| Our
online systems will be available during normally scheduled
hours except the weekend of March 18-20, beginning Friday,
March 18 at 8:00 PM Eastern, and the weekend of March 25-26. |
Perkins
Funding Crisis
As you most likely are aware, President Bush did not include
the Perkins Loan Program in the FY2006 budget he submitted to
Congress on February 7, 2005. Even before the official announcement
was made, Mike Carey, President of Campus Partners, and Paul
Carey, our Chairman, had begun strategizing and writing letters
to elected officials. Fighting for the Perkins program is one
of our highest priorities, with Paul Carey taking the lead in
our advocacy efforts.
For now, the elimination of the Perkins program is only a proposal.
The House and Senate must approve the budget, and the process
will probably take months. However, it is important to act now
to protest this provision of the budget.
The proposed elimination of the Perkins program is among many
other programs that have been targeted for elimination or reduction.
Politicians commonly will propose program cuts, knowing that
not all programs targeted will be eliminated. Public opinion
is always considered in making final decisions. If senators
and representatives from across the country are inundated by
telephone calls, letters, e-mails, and office visits advocating
for Perkins, they cannot ignore the importance of the program.
In a
classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the budget shifts
Perkins funding to the Pell grant program. Demand for financial
aid from both programs currently exceeds supply, and both must
be funded. Choosing between the programs would be akin to forcing
a cook to decide between having a stove or refrigerator in the
kitchen. The Perkins program is relatively self-sustaining and
allows leveraging of funds by requiring colleges to match federal
dollars. Pell grants do not have to be repaid. After the Perkins
fund is depleted, what will happen to the Pell program? Please
make sure that your delegation understands that using Perkins
dollars to fund Pell grants is a no-win situation for all.
Letters coming from student loan administrators will have a
great impact on lawmakers. If you can cite figures indicating
how many students will not receive enough funding to enroll
in school or stay in college if Perkins is eliminated, your
representative or senator will listen. We urge you to not only
contact your representatives and senators, but also call on
you to encourage your colleagues, students, and borrowers in
repayment to contact them as well. Putting a human face on the
Perkins program and its impact on students and the university
will be effective.
Additional discussion points and contact information for members
of the House and Senate are included in this month’s “How
To.”
Our company has already taken a leadership role in advocating
for the Perkins program. Since we heard that funding was threatened
last summer, we have been alerting colleges and universities
of the need to act. Please see the attached list of actions
that Campus Partners has already undertaken.
ATTACHMENT: Previous
Perkins Funding Response
In this
issue of the Campus Partners Update newsletter, we are including
an overview of the COHEAO Annual Meeting, a report on the reauthorization
bill currently before Congress, a “How
To” on Responding to the Perkins Funding Crisis, and
an “Inside
Campus Partners” feature on Sharon Cameron, which
focuses on her reaction to the proposal to eliminate Perkins
funding.
top
of page ^
COHEAO Annual
Meeting Update
Although the COHEAO Annual Meeting was held before President
Bush submitted his budget for FY 2006, which proposed the elimination
of the Perkins Loan Program, COHEAO announced attendance at
this year’s annual meeting broke all records. Campus Partners
was well represented with Sharon Cameron, Audit and Compliance
Specialist; Lisa Koniuto, Director, Sales and Marketing; Mark
Olson, Executive Vice President; Sales and Marketing; and Brad
Resler, our new Account Executive, in attendance.
In talking to other attendees at the conference, it was apparent
that everyone shared a growing concern over the future of the
Federal Perkins program. Along with the prior news of zero funding
for the Perkins program in FY 2005, there were rumblings at
the conference of a possible proposal to eliminate the Perkins
program altogether. The following week, on February 7, 2005,
the proposal to eliminate Perkins was announced.
One of the primary reasons behind the President’s proposal
to eliminate the program largely rests on the Office of Management
and Budget’s assessment of the program derived from use
of the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). Used to evaluate
many Federal programs, the PART evaluation deemed the Perkins
Loan Program “ineffective.” Despite letters to the
Department of Education and other attempts by COHEAO members
to point out the flaws in the application of the PART to the
Perkins program, Pam Moran, Senior Program Specialist at ED,
addressed the group and told us that the Perkins Program had
been deemed “redundant and duplicative.” Another
speaker, John Dean, Principal, at Washington Partners, LLC,
expressed his opinion of the PART assessment by tossing it on
the floor. Before entering private practice, Dean was Associate
Counsel to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the
US House of Representatives.
