Campus Partners Update Newsletter
December 1, 2009
Holiday Closings |
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Thanksgiving, November 26-27 |
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Christmas, December 24-25 |
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New Year's Day January 1 |
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Martin Luther King Jr Birthday, January 18 |
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Campus Partners continues to work with COHEAO to track the status of the Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act (SAFRA) as it moves through the Senate. The pending legislation, if passed, would make significant changes to the Federal Perkins program as it exists today.
Sources tell us that the Senate Health, Education, and Pensions (HELP) committee has largely completed their version of the bill, but is still considering alternatives to the Direct Perkins proposal. Action on SAFRA has been delayed as Senate leaders decide whether to include the student loan bill and health care reform in the same legislation. Most likely, the SAFRA bill will not be considered by the Senate HELP committee until after Thanksgiving. Final action may not be completed until late December or early January.
It is not too late to contact your Senators to voice your opinion about the pending legislation.
Final Regulations Published for Title IV Student Aid Programs
The Department of Education (ED) has published four sets of Final Rules for the Student Assistance Programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Campus Partners has been very busy reviewing the new requirements contained in these four Federal Registers to determine what impact they will have on our school customers and borrowers.
Some of the changes include:
- New annual and aggregate loan maximums
- Written forbearance requirement eliminated (Related article, page 5)
- Rehabilitation: reduction in the number of consecutive on-time monthly payments from 12 to 9
- Expansion of exit interview requirements
- New cancellation provisions
- New definition and requirements for total and permanent disability applications
Important!! Effective Date Change – Although the regulations allow implementation of these changes as of August 14, 2008, the effective date for most of the changes impacting Perkins loans is July 1, 2010.
Here are links to the four sets of final rules.
October 29, 2009 (III Final): Impacts Perkins |
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Subject: |
Final Rule; Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program |
Web Address: |
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Effective Date: |
July 1, 2010 – no early implementation date for Perkins loans |
October 29, 2009 - (II Final) |
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Subject: |
Final Rule; General and Non-Loan Programmatic Issues |
Web Address: |
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Effective Date: |
Effective Date: July 1, 2010 with early implementation of some sections as of November 1, 2009 |
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October 28, 2009 - (II Final): Impacts Perkins |
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Subject: |
Final Rule; Institutions and Lender Requirements Relating to Education Loans, Student Assistance Provisions, Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program |
Web Address: |
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Effective Date: |
July 1, 2010 with a provision for early implementation of some sections as of August 14, 2008 |
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October 27, 2009 - (IV Final) |
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Subject: |
Final Rule; Institutional Eligibility Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended, and the Secretary’s Recognition of Accrediting Agencies |
Web Address: |
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Effective Date: |
Effective Date: July 1, 2010 |
Webinar on Perkins Final Regulations
On November 12, 2009, Campus Partners conducted a webinar on the final regulations issued in late October. We have made revisions to the information previously provided for the webinar. All customers should review the attachment for the latest information concerning these regulations.
Attachment:Federal Perkins Summary of Final Regulations
We will keep you informed as we implement changes to Web sites (including E-Exit), QuikLetters, form letters, Campus Partners Federal Regulations manual, Federal Perkins Cancellation form, and more.
FISAP Deadlines
All corrections to this year’s FISAP must be submitted to ED by Tuesday, December 15. In addition, schools that participate in the Perkins Loan Program must also update their cash on hand amount by December 15 to be reflective of balances as of October 31.
An electronic announcement from ED provides information to help you accomplish these tasks. To make changes to the data that you originally filed, log on to the eCampus-Based Web site at https://cbfisap.ed.gov/ecb/CBSWebApp/. To read more in this electronic announcement, go to:
http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/111309FISAPEditCorrectionPerkinsCOH.html.
FSA Conference Presentations Available
The Office of Federal Student Aid’s fall conference will be held December 1-4, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee. Secretary Arne Duncan will provide opening remarks and answer questions, and FSA COO Bill Taggart and Deputy Under-Secretary Bob Shireman will conduct a town hall meeting. Questions may be submitted to these officials in advance of the conference and can be emailed to fsaconferences@ed.gov
Many of the presentations for the conference are already available at:
http://ifap.ed.gov/presentations/2009FSAConference.html.
You may be particularly interested in reviewing the Federal Direct Perkins Loan Program Overview, which will be presented by Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education Dan Madzelan and Management and Program Policy Analyst Gail McLarnon.
