April05Update

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Campus Partners Update Newsletter April 30, 2005	*Download a printer-friendly Update* here!**

Campus Partners will be closed on May 30 for Memorial Day. Our online systems will be available during normally scheduled hours.

Sign up for our next Web Conference on iPROMise scheduled for May 26 at 2:00 PM. For more details, click here. To sign up, e-mail us.


• Perkins Funding Crisis	•Borrower Web Site Update
• Education Department Update	•Product Update
• Loan Consolidation Update	•Web Conference
• Meet our New Account Manager	•Teleconference
• Audit Underway	•Workshop Update
• Archive Reminder	•Regional Meetings
• Year-end Processing Reminder	•Conference Schedule
• Customer News	•Cutoff Dates

Customer Closeup Nancy Taylor University of Kentucky	Inside Campus Partners Pattie Mastin Account Manager

Perkins Funding Crisis

Campus Partners is continuing to press on with our advocacy efforts to ensure North Carolina Senators and our district’s Representative support the Perkins Loan Program. As previously published, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) has told our office that he supports the Perkins program. Several of our staff members have also received letters from Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) stating her support for the Perkins Loan Program. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) personally told several members of our staff that she supports Perkins. However, a subsequent newspaper article about the impact of the Perkins funding crisis on our company and local colleges quoted Representative Foxx as being undecided on supporting Perkins funding. She is a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee so we feel that gaining her unwavering support is paramount.

We have sponsored a second round of letter-writing sessions for our employees, which targeted Representative Foxx. We are also planning a town meeting, which will be held in May to mobilize support for the Perkins program. We will invite representatives from local colleges and high schools, students, the press, business leaders, and elected officials to our town meeting and will keep you posted on the outcome.

We know that many of you have been very active in advocating for the Perkins Loan Program. Please share your activities with us so we can publicize them.

FSA Handbook – Quick Reference Table of Contents

The Department of Education (ED) has posted its 2004-2005 FSA Handbook Quick Reference Table of Contents . If you have not used the FSA Handbook in the past, you might want to take a look. Volume 6 – Campus-Based Programs, will answer many routine questions that you may have regarding the Federal Perkins program as well as the Federal Work-Study programs. To view this valuable resource, go to www.ifap.ed.gov. Under the heading “Publications,” click “Federal Student Aid Handbook.”

Dear Colleague Letters:

2005-2006 Final Funding Authorizations
Tentative 2005-2006 funding levels for campus-based programs were announced on January 24, 2005 in CB-05-01. The notification of 2005-2006 final awards, final funding worksheets, and the 2005-2006 Statement of Account for each program are posted to the eCampus-Based (eCB) Web site. The letter includes a series of Questions and Answers, and can be found at the following link: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/CB0504.html.

2005-2006 FWS Program Community Service Waiver Requests
Dear Colleague Letter CB-05-05 provides a series of questions and answers on how a school can request a waiver of the Award Year 2005-2006 community service expenditure requirements under the Federal Work-Study Program. To view this letter, go to: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/CB0505FWSCSWRequest.html.

Federal Register Notices:

2005-2006 Award Year Deadline for Campus-Based Programs

ED provides the 2005-2006 award year deadline dates for submission of applications, reports, and waiver requests for campus-based programs. Institutions must meet the established deadline dates to ensure consideration for funding or a waiver, as appropriate. Please note that the PDF version may be easier to read due to the formatting of this notice. Click on the link at the bottom of the following Web page to access this notice in PDF. Go to: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/fregisters/FR03222005.html.

Notice of Deadline Dates for the 2004-2005 Award Year

ED announced deadline dates for the 2004-2005 award year for the receipt of documents and other information from institutions and applicants for federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended: Federal Perkins, Federal Work Study, FSEOG, FFEL, Direct Loan, Pell Grant, and LEAP. This document includes two tables: “Deadline Dates for Application Processing and Receipt of Student Aid Reports (SARs) or Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) by Institutions” and “Federal Pell Grant Program Submission Dates for Disbursement Information by Institutions.” Again, the PDF version is easier to view. View this Federal Register Notice at: http://www.nasfaa.org/publications/2005/fr0405eddeadlines041305.html.

Encourage Loan Consolidation Now

Why is July 1, 2005 so important for student loan borrowers this year? July 1st not only marks the beginning of a new financial aid season but also marks the end of the lowest interest rates in the federal student loan program’s history.

Interest rates on most student loans are calculated based on a formula set by law. The formula differs depending on a borrower’s status (in-school, grace, deferment or repayment).

For repayment borrowers with Stafford loans issued since July 1998, the current interest rate is 3.37%. For student borrowers who are either in grace or deferment, the current interest rate is 2.77%. Parent PLUS loans are currently 4.17%.

