FINANCING YOUR HIGHER EDUCATION

1

Timothy A. Connell, President
2
Overview of GSFC

• Who we are
• What we do
• GAcollege411 website
• HOPE
• Q A

3
Our Mission

• The mission of the Georgia Student Finance
  Commission, is to promote and increase access to
  education beyond high school for Georgians.

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GSFC is

• An agency of the State of Georgia
• Responsible for administering state and lottery
  funded financial aid
• A provider of scholarships, grants, education
  loans, and loan guarantees

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Since 1965, GSFC has

• Helped 2 million Georgians attend college
• Administered more than 9.6 billion in financial
  aid, including
• - 4.5 billion in loan guarantees
• - 1 billion in Stafford and PLUS loans
• - 600 million through scholarship
• and grant programs other than HOPE
• - Nearly 3.5 BILLION in HOPE
• Scholarships and Grants

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GSFC programs847 million in FY 2006
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• Scholarships and Grants
• (other than HOPE)

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Scholarships and grants29.5 million in FY 2006
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Scholarships and grants

• Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant
• Governor's Scholarship
• Georgia's HERO Scholarship
• LEAP (Leveraging Educational Assistance
  Partnership)
• Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship

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Scholarships and grants(continued)

• North Georgia College and State University Grant
• Law Enforcement Personnel Dependents Grant
• Public Safety Memorial Grant
• Charles McDaniel Teacher Scholarship

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Scholarships and grants

• Tuition Equalization Grant
• - Began in 1972
• - Students attending private college
• - 1,000 per year
• - Four years of undergraduate studies
• - No academic requirement
• - 30,000 students served annually

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Scholarships and grants

• Governors Scholarship
• - High school seniors who are Valedictorians
• and STAR students
• - Enrolled in a public or private college in
• Georgia
• - 900 per year
• - Four years of undergraduate studies
• - Must maintain 3.0 GPA

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Scholarships and grants

• HERO Scholarship
• - Soldiers serving in Guard and Reserves
• - 181 days in combat zone (After May 3 2005)
• - Georgia public or private college
• - 2,000 per year
• - Four years of undergraduate studies
• - Children also eligible
• - 273 recipients, 490,000 this year

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• Federal Education Loans

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FFELP education loans55.5 million in FY 2006
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Federal education loans

• Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP)
• - Subsidized Federal Stafford loans
• - Unsubsidized Federal Stafford loans
• - PLUS loans

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Federal education loans

• Subsidized Federal Stafford loans
• - Made to students
• - Federal government pays interest while
• student is in school
• - Need-based loans
• - Non-credit based
• - Amount varies, to aggregate of 23,000
• - 6.8 interest rate

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Federal education loans

• Unsubsidized Federal Stafford loans
• - Made to students
• - Student pays interest, even in school
• - Not need-based
• - Non-credit based
• - Amount varies, to aggregate of 23,000
• - 6.8 interest rate

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Federal education loans

• PLUS loans
• - Made to parents of dependent students
• - Repayment begins 30 days after
• disbursement
• - Not need based
• - Credit Based
• - Borrow up to cost of attendance, less
• other aid received
• - 8.5 interest rate

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State education loans

• Service cancelable loans

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Service cancelable loans15 million in FY 2006
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Service cancelable loans

• State and lottery funded
• Address Georgias critical-needs such as
  teaching and nursing, and other public service
  such as military
• Repayment through service or cash
• Typically pays 2,500 per year
• One year service repays one year of loan
• 85 repay through service

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Service cancelable loans

• PROMISE Teacher Scholarship Loan
• HOPE Teacher Scholarship Loan
• Destination Teaching
• NE Georgia Health Systems Nurse
• Registered Nurse
• Nursing Faculty

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Service cancelable loans(continued)

• North Georgia College State University Military
  Scholarship Loan
• Georgia Military College State Service
  Scholarship Loan
• Georgia National Guard Service Loan
• Scholarship for Engineering Education
• Careers in Social Work

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Service cancelable loans

• PROMISE Teacher Scholarship Loan
• - Helps students pursue undergraduate
• degree in teaching
• - Students who have completed freshmen
• and sophomore years with 3.0 GPA
• - 3,000 junior year, 3,000 senior year
• - Must maintain 3.0 GPA
• - Repay 1,500 per year of teaching in
• public school

