 DECEMBER
2004 |
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| Report from the Agency Liaison November 6, 2004 Florida The Florida Scholarship and Grants program received healthy budgets
for the 2004-05 academic year with an overall increase of 13%. The
Florida Bright Futures merit scholarship represents over half of that
budget. Mother Nature's hurricanes, four in Florida this fall, did much damage and interrupted classes for many institutions. All institutions have stabilized their operations, but the Florida Legislature intends to hold a special session late fall to deal with the fiscal impacts. Georgia The Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), together with its partners, is developing a new web resource (www.GAcollege411.org) to help Georgia students prepare for life after high school. GAcollege411.org will be a free online, interactive resource that helps students make choices about careers, colleges, and financial aid. GAcollege411.org features:
GAcollege411.org will launch in early 2005. At that time four components will be fully operational: My411, Paying for College, GA Colleges, and Test Preparation. Other components will be introduced in July 2005. GAcollege411.org is sponsored by the Georgia Student Finance Commission, in partnership other state organizations including the Office of the Governor, the Board of Regents, the Georgia Department of Adult and Technical Education, the Georgia Foundation for Independent Colleges, the Georgia Department of Education, the Georgia Association of School Counselors, the Office of Treasury/Fiscal Services, Georgia Public Broadcasting, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, and Georgia Public Libraries. Kentucky FY 2004 was a tremendous year in our efforts to make higher education more accessible for Kentucky students. Thanks to the assistance and support of our school and lender partners, KHEAA disbursed $148 million in need-based grants, scholarships, and work-study wages (210 percent of the amount disbursed in FY 2001) and guaranteed $951 million in Federal Family Education Loans (175 percent of the amount disbursed in FY 2001). FY 2004 Student Aid Disbursements
Student Aid-2005 CAP and KTG Offers Go Higher Web Portal Students can compile an academic portfolio to track their achievements and progress and use that information to meet college entrance requirements. GoHigherKY will guide students through the entire college preparation experience, from early planning and choosing a school to the application process. GoHigherKY will allow students to apply to colleges electronically and pay the required fees by check, credit card, or fee waiver. Students and parents can get an EFC estimation of their FAFSA results. Students can also autopopulate the FAFSA on the Web with their profile data, cutting down on data entry errors, and search the scholarship database with more than $4 billion in awards. All services are free. New Owner’s Manual Joint Activities Help Prevent Default New ASLP Director North Carolina The NC State Education Assistance Authority administered grants totaling in excess of $135,000,000 for 93,500 students during the 2003-04 academic year, a 15% increase in funding over the prior academic year. In addition, FFELP loans were guaranteed for over 220,000 students totaling approximately $723,000,000, a 20% increase over the prior year. NCSEAA recorded FFELP default rates for the most recent federal fiscal years at 0.26% (FFY 03 trigger rate) and 1.52% (FFY 2002 cohort rate), ranking NCSEAA first (trigger) and second (cohort) lowest in defaults among all guarantors in the nation. College Foundation of North Carolina (www.CFNC.org) continues to high numbers of students using the services provided. Over 600,000 user accounts have been established to-date and early indicators show that the 2004-05 year is setting new records for new accounts and students using the online application feature. Currently, 115 colleges and universities accept the electronic application from CFNC. NCSEAA conducted 16 training sessions, attended by 919 school counselors and financial aid administrators, on availability and administration of state financial aid programs for students. Finally, Steve Brooks, NCSEAA executive director was awarded the College Scholarship Service Distinguished Service Award on October 30th at the College Board National Forum in Chicago. Steve was recognized for his “unparalleled commitment to the principle that no student be left behind because of a lack of financial or academic resources. Steve is a tireless advocate for need-based aid and for educational opportunity programs that ‘level the playing field’ between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. His commitment to equity, excellence, and fairness is unswerving.” The staff at NCSEAA is pleased and proud that CSS recognized Steve’s commitment to financial aid with this outstanding award. South Carolina SC TUITION GRANTS PROGRAM The SC Tuition Grants Commission submitted its 2004-2005 state budget request last fall requesting an increase of $9.7 million to bring the award amount of all eligible applicants to a program-wide maximum grant of $3,100. A minimum increase of $1.3 million was requested to fund year #5 of the conversion to a program-wide maximum grant of $2,200 at all 20 participating colleges. A request was also made to re-new the $3 million Lottery funds received by the SC Tuition Grants Program in 2003-2004 and to include again in 2004-2005 the proviso that exempts the SC Tuition Grants Program from mid-year budget reductions. The Governor’s recommendation for funding of the SC Tuition
Grants Program in 2004-2005 In 2003-2004, the SC Tuition Grants Program received 18.6% of the funds going to the SC Commission on Higher Education (CHE) Need-based Grants Program through two sources:
In the final 2004-2005 State Budget, the Lottery Funds going to the CHE Need-based Grants Program were increased to $10.5 million. As a result of this increase in Lottery Funds, the SC Tuition Grants Program netted a $1.4 million increase to the SC Tuition Grants Program through the 18.6% calculation. In summary, the total funding increase to the SC Tuition Grants Program for the 2004-2005 fiscal year is $2.4 million. The proviso exempting the SC Tuition Grants Program from mid-year reductions is also included. Since the State Lottery Funds by law must be re-allocated each year by the SC General Assembly, the funds must be treated as “one-time” funds and cannot be added to the permanent base funding of any program. Therefore, the $2.4 million increase received by the SC Tuition Grants Program for 2004-2005 will be awarded as a one-time, mid-year increase to all eligible tuition grant recipients. The $2.4 million will allow an increase of approximately $200 to the projected 12,000 grant recipients in 2004-2005. Tennessee The Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) had another record year in providing more than 25,000 in State funded scholarships and grants totaling over $43,000,000. In addition, as a guarantor under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), TSAC guaranteed over 192,000 in new loans for students and parents totaling over $731,000,000 through its network of participating lenders and lender/servicers. Tennessee residents and non-residents attend colleges and universities throughout the United States and in many foreign countries with assistance from TSAC. The big news for 2004-05 is the launching of the State's lottery-funded scholarship program called TELS, the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship. For the current academic year, the applicant pool consisted of the high school graduating classes of 2003 and 2004 (this years' freshman and sophomore college classes). Over 47,000 scholarships were awarded prior to the closing date of October 29 totaling over $109,000,000. TSAC is a guarantor partner for schools and colleges participating in the FFEL program in Mississippi. For the year ended June 30, 2004, TSAC provided over 25,000 Stafford and PLUS loan guarantees totaling more than $88,000,000 for students attending schools in Mississippi. TSAC's Executive Director, Mr. Michael C. Roberts, submitted his resignation, effective October 1, 2004, citing personal reasons for his decision. Dr. Richard G. Rhoda, Executive Director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, will serve as Interim Executive Director of TSAC while a search is being conducted. Virginia Virginia is considering the following issues: SCHEV has recommended that the graduate student financial aid allocations at least double ($11 million new dollars). We are also trying to determine the impact on state student financial aid as some of our institutions consider charter status. There is a grassroots effort, with cooperation from SCHEV, to begin a new state college access network. |
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