Compared to just four years ago, when the repayment interest rate was 5.99%, a borrower with $10,000 in student loan debt and a standard 10-year repayment plan can save $1,523 in interest over the life of the loan.

Effective July 1, 2005 this will change.

Interest rates for Federal student loans reset annually on July 1st. All indications are that this year’s reset will increase interest rates for student loan borrowers anywhere from 1½ to 2% - nearly the same rate of four years ago.

One of the main benefits for student loan borrowers consolidating is the ability to convert their variable rate loans into a single fixed rate loan. Depending on borrowers’ student loan debt, they can expect to save hundreds, even thousands of dollars in interest over the life of their loans by locking in today’s low rates.

Additional interest rate benefits are offered by our sister company Student Trust. These benefits enable our customers to realize additional savings on their student loan debt. New graduates can lock in a rate as low as 1.625%.

A 1% interest-rate reduction after their first 36 scheduled on-time payments.
An additional .25% interest rate reduction when payments are made electronically from checking or savings.
Reduced monthly payment amounts, in many instances more than 50%.
One monthly payment for all their student loans – simplifying repayment.
No application fees, no credit checks and no closing costs
No repayment penalties – borrowers can pay in full or in part at any time – whichever is most convenient for them.
24 x 7 access to Student Trust’s professionally trained consolidation loan counselors.

Student loan consolidation provides student loan borrowers, specifically new graduates, with an opportunity to enter the working world with smaller debt burdens. That translates into more money available for school-to-work transitional expenses such as rent, relocation and transportation, to name a few post-graduate essentials.

A borrower’s repayment term is dependent on the borrower’s total loan debt, and ranges from twelve to thirty years. Visit www.EdLoanConsolidate.com for additional information on consolidation loan repayment terms.

One thing borrowers do need to consider when consolidating is whether or not to consolidate Perkins, Health Professional (HPSL) and/or Nursing (NSL) loans because there are deferment and cancellation opportunities unique to these programs. Specific details on the deferments and cancellation opportunities for these borrowers can be found at www.EdLoanConsolidate.com.

Eligibility

To be eligible for consolidation, borrowers must:

have graduated, left school or be attending less than half time,
have loans in grace or repayment,
have at least $7,500 in eligible student loans they wish to consolidate,
ensure that their loans are fully dispersed and
not have a consolidation application pending with another lender

Student loans eligible for consolidation are:

Federal and Federal Direct Stafford (subsidized and unsubsidized)
Federal and Federal Direct PLUS (in borrower’s name only)
SLS (Supplementary Loans for Students)
Federal Perkins
Federal Nursing Student Loans (NSL)
Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL)
Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)
Federal Insured Students Loans (FISL)
Federal Consolidation Loans
Federal Direct Consolidation Loans

Campus Partners, in partnership with Student Trust, is delighted to offer your institution one of the lowest-cost student loan consolidation programs in the country. And, as a valued Campus Partners customer, we want to make you aware of this money-saving opportunity for your student loan borrowers.

For your eligible student loan borrowers, now is the time to consolidate. And by choosing Student Trust, your borrowers can reduce their debt burden through borrower benefit programs, while enjoying the flexibility and simplification that comes with consolidation.

Loan Counseling Opportunity

Campus Partners and Student Trust are committed to providing all student loan borrowers the very best advice and counsel, to ensure that their best financial interests are always in the forefront. Student Trust will either suggest inclusion of a Perkins loan or exclusion, if it appears the borrowers’ cancellation benefits may be at risk. Loan consolidation in today’s interest rate environment is a win-win for graduating students; however, they are being inundated with offers from lenders who may not have graduates’ best financial interests at heart. That is why Student Trust offers a Loan Counseling Program whereby they contact your borrowers, educate them about loan consolidation and help them make the best choice for them. This service is free to you and your borrowers and benefits you in another important way. As Perkins loans are paid in full through consolidation, the proceeds are returned directly to your Perkins loan fund to lend again to needy students.

To join the Student Trust Loan Counseling Program, please complete the attached form and fax it to 336-607-2025.

Attachment: Student Trust Loan Counseling Authorization Form

Welcome New Account Manager

We are pleased to announce that Mark Young has been hired as the Account Manager for the Southern Region. Mark has had over eight years experience as an Account Manager for a health care company and is already learning all he can about the student loan industry. “I am honored to have met most of the employee’s within the Campus Partners family. I have never been associated with a company with such great pride, knowledge, and wealth of understanding from each and every position from the ground up to the top. I look forward to providing excellent service to all of the colleges and universities that are in my particular region and to raising the bar of service delivery to the next level,” Mark told us.

