Campus Partners Update Newsletter
March 4, 2010
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Inside Campus Partners |
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As noted in the last issue of the Update, health care legislation has delayed Senate consideration of the student loan bill. The paths these bills will take cannot be predicted.
However, what we do know is that the President’s budget for 2010 has been published and any changes to the Federal Perkins program will not go into effect until July 1, 2011 at the earliest.
Advocacy groups are continuing their efforts to influence SAFRA legislation, and it is not too late to tell your elected officials how you feel. COHEAO has an abundance of information on their Web site to assist you in communicating with your Senators, including talking points, letter templates, and contact information. Visit the COHEAO web site at www.coheao.org for this information.
Campus Partners will keep you informed of future developments.
COHEAO’s Annual Conference was another huge success! Speakers from Congress, the Department of Education (ED), college campuses, and associations were presenters at this year’s meeting.
Harrison Wadsworth from Washington Partners opened the meeting with a summary of legislative events in 2009. He reminded participants of an addition to the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, which reads:
“Sense of Congress Regarding Federal Perkins Loans: It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Perkins Loan Program, which provides low-interest loans to help needy students finance the costs of postsecondary education, is an important part of Federal student aid, and should remain a campus-based aid program at colleges and universities.”
Guest speaker Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA) shared with the group that the federal government’s proposed “cookie-cutter” approach to student loan reform is not necessarily to the advantage of the students because providing a choice of options to fund higher education has worked very well over the last 45 years.
Representative Tim Bishop (D-NY) also spoke to meeting attendees and said that SAFRA is most likely to pass into legislation in the format called for by this Administration. When asked if COHEAO members would be viewed in a negative light for wanting to preserve the current benefits of the Federal Perkins program, he urged members to continue to let Congress know their opinions.
Gail McLarnon from the Office of Postsecondary Education provided an update concerning Perkins related issues, including HEOA, 2009 negotiated rulemaking, and an overview of the proposed Federal Direct Perkins loan program. McLarnon also told the group that mandatory assignment is back on ED’s agenda for negotiated rulemaking, due to the difficulty some schools may have in obtaining and/or maintaining detailed records of collection activities. Another topic concerned the format in which schools can send the Addendum to the Federal Perkins Master Promissory Note. McLarnon said that schools must get borrower consent in order to send the Addendum electronically. (Regulatory Wisdom covers additional information from ED on this topic this month.)
Other topics of interest included changes to the Truth in Lending Act, preferred lender list regulations, financial literacy for students, and a presentation from the Department of Health and Human Services. Conference attendees visited Capitol Hill on the second day of the conference, meeting with representatives from their respective states and asking for support to preserve the current benefits of the Federal Perkins program, such as in-school interest benefits and the generous cancellation provisions.
Federal Regulations Manual Updated
Campus Partners’ Federal Regulations Manual has been updated and posted to our Reading Room. All changes to the Federal Perkins loan program made in 2009 have been included. The manual also contains helpful insights to assist you in understanding a particular regulation and Campus Partners Provides sections that describe our service offerings developed to help you comply with regulations.
The information contained in this manual is proprietary and confidential and should not be shared outside of your offices. If you do not have the address for the Reading Room, please contact your Customer Service Representative.
IMPORTANT REMINDER! MPN Addendum Service
As previously published, ED has issued an Addendum that schools must provide to previous Perkins borrowers to explain changes to their original promissory notes made by CCRAA and HEOA. “Previous borrowers” are defined as borrowers who did not sign the newly issued MPN, with the August 31, 2012 expiration date. The Addendum documents new terms and conditions governing their Federal Perkins loan.
Campus Partners has created a QuikLetter to help you comply with this requirement. Our complete service includes:
- Generating a QuikLetter that notifies your borrowers that changes have been made to their MPN
- Including the Addendum as a stuffer with the QuikLetter
- Mailing the letter with addendum
- Entering a history comment on the borrower account for audit purposes
If you are interested in taking advantage of our QuikLetter service to fulfill the MPN Addendum requirements, please contact your Customer Service Representative.
Recently adopted Truth-In-Lending Act (TILA) regulations require colleges and universities to comply with complex student loan disclosure requirements for private loans. These rules have been extended to many student loan types, such as Health Professions, Nursing, Nurse Faculty, and Institutional loan programs. We provided an overview of TILA requirements in the November issue of the Update newsletter.
To help institutions comply with these disclosure requirements, Campus Partners is developing a self-service solution for our customers. Phase One, scheduled for launch in April 2010, will provide a user interface to populate information and print disclosures for both variable and fixed rate loans. Campus Partners will be expanding our service to generate and mail disclosures on your behalf in time for 2010-2011 academic year processing. More details will follow.