Mark Olson used the opportunity to network with leaders from
other student loan servicers at the conference. He united with
three other major servicers at the conference and took the lead
in drafting a letter to the Department of Education. The letter,
which has since been mailed, offered assistance in providing
better data to ED to improve the scoring of the PART analysis.
Mark also took this opportunity to reiterate how important the
Perkins program is to students and schools and how the program
“provides critical loan funds to over 630,000 needy students
attending some 1,800 schools.”
William “Bud” Blakey, a partner in the Dean Blakey,
Washington, D.C. law firm, gave an inspiring speech during a
luncheon presentation to help prepare attendees planning to
make visits to Capitol Hill to lobby for the Perkins Program.
“It’s not about zero FCC, it’s about the students,”
Blakey told the group. He suggested that lobbying efforts focus
on students who would not be able to enroll in college or complete
their current education without the support of this most critical
piece to the financial aid pie. Representatives from colleges
and universities were encouraged to compile and present firm
estimates of actual numbers of students who would be affected
at their institution.
The conference ended with a breakfast on Capitol Hill. Speakers
at the breakfast included Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH),
Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education, and Representative
Stephanie Hersth (D-SD). Both speakers shared with the group
their show of support for education funding. Rep. Hersth said
that she is a strong supporter of the Perkins Loan program and
plans to work hard to preserve and fund it in Congress.
Following the breakfast, our staff visited the offices of North
Carolina Senators Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole to encourage
them to support the Perkins Program. Using hard data furnished
from one of our customers, we took the advice of Bud Blakey
and translated the effect of zero funding for FY 2005 (not program
elimination) in terms of impact on students. We passed along
one of our customer’s estimate that 166 incoming freshman
at her institution would not be able to fund their education
(based on an average loan of $3,000), and 250 seniors (based
on an average loan of $2,000) would not be able to complete
their education without the support of the federal dollars.
Campus Partners is soliciting this type of information from
our customers to share with representatives as a follow up to
our visit. Gathering specific information on the impact of the
program’s elimination on your campus and sharing it with
senators and representatives from your state will make a big
impression in supporting the continued funding of the Federal
Perkins program. Links to several letters recently developed
by COHEAO are provided below.
ATTACHMENTS:
Graduate
Letter, Parent
Letter, Undergraduate
Letter, School Letter
Addressing the Perkins Funding Crisis, and Discussion
Points
Campus Partners is not the only entity of the opinion that the
Administration’s proposal at best is robbing Peter to
pay Paul. In an article published in the Wall Street Journal
“President Bush wants to put more aid money in college
students’ pockets,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
“Here’s the hard part: Deciding whose pocket to
take the money out of first.”
top
of page ^
Higher
Ed Act
On February 2, 2005, House Education and Workforce Committee
Chairman John Boehner (R-OH), re-introduced legislation to reauthorize
the Higher Education Act. The College Access and Opportunity
Act (H.R. 507) seeks to restore the HEA’s original focus,
which is to help low and middle-income students in danger of
being denied access to a college education. The bill not only
reauthorized Perkins at least until 2012, it also increased
loan limits significantly and made other changes that had been
suggested to make the program more efficient. Of course, this
legislation has not been passed.
“We
need to reform federal higher education aid programs to put
incoming, low and middle-income students back at the front of
the line,” Boehner said. “The Higher Education Act’s
first mission is to improve college access for low and middle-income
students. It has drifted away from that focus over the years,
at the expense of the very students it was written to serve.
We’ve got to change that.”
It will be up to Boehner and his committee, along with Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Mike
Enzi (R-WY) and his committee to draft the Higher Education
Act reauthorization legislation. Other members of the House
Education and Workforce Committee are listed at the following
link: http://edworkforce.house.gov/members/109th/mem-fc.htm.
top
of page ^
Education
Department Update
-
Dear Colleague Letter CB-05-02 has been published
to provide information regarding the “Institutional
Application and Agreement for Participation in the Work-Colleges
Program” for the 2005-2006 award year. Applications
must be postmarked no later than March 11, 2005. For more
information, go to
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/CB0502.html.
-
In Dear Colleague Letter CB-05-01, the Department
of Education (ED) published tentative funding levels and corresponding
worksheets for the Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study,
and/or Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
programs for award period July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006.
As communicated to you earlier, there will be no funds available
for new Federal Capital Contributions (FCC) for the Federal
Perkins Loan Program for the 2005-2006-award year. You may
view this letter at http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/CB0501.html.