Tis the Season! – Audit Season, That is—

Our third-party audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005 is currently underway. The audit is being conducted by Porter Keadle Moore, LLP. We expect their audit report to be published and available to you in mid-August. An Audit Request Form for 2005 is available on our Web site. Please stay tuned to the Campus Partners Update for more information.

Archive Criteria and Reminder

We will archive loans on the weekend of May 21. The complete selection criteria for archiving loans is listed below.

For loan status 91(disability cancellation), 92 (bankruptcy cancellation), or 96 (death cancellation) where 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) where 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) where the reprocessing date, paid-out date and the last monetary date are all over twenty-four months 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.

Get Ready for Year-End Processing

June 30 is just three months away. Use this checklist to close your fiscal year successfully:

Reconcile loan and accounting information.
· Reconcile all disbursements for the year.
· Correct and return all unpostable new loans and advances.
· Check and update separation dates.
· Reconcile your general ledger.
Determine special needs and communicate them to us.
· Contact your auditors to determine their needs for reports.
· Provide instructions for special mailing requirements for year-end reports.
· Submit change/adjustment requests for processing.
Work the Cohort Default Rate Report.
· Provide your Customer Service Representative with requests for coding changes.

With the end of the fiscal year approaching, our goal is to process all requests for changes in a timely manner. All requests arriving by regular mail, overnightmail, fax, DataLink Dispatch, or e-mail are processed in the order that we receive them.

Deadlines for receipt in our office are:

June 9 Requests for duplicate reports
June 24 Requests for Change/Adjustment memos
July 1 Year-end post begins

Remember you can use eXpressReports to access your fiscal year-end reports immediately following year-end processing.

Long-Term Customers

We are celebrating our partnership with quite a few long -term customers this quarter. Campus Partners salutes customers reaching long-term anniversaries with us during April, May, and June. Special recognition goes to Atlantic Cape Community College, Columbus State University, Delaware County Community College, Florida Atlantic University, and Morehouse College, which have been our customers of 35 years. We also want to thank American University, Bethel College, Florence-Darlington Technical College, Skidmore College, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham for allowing us to service their loans for the past 30 years.

Names of all customers attaining 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35-year anniversaries with us during this quarter are attached. Customers reaching anniversaries with us during the third quarter of 2005 will be listed in the July Update. For the first time, we will be saluting schools that have been our customer for 40 years in the July issue!

Attachment: Long-Term Customer Anniversaries

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Customer Closeup

In this month’s Customer Closeup, we are featuring Nancy Taylor, Assistant Director of Student Billing Services at the University of Kentucky. In addition to carrying out her duties at UK over the past 24 years, Nancy will receive her Masters of Science in Education in May. I am sure you will join us in congratulating Nancy on this accomplishment.

According to UK’s Web site, www.uky.edu, “the University of Kentucky is a public, research-extensive, land grant university dedicated to enriching people’s lives through excellence in teaching, research, and service.” Its vision is to become “one of the nation’s 20 best public research universities, an institution recognized world-wide for excellence in teaching, research, and service and a catalyst for intellectual, social, cultural, and economic development.”

UK was founded in 1865 as a land grant college. Today, 27,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. Students may pursue bachelor’s degrees in 88 certified degree programs and master’s degrees in 93 areas. Doctoral and Ph.D degrees are offered in 60 program areas. UK is the flagship university for the state of Kentucky, and the University includes the Chandler Medical Center, which is a teaching hospital.

Welcome New Customers

This quarter Campus Partners welcomes the Saginaw branch of Davenport University as one of our new customers. We have been servicing loans for the Grand Rapids campus, and the locations decided to select one servicer. “Davenport University is an independent, non-profit, multi-location university offering master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, associate’s degrees, diplomas, and certification programs in business, technology, health professions, and graduate studies (MBA),” according to their Web site.

Davenport was founded in 1866 and is the largest independent university in Michigan and northern Indiana. Davenport has 27 locations in these two states, and enrolls around 13,000 students. Over 100 degrees are offered by the University. More information is available at www.Davenport.edu.

We are proud to announce that the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has also contracted with us to service their loans. According to their Web site, “the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio serves San Antonio and the 50,000 square-mile area of South Texas. It extends to campuses in the metropolitan border communities of Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. More than 2,700 students a year train in an environment that involves more than 100 affiliated hospitals, clinics and health care facilities in South Texas. The Health Science Center’s purpose is to provide the best in health careers education, biomedical research, patient care and community service to San Antonio and the South Texas/Border Region.” The University was charted in 1959 and admitted its first class of 15 in 1966. Additional information is available at www.uthscsa.edu.