If you have any questions, please contact Pattie Mastin, Account Manager, or Lisa Koniuto, Director, Business Development.
Regulatory Wisdom from Sharon Cameron Question: Will I be in compliance if I send out the Federal Perkins Master Promissory Note Addendum to my borrowers via email? Response from Campus Partners: Yes, you can send out the Addendum via email as long as you adhere to provisions of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. This Act was established by the Federal Trade Commission in 2000. The Act applies to a variety of documents that are required to be provided in writing. As noted in the answer from ED, the Act legitimizes the use of electronic signatures and documents as long as all parties to a transaction agree to their use. Consumers still have the right to paper documents. Stringent safeguards were included in the Act to ensure consumers can access documents in electronic format. The requirements related to disclosure and consumer consent are provided at the following link: http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/15C96.txt. Campus Partners recommends that you review applicable requirements to ensure compliance before emailing the Addendum. The full text of an email received from an official at ED appears below. Answer from ED: In order to send the addendums to the Perkins Loan Program promissory notes to borrowers electronically, the school or servicer must comply with the disclosure and consumer consent requirements in the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign). E-Sign establishes that a transaction or contract relating to such transaction that is required to be in writing cannot be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because it is in an electronic form or because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation. Under the consumer disclosure provisions of E-Sign, the parties involved in the transaction must agree to conduct the transaction electronically. In accordance with those provisions, a borrower must affirmatively consent to use electronic records and electronic signatures. A school must obtain the borrower’s consent before it may conduct any Title IV program transaction electronically. Before a school obtains consent it must inform the borrower of:
Although these disclosures may be provided to a borrower either electronically or in a non-electronic format, the borrower’s consent must be obtained electronically, using the same technology or process that will be used to conduct future transactions. This E-sign provision is intended to ensure that the borrower has the necessary hardware and software to view, print, download, or otherwise access the information necessary to complete the transactions covered under the scope of the consent. Note: The underlined portion is Campus Partners’ emphasis.
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Recent system enhancements are described below.
- Accrual Summary Report
Payments with a Payment Type 20 (non-cash) and Source Code U (disburse ment cancelled) are now being reported in the Noncash-Disb-Cancel column of the Accrual Summary Report.
- iPROMise
The text in the online entrance interview question and answer section of iPROMise has been updated. New cancellation benefits were added to iPROMise in August 2009; however, we recently revised the text describing these benefits to more closely correspond to final Federal Perkins regulations.
- E-Exit
Informative text and new questions have been added to the online exit interview question and answer section of E-Exit for Federal Perkins loans. The loan obligation text provides additional emphasis on loan repayment and the consequences of default. New topics include the Master Promissory Note, NSLDS, tax benefits, and loan consolidation.
Campus Partner is pleased to announce the following new customers:
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Montclair State University
South Dakota State University
Montclair State and Kutztown are both former customers, and South Dakota State previously serviced their campus-based loans in house. We will provide information about other new customers in the next issue of the Update.
Web conferences offer a great way to receive training without leaving your office. These sessions are free of charge. Please email Debra Pitts at dpitts@campuspartners.com to register for any of the Web conferences listed below.
2010 Web Conference Schedule
| Topic | Date |
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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 held at our offices in Winston-Salem, NC this year.
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 unique opportunity for
advanced training. Both workshops provide hands-on training at individual workstations.
Class sizes are small so you can receive personal attention.
| 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.
NACUBO will present its Student Financial Services Conference March 14-16 in San Antonio, TX at the Grand Hyatt. More information is available at http://www.nacubo.org.
PDG will hold its College and University Bursars Conference on April 18-21 in St. Petersburg, FL. Visit www.prodev.com for more information.
The CAASLAR Conference will be presented April 22-23 in Estes Park, CO.
Information is available at www.caaslar.org.
EARMA will present its annual conference April 27-28 at the Hilton in East Brunswick, NJ. Please visit www.studentabc.rutgers.edu/EARMA for updated information.
Cutoff Dates for February, March, April, and May.
Transaction
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Feb. 2010 |
Mar. 2010 |
Apr. 2010 |
May. 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Last day to receive collection payments |
2/23 |
3/26 |
4/27 |
5/25 |
Last day to receive regular payments |
2/24 |
3/29 |
4/28 |
5/26 |
Last day for online payments |
2/26 |
4/2 |
4/30 |
5/28 |
Date final post begins |
2/26 |
4/2 |
4/30 |
5/28 |
Report date used for final post |
2/28 |
3/31 |
4/30 |
5/31 |
Last day deposits created for deposit to bank account |
2/26 |
3/31 |
4/30 |
5/28 |
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 |