-
ED has issued a reminder of some fundamental changes to the
2005-2006 renewal application process, and is urging schools
to remind students, especially former paper renewal applicants,
that it is time to reapply. You may review announcement at
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0209RenewalFAFSA.html.
top
of page ^
Meet Brad Resler
Campus Partners is very pleased to announce that Brad
Resler has joined our staff as our Account Executive.
Brad will primarily focus on developing new business for our
company and will travel throughout the country. Previously,
Brad was a successful sales manager for a manufacturing company
and worked as an assistant to a dean at Northwestern University.
He also taught U.S. history for one year at a high school in
Indiana after his graduation from Purdue University.
Some of you may have met Brad at the COHEAO Annual Meeting in
Washington, D.C. at the end of January, which was his first
week on the job. Since then Brad has been learning more about
the student loan industry and has been involved in our efforts
to advocate on behalf of the Perkins program.
Brad is very pleased to be joining Campus Partners. “I
am very excited to come to an organization that is driven by
what’s best for its customers, and is committed to developing
solutions that meet their needs in the ever-changing environment
that they operate in,” Brad said. We will be profiling
Brad in next month’s “Inside Campus Partners”
feature.
top
of page ^
Student
Trust Loan Consolidation
Campus Partners, in
partnership with our sister company Student Trust, is delighted
to be offering your institution one of the lowest cost student
loan consolidation programs in the country.
As a valued Campus Partners customer, we want to make you aware
of a money-saving opportunity for your student loan borrowers.
For your eligible student loan borrowers, now is the time to
consolidate. Student loan interest rates are at their lowest
level in the program’s history but are expected to increase
this year. By choosing Student Trust, your borrowers can streamline
their effort to reduce their debt burden through our extensive
borrower benefit programs and enjoy the flexibility and simplification
that comes with our consolidation program. Your borrowers will
also have the 24x7 access to our professionally trained consolidation
counselors. Student Trust consolidation benefits include:
Campus Partners appreciates
your business and welcomes the opportunity to assist your borrowers
with their loan consolidation needs. If you have not given us
permission to contact your borrowers, please consider what a
benefit loan consolidation could be to them. If you would like
to join Student Trust’s Loan Counseling Program, which
gives us permission to contact your borrowers, educate them
about loan consolidation, and help them make the best choice
based on their needs, please complete the attached form and
fax it to the attention of Debra Pitts at 1-336-607-2025. The
service is free to you and your borrowers.
top
of page ^
Data
Center Transition
As announced
in last month’s Update, Campus Partners will
transition to a new Data Center in March. The move is scheduled
to occur over the week-end of March 18 - 20. To accommodate
the process, our online systems will be unavailable after 8:00
PM eastern on Friday, March 18. We also will be unavailable
the weekend of March 25-27, as a contingency weekend. We apologize
for any inconvenience that this may cause you.
Customers who submit data to Campus Partners via tape should
begin using the new mailing address for any tape mailings that
are estimated to arrive at the Data Center on or after March
18, 2005. Please make sure to provide the new mailing address
to all staff who are responsible for creating and mailing tapes
on your campus. Tapes should be sent to:
Infocrossing Southeast
6620 Bay Circle
Norcross, GA 30071
Attn: Victor Calle (678)728-1603 Re: Campus Partners
Additionally,
please make sure that your tape is accompanied by a cover letter
that briefly describes the content of the tape you are submitting
for processing. This will allow us to more efficiently process
data submitted via tape
top
of page ^
DocumentDirect
to be Discontinued
As previously announced, access to DocumentDirect will
end soon. Although we originally planned to curtail access last
year, we wanted to wait until our remaining DocumentDirect
customers felt comfortable with the transition to eXpressReports.
The retirement will take place in conjunction with the Data
Center transition. Almost all our customers now use eXpressReports,
our new report tool, which is very easy to use. With the launch
of myReports, customers have an additional new and powerful
reporting tool.
If you
already have a DocumentDirect ID and password, you
can get started using eXpressReports today. Just click
on the eXpressReports icon on the home page of this
Web site, and you are ready to go. A link to eXpressReports
documentation also is available on the eXpressReports log in
page. If you have questions about eXpressReports, please
contact your Customer Service Representative.
top
of page ^
E-Bill: An Easier
Way to Pay
Over
20% of your borrowers have registered to use our borrower Web
site, www.mycampusloan.com, since its introduction in the spring
of 2003. Borrowers are finding the Web site a convenient way
to obtain account information and make online payments. One
of the products that they are quickly adopting is E-Bill,
our electronic bill presentment service. We are conducting a
campaign to increase enrollment in our E-Bill service because
we believe it is a product that complements the webcentric life
style of today’s borrowers. By signing up for E-Bill,
borrowers can receive notification of their statement’s
availability through their e-mail address and immediately can
choose to pay their bill through E-Pay without
leaving their computer screen. If you would like any promotional
materials to distribute to your borrowers, please contact your
Customer Service Representative.
top
of page ^
RAAN
Reminder
Last year due to new Privacy Laws, Campus Partners assigned
a “RAAN” (Randomly Assigned Account Number) to all
active loans on our database. This number can be used as a way
to identify a borrower; however, we still maintain the borrower’s
original account number on our system, along with the social
security number and program/loan sequence number.