We are also welcoming another new customer, Briarwood College. According to their Web site, “Briarwood College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the Connecticut State Board for Higher Education. Individual programs are also accredited by organizations within their specific professions. Approximately 635 students, both full-and part-time, attend the College. Residential students come from many states and foreign countries while commuting students come largely from Connecticut.” Bachelor degrees are offered “in two programs and associate degrees in 27 programs. In addition, students can earn certificates in 16 one-year courses of study, and continue to upgrade their skills by taking non-degree courses of their choosing.” Visit their Web site at www.briarwoodcollege.com.

Borrower Web Site Use Soars

More and more borrowers are using www.mycampusloan.com to access information, pay their bills, change their address and phone numbers, download forms, and much more. In fact, nearly 94,000 borrowers have registered to use the Web site. The most popular feature of www.mycampusloan.com is E-Pay, with 163,822 transactions taking place since the site was launched two years ago. We designed the site for the convenience of borrowers, but its real value lies in its ability to help borrowers make on-time payments. Borrowers not only can pay their bill on-line, but they also can keep tabs on their payment history, keep you notified of address changes, and even receive their bills online. Web usage is still climbing dramatically. During the month of March, total transaction activity more than tripled and E-Pay volume more than doubled over February 2005 statistics.

E-Bill

We are currently conducting a campaign to increase E-Bill enrollment. When your borrowers sign up for E-Bill, they receive an e-mail notification with a link to their bill on our Web site each month. E-Bill allows them to receive their bill on any computer with Web access even when they are in the midst of changing their address or traveling. With a couple of clicks, they also can pay their bill on-line via E-Pay. The campaign is working as E-Bill enrollment more than doubled during the month of March. If you would like any E-Bill promotional materials, please contact your Customer Service Representative.

Web Conferencing

As the Update goes to press, Campus Partners is on the verge of presenting its first Web Conference on mycampusloan.com and E-Exit. More than 30 customers are scheduled to participate in the training event, which LaShonda Hairston, Account Manager-North, is scheduled to moderate.

Our next Web conference will focus on iPROMise and is scheduled for Thursday, May 26 at 2:00 PM Eastern. LaShonda Hairston will again moderate the event. Additional sessions on myReports and other topics are planned for later in the year.

We are excited about offering Web Conferences because our customers will be able to see the presentation, take guided tours of our Web sites, and download handouts without leaving their computer. To participate, all you need are a telephone and a computer with Internet access. You do not have to download any software, and even the cost of the telephone call is free to you.

If you are interested in participating, e-mail Debra Pitts, our Administrative Assistant, by May 19. Debra’s e-mail address is dpitts@campuspartners.com. We will send you an invitation to the on-line training session and easy to understand instructions for connecting to the Web Conference. If you have questions about Web Conferences, please call Carolyn Williams, Communications Manager, at 336-607-2383.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Campus Partners

Headlines from 1965

Gemini 7 Launched with 2 Astronauts

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

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
myReports
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

Workshops

Our next Student Loans 101 Workshop is several months away, but it is not too soon to sign up for it.

Student Loans 101	Student Loans 202
July 14 and 15, 2005	October 6 and 7, 2005
November 3 and 4, 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

Regional Meetings

Our 2005 Regional Meeting Schedule is listed below. If you would be interestedin hosting one of these meetings listed below, please contact your Account Manager.

Date	Location	Host
May 23	Illinois (Chicago)	Northwestern University
July 22	Washington	Seattle Pacific University
July	Northern California
July	Southern California
August	South Carolina
August 26	New York	Culinary Institute of America
August	Ohio	University of Dayton
October	Massachusetts
October	Nebraska
TBD	Pennsylvania

Conference Schedule

Representatives from Campus Partners will attend the conferences listed below. As more conferences are added, we post more information.

The UASLA Conference will be held in Park City, Utah on May 12-13 at the Silver Key Hotel in Park City, UT. The number for the hotel is 800-331-8652.

The PAC 10 Conference will be held on July 17-20 at the Resort at the Mountain located at Mt. Hood in Oregon. The number for the hotel is 800-669-7666.

Cutoff Dates

Cutoff dates for March, April, May, and June are presented below.

Transaction	April 2005	May 2005	June 2005	July 2005
Last day to receive collection payments	4/26/05	5/24/05	6/27/05	7/26/05
Last day to receive regular payments	4/27/05	5/25/05	6/28/05	7/27/05
Last day for online payments	4/29/05	5/27/05	7/01/05	7/29/05
Date final post begins	4/29/05	5/27/05	7/01/05	7/29/05
Report date used for final post	4/30/05	5/31/05	6/30/05	7/31/05
Last day deposits created for deposit to bank account	4/29/05	5/27/05	6/30/05	7/29/05

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.