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Service cancelable loans

• HOPE Teacher Scholarship Loan
• - Helps individuals (primarily teachers) with
• degrees pursue advanced degrees in
• critical teaching fields
• - Masters, Specialist, Doctorate
• - Up to 10,000
• - Repay 2,500 per year of teaching in
• public school in critical need area

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• Federal Loan Guaranty Services

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Education loan guarantees307.5 million in FY
2006
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Loan guaranty services

• Federal guaranty enables private lenders to make
  education loans
• GSFC is one of 34 federal guarantors in nation
• Only Georgia-based federal guarantor
• GSFC guarantees the loans we make
• We also guarantee education loans made by 23
  other lenders

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Loan guaranty services(continued)

• Campus-based PEER financial literacy program (18
  campuses)
• We promote responsible borrowing to prevent and
  rehabilitate defaults
• We work closely with borrowers to repair their
  credit through rehabilitation

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• Outreach and Training

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Outreach and training

• Professional development for counselors and
  financial aid officers
• Workshops and free financial aid consultations
  for students and parents
• Participate in PROBE Fairs and other college
  fairs and career days
• Last year provided outreach to more than 250,000
  Georgians
• College Goal Sunday, February 18 (12 sites)

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• GAcollege411.org
• Helping students
• plan, apply, and pay for college.

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GAcollege411

• Major objectives
• - Provide a free, one-stop, online resource
• - Enable students to plan for college,
• compare Georgia colleges, find financial
• aid, apply online
• - Enable students to explore at own pace
• - Provide a valuable tool to support high
• school counselors and parents

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GAcollege411.org
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Getting Started

• My411 accounts
• - Free, password protected
• - Gives students access to all site
• features
• - Enables students to record and
• organize progress toward preparing
• for college

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GAcollege411

• Career Info
• - Information on hundreds of careers
• - Match specific careers to individual
• skills and interests
• - Identifies current high-demand, low-
• demand careers in Georgia

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GAcollege411

• Student Planner
• - Tutorials, practice tests, and study
• guides help students prepare for SAT,
• ACT, and other exams
• - Student Planner Timeline
• - Portfolio matches students high school
• achievements with college requirements

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GAcollege411

• GA College
• - Compare over a hundred Georgia
• colleges and technical colleges
• - Virtual tours of campuses
• - Rank colleges by students criteria

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GAcollege411

• Applications and Transcripts
• - Apply for college admission online
• (89 of 105 HOPE-eligible schools)
• - Apply for financial aid online
• - Later this year, send transcripts
• electronically

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GAcollege411

• Paying for College
• - State and federal financial aid
• resources
• - Official source of information for all
• GSFC programs
• - Basics of responsible borrowing

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GAcollege411

• GA College Savings Plan
• - Begin saving for college early
• - All about Georgias 529 Plan
• - Administered by Office of Treasury
• and Fiscal Services
• - Currently more than 75,000 accounts with
• over 460 million in assets

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GAcollege411

• Adult Learner
• - Getting the GED
• - Strategies for returning to college,
• transferring to another college
• - Information about distance learning,
• e-learning opportunities
• - Advice on changing careers

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GAcollege411 Partners

• Georgia Department of Education
• University System of Georgia
• Department of Technical Adult Education
• Foundation for Independent Colleges
• School Counselors Association
• Professional Standards Commission
• Public Library Service
• Office of Treasury and Fiscal Services
• Georgia Public Broadcasting

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GAcollege411

• Gacollege411 a hit with students
• - More than 330,000 My 411 accounts
• - 700 new accounts created every day
• - More than 61,000 online applications
• submitted
• - 2.5 million extended visits

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GAcollege411

• Get the 411 on
• going to college in Georgia!

