Student Lending Analytics Blog

SLA To Host Webinar On Complying With Regulation Z and HEOA

Here is a link to register for the event.

Please join industry expert Tim Ranzetta of Student Lending Analytics on Tuesday, October 6th from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (EDT) for an informative presentation on what schools need to do now to comply with the new private student loan and preferred lender regulations in Regulation Z and HEOA. 

Get answers to such questions as:

• What constitutes a "preferred lender arrangement"?
• What new requirements are in place if a school has a "preferred lender arrangement"?
  
• What will be the new disclosure requirements for institutional loan programs?
  
• What requirements will schools have if they provide any information about private education loans?
  
• What are the new disclosures that students must see when they apply for a private student loan?  

All webinar participants will receive checklists and sample disclosures to help implement the new regulations.  Participants are also encouraged to send in any questions they might have prior to the event to ensure that they are addressed during the webinar.

The registration fee for the event is $99. 

What Constitutes A Preferred Lender Arrangement?: The NPRM Speaks

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is out in the Federal Register.  Comments are due by August 27th for the rules pertaining to "Institutions and Lender Requirements Relating to Education Loans, Student Assistance General Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program."

I thought it was interesting to follow the commentary that followed a question from a non-federal negotiator about what constitutes a preferred lender list:

58% of Financial Aid Administrators Concerned About Availability of Private Loans

Here are the preliminary results from the SLA Flash Survey on Private Loans, which closed this evening (more complete results will be available by Tuesday).  Thanks to the 187 financial aid administrators who responded to this survey!

• 58% of financial aid adminstrators were either very concerned (14%) or somewhat concerned (44%) about private loan availability for their students.  
  • Aid administrators at 4-year private institutions were most concerned with 17% very concerned and 52% somewhat concerned.

• 56% of respondents indicated that they would be providing students with a lender list for the 2009-10 school year.

• In terms of the lender selection process:
  • 35% of respondents indicated that they went through a formal RFI process
  • 32% indicated that they would be using the same lenders (who were still lending) from their 2008-09 list 
  • 12% indicated that they would list all of the lenders used by their students over the past 3-5 years

Which Financial Aid Offices Are Linking Directly To SLA's Student Loan Resources?

We have received excellent feedback recently on the new resources that we have developed on private student loans.  Probably the best indicator of the interest in our private student loan content has been the thousands of page views on our Private Student Loan Ratings site since it was featured in the New York Times.  I wanted to thank those schools who are providing their students with direct access to SLA's comprehensive and independent information about private student loans.  Here is just a sampling of the dozens of schools who are directly linking to SLA's Student Loan Resources, which are provided at no charge as a public service to any educational institution:

Event: Department of Education Webinars on HEOA's Impact on FFEL and Direct Lending Programs

Here is the announcement.

The webinar will be available at four separate times:

• Thursday, April 30, 2009, 3:00 P.M. (ET)
  
• Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 2:00 P.M. (ET)
  
• Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 1:00 P.M. (ET)
  
• Monday, June 8, 2009, 12:00 P.M. Noon (ET)

To register, click on this link:
http://www.fsaregistration.ed.gov/profile/web/index.cfm?PKwebID=0x11458a0b2&varPage=location

What Should I Communicate To First-Time Parent PLUS Borrowers Now?

With award letters hitting mailboxes over the next few weeks, a question that has come up frequently within the financial aid community is: 

• How should I communicate with first time Parent PLUS borrowers that they will need to wait to apply until the dust settles on the PLUS auction process (winners should be announced prior to April 24th)? 

Preferred Lender Lists...Here We Come!

I am starting to see a smattering of lender lists on school financial aid websites.  Here are some that I uncovered this afternoon:

• Grinnell College provided the following details for their 2009-10 Stafford Lender List:

        Lender Selection: We contacted lenders previously included on our list and determined that         the following would continue to be included for 2009-10 based on criteria described below.         Additionally, lenders who asked to be added to this list were considered using the same             criteria. Grinnell State Bank is new to the list. This list is effective as of 11/18/2008.

For 2009-10, ECMC No Longer Paying Down 1% Federal Default Fee For Borrowers [Updated]

Here is a copy of the letter that went out to schools earlier this week:  Download ECMC_FDF Letter
The company provided the following explanation for this change: 

NASFAA Urges Congress to Delay PLUS Loan Auction

As reported in NASFAA News today (February 24th), the NASFAA President and CEO Dr. Day is urging Congress to delay implementation of the PLUS loan auction.  In the letter sent to Rep. George Miller, Dr. Day sounded the following concerns about the auction: 

SLA To Host February 18th Webinar on "Managing Lender Selection in Time of Financial Turmoil"

Student Lending Analytics is pleased to announce that Tim Ranzetta of Student Lending Analytics will be hosting a complimentary webinar on “Managing Lender Selection in a Time of Financial Turmoil” on Wednesday, February 18th at 1:30pm Eastern Time.  Click here to register.