presidential platform tracker. You and your students can check out the tracker and stay informed on the issue of education this election.

Have other useful election resources to share? Post your tips on the blog for your colleagues to read about.

Beginning this month, all borrowers applying for a private loan will need to provide their complete street address. Any applications containing a P.O. Box will come up as an error during processing and our loan processors will need to obtain the borrower’s street address. Borrowers using their school P.O. Box on an application must also include the school’s street address. This change is to comply with the overall requirements of the Patriot Act.

From January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008, T.H.E.’s three-month LIBOR index is 5.14%.

Our private loan rates are based on a spread of LIBOR rates plus an additional amount (defined in the borrower’s Truth-in-Lending Disclosure), according to the discipline of study. The interest rates for private loans are posted on our web site within the Rates/Savings sections of different loan programs and are updated each quarter to reflect the current interest rate.

Now more than ever, your students need clear, practical and unbiased information to make wise decisions about their student loans. In response to this growing need, T.H.E. continues to focus on our commitment to borrower education and customer service.

We’re strengthening our borrower education programs by creating two new positions in the debt management department:

Following up on “Why Timing Your RFI/RFP Matters,” this article helps you prioritize your RFI or RFP questions and create a process for following up with lenders. We’ve also updated our RFI/RFP template. You can use the document for your reference when drafting an RFI/RFP of you own.

As many of you have probably noticed, debt management is quickly becoming a necessary component of any school’s borrower outreach. While some schools may already have programs in place, for many it’s a relatively new process.

One school that recently launched a brand-new program is the Graduate Theological Union (GTU). We spoke with Carlos Perez, director of financial aid for GTU, on how this new program came about and what it has accomplished.