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• Georgia HOPE Scholarship Program

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HOPE439.3 million in FY 2006
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HOPE

• Three HOPE programs
• - HOPE Scholarship
• - HOPE Grant
• - HOPE GED Grant

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HOPE

• HOPE Scholarship
• - Students enrolled in degree programs at
• approved Georgia public or private college
• - Merit-based program
• - Graduate from high school with a 3.0 GPA
• - Maintain 3.0 in college
• - Up to 127 hours

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HOPE

• (HOPE Scholarship continued)
• Students at public colleges and universities
• - Full tuition
• - Approved mandatory fees (frozen at 2004
• levels)
• - 300 annual book allowance
• Students enrolled at private colleges
• - 3,000 per academic year

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HOPE

• HOPE Grant
• - For students enrolled in technical
• certificate or diploma program at public
• college or technical college
• - No academic requirement
• - Pays tuition, fees, and 300 annual book
• allowance
• - Up to 95 quarter hours

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HOPE

• HOPE GED Grant
• - For students who have earned a GED
• diploma recognized by DTAE
• - One-time 500 grant when student
• enrolls in college

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HOPE

• Since 1993, HOPE has awarded more than 3.5
  billion to more than one million Georgia
  students.

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One million HOPE recipients
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• Changes to HOPE

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HOPE in 1993

• Public college students
• - Scholarship pays tuition only
• - Freshmen and sophomore years
• - Family income cap of 66,000
• - 3.0 GPA checked at 30 hours
• Private college students
• - Grant of 500 per year

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HOPE 10 year expansion

• Expanded to cover junior, senior years
• Fees and book allowance added
• Family income caps removed
• Grant for private college students becomes a
  3,000 annual scholarship
• Chances to regain HOPE added
• Pell offset removed

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HOPE Rising costs

• FY 1995 FY 2003, annual HOPE expenditures grew
  330
• Analysts Demand for HOPE dollars will soon
  overtake lottery revenues
• In 2004, legislature revises state law to ensure
  adequate funding of HOPE for the future

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HOPE - 2004 changes

• Fees capped at 2004 level
• Triggers for elimination of fees and book
  allowance
• Hour cap established for HOPE Grant
• End-of-Spring checkpoint added

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HOPE - 2004 changes(continued)

• New high school HOPE GPA calculation
• - GSFC calculates high school GPAs
• - 3.0 GPA on 4.0 scale
• - All attempted core courses counted
• - Uniform weight for AP, IB courses
• - Applies to anyone beginning college after
• April 30, 2007
• - First big group affected is Class of 2007

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• Transcript Exchange

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Transcript Exchange

• GSFC will collect transcripts and other
  information from Georgia high schools and
  calculate the HOPE GPA of every graduating
  senior.
• An electronic process using School Information
  Systems and GAcollege411

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Transcript Exchange

• Its a monster project we call it TrEx
• - Approximately 600 public and private
• high schools
• - 80,000 graduating seniors
• - 50 plus grading systems
• - Three dozen different SIS in use

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Transcript Exchange

• Phase I Installation
• - GSFC has visited schools
• - Training school personnel
• - Installing customized software

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Transcript Exchange

• Monthly progress report to each school 
• Today, on Phase I
• - 103 schools are Red (in trouble)
• - 188 are Yellow (getting there)
• - 339 are Green (Installation
• complete!)

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Transcript Exchange

• Once installation is complete
• - SIS can transmit transcript information to
• a GAcollege411 database.
• - Other information, such as grading scales,
• is also entered via the website.
• - GSFC then can pull the information from
• the database and calculate each students
• HOPE GPA.

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Transcript Exchange

• Phase II Data clean up
• - The school has to give us the correct
• data, correctly formatted.
• - Phase II is not as difficult as Phase I,
• but it is just as important.
• - A school cannot begin Phase II until
• Phase I has been completed.

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Transcript Exchange

• Today, on Phase II
• - 163 schools are Red
• - 475 are Yellow
• - 8 are Green

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Transcript Exchange

• Schools have been working hard to implement TrEx
  Thank you!
• Now, critical deadlines are near
• - Preliminary calculations begin soon
• - Final calculations in June
• - Many schools are making good progress,
• others have a lot of work to do.

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Transcript Exchange

• Time is short!
• Find out how your school is doing!
• Make sure your eligible students receive HOPE in
  a timely manner.

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Contact Information

• Georgia Student Finance Commission
• 2082 East Exchange Place
• Tucker, Georgia 30084
• www.GAcollege411.org
• 1-800-505-GSFC

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• Questions?