To view this presentation, go to:http://ifap.ed.gov/presentations/attachments/22OverviewoftheFederalDirectPerkinsLoanProgramV1.pdf
Regulatory Wisdom from Sharon Cameron Question: The newly added cancellation benefits reference Title I eligible schools with regard to librarians with master’s degrees and full- time speech/language pathologists with master’s degrees who are working exclusively with Title I eligible schools. Are Title I schools listed in the Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools? Answer: “No. The requirement that a school be “eligible for assistance from ED: under part A of title I” of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is a different standard than the eligibility criteria for inclusion of a school on the Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools. For a school to be included on the Directory, “more than 30 percent of the school’s total enrollment” must be made up of Title I children [674.53(a) (2) (ii). Part A, Title I funds are allocated to schools by Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), based on their rankings of the schools in the geographic area that they serve. The entire text of Part A, Title I, is available on the ED.gov web site at: http://www.ed.gov/print/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html The LEAs determine which schools are eligible for Part A, Title I funds in the geographic areas that the LEAs are responsible for. The Department of Education does not maintain a listing of schools that are eligible for funds under Part A, Title I. To determine whether a school that a librarian or speech pathologist works in or works with is eligible for Part A, Title I funds, the Perkins schools will need to contact the state educational agency, the local educational agency, or the school itself.”
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Guide to HEA Institutional Disclosure Requirement Released
In October 2009, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) Working Group on the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) released a guide to help colleges and universities successfully identify and meet their obligation to disclose required information. The report, Information Required to Be Disclosed Under the Higher Education Act of 1965: Suggestions for Dissemination, includes suggestions to help institutions make the HEA-required disclosure information more accessible, more understandable to consumers, and more consistent across institutions. You may access this information at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010831.
FTC Delays Enforcement of the “Red Flag Rule”
The Federal Trade Commission announced it will delay enforcement of the new “Red Flag Rule” — until June 1, 2010. This is the fourth time that the FTC has delayed enforcement of the regulations that require financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement a written identity theft prevention program to detect, prevent, and respond to patterns, practices, or specific activities that may indicate identity theft.
Procedures for Telephone Requests
Periodically, Campus Partners reviews internal procedures to determine how to improve efficiencies. Effective immediately, Campus Partners representatives will document in the borrower’s history any transactions requested via telephone by our school customers.
Information documented will include:
- Name of the person calling from your school
- Type of transaction (if any) that was requested that we process
- Exact parameters of that request (begin/end date, payment amount, etc.)
Recording this information will provide a more comprehensive account history and allow future inquiries regarding a borrowers’ account to be handled in a more expedited manner..
Processing Forbearance Requests
Final rules published in the October 28, 2009 Federal Register eliminate the requirement for written requests for forbearance. When the rules were initially published in August 2008, we received many questions from customers concerning the effect of these regulations on our forbearance processing procedures. At that time we, asked Brian Smith at ED to clarify if supporting documentation was still needed to process a forbearance. He wrote:
"Schools are still required to obtain supporting documentation for forbearances. The HEOA only eliminates the requirement that the forbearance request be in writing, and requires schools to confirm the forbearance agreement with the borrower and record the terms of the forbearance in the borrower’s file. The new language does not change the requirement that the forbearance be granted “on such terms as are otherwise consistent with the regulations issued by the Secretary.” The current regulations continue to require that a forbearance be granted “Upon receipt of. . . supporting documentation” [674.33(d)(2)].”
Because written documentation was still needed to process a forbearance request, we did not change our forbearance procedures. This information was published in the November 2008 issue of the Update newsletter.
Now that Final Regulations have been published, we wanted to remind you that our procedure for handling forbearance requests remains in effect. Borrowers must submit a completed forbearance form along with supporting documentation of all income and expenses. We will confirm the borrower’s forbearance eligibility and record the term of forbearance in the borrower’s file. The continued use of the forbearance form allows for efficiencies in ensuring a proper audit trail is created for each forbearance transaction by linking borrower documentation and demographic information to a borrower’s loan account.
NSLDS Error Report Update
We have included a “How to” detailing instructions for correcting NSLDS Error Messages in this month’s Update. Leshia Litton, who we introduced in last month’s publication as the new Manager, Loan Operations, contributed this important article. Leshia will continue to provide articles for the Update focused on processing efficiencies and other operations-oriented items.
The Product Services team continues to be very busy as they implement system changes
required by regulations while managing system enhancements that facilitate the customer
and borrower experience. To catch up with recent enhancements, please review the
following attachment.
Attachment:Recent System Enhancements
Don’t forget to sign up for “Tips for Managing Delinquencies” scheduled for December 10 at 2:00 PM Eastern. Please email Debra Pitts at dpitts@campuspartners.com to register.