When submitting Change/Adjustment memos or e-mails to our office,
any of the above identifiers can be included on the document.
However, we do ask that you include the borrower’s name
when submitting documents with the RAAN number. You should never
include a borrower’s social security number in any e-mails
sent to our office.
top
of page ^
Archive
Update and Reminder
We will archive
loans on the weekend of May 21, 2005. The complete selection
criteria for archiving loans is listed below.
-
For loan status 91(disability cancellation),
92 (bankruptcy cancellation), or 96 (death cancellation)
when the reprocessing date, paid-out date and the last monetary
activity date are all over two years in the past.
-
For loan status 94 (automatic write-off)
or 95 (manual write-off) when the reprocessing date, paid-out
date, and the last monetary date are all over five years
in the past.
-
For loan status 90 (paid-in-full) when
the reprocessing date, paid-out date and the last monetary
date are all over two years in the past.
-
All year to date paid fields are equal
to zero.
-
Calendar year interest paid is equal to
zero.
-
Calendar Year Capitalized Balance Paid
must equal 0.00 before a loan can be archived.
-
TRA Prior Year Interest Paid must equal
0.00 before a loan can be archived.
-
Prior Year Interest Paid must equal 0.00
before a loan can be archived.
-
Note: Loans are archived at the borrower
level. Therefore, all loans for a borrower must meet the
above criteria before any loans for that borrower will be
archived. This includes loans that a borrower has with different
lenders, or loans that a borrower has with the same lender.
Locating
Archived Loans
We are in the process of developing a new screen that will
assist you in locating information on borrower accounts that
have been archived. This new screen will be called “Archived
Borrower / Loan Inquiry” and the option for this screen
will be “ARCI.” It will allow you to locate an
archived borrower by using any of the following search arguments:
1. RAAN
2. Account Number
3. Social Security Number
4. Program/Loan/Sequence Number
5. Student ID
6. Name
Please check future publications for more information
on this new screen.
top
of page ^
40th Anniversary
In last
month’s Update, we announced that we will be
commerating our forty-year history as a loan servicer in a big
way. Festivities will include a ‘60’s day, on which
employees will be encouraged to dress as banking professionals
in 1965 appropriate attire, a collection drive for a local charity,
and other contests. We’ll recap the events with photos
in future issues of the Update newsletter.
Throughout our anniversary year, we will be placing an interesting
fact from the year 1965 in the Update.
|
|
Headlines
from 1965
Muhammad
Ali KO’s Sonny Liston in first round for Heavy
Weight boxing title |
top
of page ^
Teleseminar
Training
Our second year of teleseminar
training was a success. Thanks go to all who participated and
provided feedback. Offering this training provides us the opportunity
to reach out to schools who cannot attend Student Loans 101
or 202 workshops in Winston-Salem. Each teleseminar is
geared toward understanding a particular area of student loans
and is an opportunity to gain new insight, ask questions, and
hear helpful feedback from other schools.
As we prepare for the upcoming year, we look forward to continuing
this service. Teleseminars are usually offered the second Monday
of each month from 2:00 to 3:30 ET. If you want to participate
in these training sessions, just e-mail Debra Pitts at dpitts@campuspartners.com
at least three days before the scheduled teleseminar to register.
She will notify you of the telephone number that you need to call
in a return e-mail. The training is free and well worth your time.
2005
Teleconference Training Schedule
| March 14, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| Key Screens
on WebConnect* |
| April 11, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| myReports |
| May 9, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| What Happens
When a Borrower Goes Into Collections* |
| June 13, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| How to
Read History* |
| July 11, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| FISCOP
Preparation |
| August 8, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| How to
Evaluate Deferment and Forbearance Requests* |
| September 12, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| Open Topic |
| October 10, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| What is
Rehabilitation and How Borrowers Can Benefit* |
| November 14, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| How to
Use and Interpret Reports from Campus Partners |
| December 12, 2005 |
2:00 p.m. ET |
| Open Topic |
Introducing
Web Conferencing
In addition to our teleseminars,we will begin offering Web seminars
soon. These presentations will offer you the opportunity to view
our presentation, ask questions, and even test drive our products
while on-line. Look for an e-mail message from us announcing the
time, date, and registration information for the first Web seminar,
which focuses on www.mycampusloan.com and E-Exit.