2010 Web Conference Schedule
| Topic | Date |
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How to Use and Interpret Reports from Campus Partners
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Thursday, February 11
2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
Understanding and Interpreting History
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Thursday, March 11
2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
TBD |
Thursday, May 13 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
Understanding and Completing the FISAP |
Thursday, July 8 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
Cohort: What is it and How Do I Manage it? |
Thursday, August 12 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
The Borrower Experience |
Thursday, September 9 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
Regulations Update |
Thursday, November 11 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
All About the Collections Process |
Thursday, December 9 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern |
Student Loans 101 and 202 Workshops will be presented at our offices in
Winston-Salem, NC next year as indicated below. Student Loans 101 is designed with
new student loan administrators or those who are new to Campus Partners in mind, while
Student Loans 202 is a great resource for those with more experience. Both workshops
provide hands-on training at individual workstations. Class sizes are small so you can
receive personal attention and ask questions. Pattie Mastin, Account Manager, will lead the
training.
| Student Loans 101 | April 8-9 | October 14-15 |
| Student Loans 202 | June 10-11 | |
| Time: | Day One: 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM | Day Two: 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM |
| Click here: | Workshop Information and Registration Form | |
| To Register: | Fax registration form to Debra Pitts at 336-607-2025 | |
Campus Partners staff will attend the upcoming COHEAO conference. News about upcoming conferences will be published in future issues of the Update.
COHEAO will present its Annual Conference January 23-27 at the Ritz-Carleton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA. Registration information is available at www.coheao.org.
2010 Holiday Schedule
Campus Partners will be closed for the following holidays. Our online systems will be available during normally scheduled hours.
New Year’s Day |
Friday, January 1 |
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday |
Monday, January 18 |
Presidents’ Day |
Monday, February 15 |
Memorial Day |
Monday, May 31 |
Independence Day (observed) |
Monday, July 5 |
Labor Day |
Monday, September 6 |
Thanksgiving Day |
Thursday, November 25 |
Day after Thanksgiving |
Friday, November 26 |
Christmas Eve |
Friday, December 24 |
Christmas Day (observed) |
Monday, December 27 |
Cutoff Dates for November, December, January, and February
Transaction
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Nov. 2009 |
Dec. 2009 |
Jan. 2010 |
Feb. 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Last day to receive collection payments |
11/20 |
12/28 |
1/26 |
2/23 |
Last day to receive regular payments |
11/23 |
12/29 |
1/27 |
2/24 |
Last day for online payments |
11/25 |
12/31 |
1/29 |
2/26 |
Date final post begins |
11/27 |
12/31 |
1/25 |
2/26 |
Report date used for final post |
11/30 |
12/31 |
1/31 |
2/28 |
Last day deposits created for deposit to bank account |
11/25 |
12/31 |
1/29 |
2/26 |
2010 Cutoff Dates
Month |
Last day to receive collection payments |
Last day to receive regular payments |
Last day for on-line payments |
Date final post begins |
Report date used for final post |
Last day deposits created for deposit to bank account |
December 2009 |
12/28/2009 |
12/29/2009 |
12/31/2009 |
12/31/2009 |
12/31/2009 |
12/31/2009 |
January 2010 |
01/26/2010 |
01/27/2010 |
01/29/2010 |
01/29/2010 |
01/31/2010 |
01/29/2010 |
February 2010 |
02/23/2010 |
02/24/2010 |
02/26/2010 |
02/26/2010 |
02/28/2010 |
02/26/2010 |
March 2010 |
03/26/2010 |
03/29/2010 |
04/02/2010 |
04/02/2010 |
03/31/2010 |
03/31/2010 |
April 2010 |
04/27/2010 |
04/28/2010 |
04/30/2010 |
04/30/2010 |
04/30/2010 |
04/30/2010 |
May 2010 |
05/25/2010 |
05/26/2010 |
05/28/2010 |
05/28/2010 |
05/31/2010 |
05/28/2010 |
June 2010 |
06/25/2010 |
06/28/2010 |
07/02/2010 |
07/02/2010 |
06/30/2010 |
06/30/2010 |
July 2010 |
07/27/2010 |
07/28/2010 |
07/30/2010 |
07/30/2010 |
07/31/2010 |
07/30/2010 |
August 2010 |
08/24/2010 |
08/25/2010 |
08/27/2010 |
08/27/2010 |
08/31/2010 |
08/31/22010 |
September 2010 |
09/27/2010 |
09/28/2010 |
10/1/2010 |
10/1/2010 |
09/30/2010 |
09/30/2010 |
October 2010 |
10/26/2010 |
10/27/2010 |
10/29/2010 |
10/29/2010 |
10/31/2010 |
10/29/2010 |
November 2010 |
11/19/2010 |
11/22/2010 |
11/24/2010 |
11/26/2010 |
11/30/2010 |
11/26/2010 |
December 2010 |
12/27/2010 |
12/28/2010 |
12/31/2010 |
12/31/2010 |
12/31/2010 |
12/31/2010 |
January 2011 |
01/25/2011 |
01/26/2011 |
01/28/2011 |
01/28/2011 |
01/31/2011 |
01/31/2011 |