Workshops
We have scheduled our popular Student Loans 101 and 202
workshops for the following dates. Please note that we have added
an additional Student Loans 101 workshop next year due to popular
demand. Although the March Student Loans 101 Workshop
is filled, you can sign up for July or November sessions now.
| Student
Loans 101 |
Student
Loans 202 |
| |
April
7 and 8, 2005 |
| November
3 and 4, 2005 |
October
6 and 7, 2005 |
| |
|
Student Loans 101 is designed for student loan administrators
who are less experienced or are new to Campus Partners. Student
Loans 202 is aimed at student loan administrators with more
than one year of experience. The workshops are presented at our
office in Winston-Salem and are hands-on learning experiences.
Each participant will work at their own computer workstation with
experienced Campus Partners staff leading the training. Registration
forms and other information are available on our Web site and
as an attachment to this month’s Update.
Attachments:
Student
Loans 101 Workshop Flyer and Registration
Form
Student
Loans 202 Workshop Flyer and
Registration Form
top of page ^
Regional
Meetings
Our 2005 Regional Meeting Schedule is listed
below. If you would be interested in hosting one of these meetings
listed below, please contact your Account Representative.
| Date |
Location |
Host |
| March 7 |
Virginia |
University of Virginia |
| March 16 |
Texas |
University of Texas-Health Science Center at San Antonio |
| April |
Pennsylvania |
|
| May |
Illinois (Chicago) |
|
| May 3 |
Alabama |
University of Alabama-Birmingham |
| July |
Washington |
Seattle Pacific University |
| July |
Northern California |
|
| July |
Southern California |
|
| August |
South Carolina |
|
| August 26 |
New York |
Culinary Institute of America |
| August |
Ohio |
|
| October |
Massachusetts |
|
| October |
Nebraska |
|
top
of page ^
Conference
Schedule
Representatives
from Campus Partners will attend the conferences listed below.
NACUBO
will hold its Student Financial Services Conference
on March 6-8, 2005 at the Wyndham Palace Resort and Spa in Tampa,
FL. Visit www.nacubo.org for
more information. The number for the hotel is 407-827-2727.
The FABSAA Third
Annual Conference will be held March 29-31 at the Rosen
Centre Hotel in Orlando, FL. More information is available at
the following Web address: www.fabsaa.fsu.edu.
The EARMA Annual Conference will be held on April
5-6 at the National Conference Center in Hightstown, NJ. More
information is available at www.rci.rutgers.edu/~earma/.
Mark Olson, our Executive Vice President of Sales
and Marketing, will speak at the conference.
The Ohio Bursars
Association Spring Conference will be held April 11-13
at the Marcum Conference Center and Inn in Miami, OH. The
number for the hotel is 513-529-2104.
The CAASLAR
Conference will be held April 21-22 in Beaver Creek,
Colorado. More details will follow.
PDG
will present its 19th National Conference for College
& University Bursars, Cashiers, Treasury Managers, and Student
Financial Services on April 24-27 at the Marriott Rivercenter
in San Antonio, TX. The Web address for PDG is www.prodev.com.
The number for the hotel is 800-648-4462. Mark Olson,
our Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, will speak
at the conference.
The UASLA Conference
will be held in Park City, Utah on May 19-20 at the Yarrow Hotel.
More details will be provided later.
top
of page ^
Cutoff
Dates
Cutoff
dates for February, March, and April are presented below.
Transaction |
February 2005 |
March 2005 |
April
2005 |
| Last day to receive collection payments |
2/22/05 |
3/28/05 |
4/26/05 |
| Last day to receive regular payments |
2/23/05 |
3/29/05 |
4/27/05 |
| Last day for online payments |
2/25/05 |
4/1/05 |
4/29/05 |
| Date final post begins |
2/25/05 |
4/1/05 |
4/29/05 |
| Report date used for final post |
2/28/05 |
3/31/05 |
4/30/05 |
| Last day deposits created for deposit to bank account |
2/25/05 |
3/31/05 |
4/29/05 |
top of page ^
| One
Stop Shop
To
resolve technical issues faster, we are merging our Help
Desk with Customer Service. For all your inquiries, please
call your Customer Service Representative. |
|
