GSFC 411 e-newsletter [Mar. 2009]

Welcome to the Online GSFC411 Newsletter Archive
MARCH 2009 Newsletter
GAcollege411 Partner Update The latest news about the GAcollege411 website. View Update
Default Prevention Screensaver Now Available GSFC has new screensavers for colleges to help warn student of the effects of student loan default. Read Full Article
Transcript Exchange Update The high school Transcript Exchange process for 2009 Preliminary HOPE GPA calculation is near completion and will continue through March 16, 2009. Read Full Article
Staff Directory On GAcollege411 Committed to providing a high level of customer service to all of the people and organizations we serve, a staff directory has been added to the GAcollege411 website for your convenience. Read Full Article
"Are You Ready?" Video Contest is Ready for Entries! Xap and Bridges' want to hear from students who are ready to take on the world and can make a video to prove it. Click here to find out more about this contest. Read Full Article
Compliance Corner Compliance Corner features policies and procedures and frequently asked questions regarding Compliance reviews of GSFC's scholarship and grant programs. Read Full Article
Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place Tucker, Georgia 30084 (770) 724-9000 or 1-800-505-GSFC (4732) FAX (770) 724-9089

Default Prevention Screensaver Now Available
Perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words. GSFC has a new tool for colleges to help warn students of the effects of student loan default. You can use this series of pictures and warnings to caution students on all your institutions computers. The screensaver is located on our website, www.GAcollege411.org, on the "College Administrators" page under the "Additional Resources" heading (or by clicking here). The file is formatted as an .exe file, so once you click the link you will be walked through the installation process. This is a great way to send a crucial message to students without actually speaking with them. If you have any issues with the download, please contact your system administrator.
Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place Tucker, Georgia 30084 (770) 724-9000 or 1-800-505-GSFC (4732) FAX (770) 724-9089

Transcript Exchange Update
The high school Transcript Exchange process for 2009 Preliminary HOPE GPA calculation is nearing completion. So far, the processing has gone well and is well ahead of last year. Transcript processing for Preliminary HOPE GPA and GPA Verification will continue through March 16, 2009.
At this time, out of 671 high schools and an estimated 100,000 senior students:
566 schools uploaded transcripts and received GPA calculations 480 schools verified their GPA results 94,157 senior students were uploaded and calculated 83,794 senior students GPA calculations were verified by their school 32,038 senior students were identified as eligible and verified by their school 93% of the eligible senior students were verified
We commend the high schools that have completed the process for the tremendous job they did with Preliminary HOPE GPA this year. There is still time for the schools that have not completed all the steps through verification, to do so. The number and percentage of senior students calculated and verified exceeds any previous year for Preliminary HOPE submissions. The list of all these eligible senior students has been and will continue to be available to all post secondary schools in the state through the SURFER system. Senior students continue to have access to their Preliminary HOPE GPAs through their secure My411 Account on GAcollege411.
The HOPE Progress Report for ninth through eleventh grade students is also available. The service will allow students, parents and counselors to monitor a students' progress towards HOPE eligibility as early as the ninth grade.
The 2009 Final HOPE GPA process will begin in early May, with a deadline for submission and verification of all results by June 30, 2009.
Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place Tucker, Georgia 30084 (770) 724-9000 or 1-800-505-GSFC (4732) FAX (770) 724-9089

Staff Directory now Available on GAcollege411
GSFC is committed to providing a high level of customer service to all of the people and organizations that we serve. Representatives from GSFC are available to help you in many different areas such as: loan processing, compliance, default aversion and prevention, GSFC workshops, and presentations for you or your students.
For your convenience, and for more access to us, we have added a staff directory of specific individuals to the GAcollege411 and GSFC websites. For financial aid/college professionals, the directory is located under the College Administrators link, once there go to GSFC Staff Assistance (or by clicking here). For high school counselors and students, the directory is located by clicking on "Contact Us" (or by clicking here)
You can also reach our customer contact center toll-free at 1-800-505-GSFC or (770) 724-9000 in Metro Atlanta. Representatives are available to assist you Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place Tucker, Georgia 30084 (770) 724-9000 or 1-800-505-GSFC (4732) FAX (770) 724-9089

"Are You Ready?" Video Contest is Ready for Entries!
Some people say today's young people are not ready for the working world, that they lack the skills to make their career dreams a reality. The jobs of tomorrow will require things like good decision-making, strong communication skills and critical thinking, but employers say they do not see enough of those skills.
Xap and Bridges are looking for videos that answer the question, Are You Ready? They want to hear from students who are ready to take on the world and can make a video to prove it. Not only could your students enhance their portfolios with a video that demonstrates their skills and ambitions, but they could also win up to $2,500.
The contest closes on March 31, 2009. For further details, classroom activities, promotional tools and more, visit www.bridges.com/video.
Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place Tucker, Georgia 30084 (770) 724-9000 or 1-800-505-GSFC (4732) FAX (770) 724-9089

Compliance Corner
Changes to the Compliance Review Process
The Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) is charged with the administration of the state funded scholarship and grant programs in the State of Georgia. This includes the HOPE Scholarship and Grant Programs (HOPE), Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) and the Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant Program (GTEG). Part of our responsibility includes making sure that the Programs are run properly both in our office and in postsecondary institutions. In order to achieve this, the GSFC Compliance Unit conducts reviews of the scholarships and grants Programs at all participating institutions.
In an effort to continually improve our reviews, we have performed a detailed assessment of our Compliance Program and plan to implement several changes for reviews beginning with those conducted during the 2009 calendar year. Members of the GSFC staff have discussed these changes with members of the Board of Regents (BOR) and Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) central office staff, a task force of financial aid officers and other members of the financial aid community. Everyone has been extremely helpful in this process.
First, Georgia law requires that in order to receive HOPE and GTEG funds, a student must be a resident of the State of Georgia. The residency policy used to make residency eligibility determinations for BOR and TCSG institutions is, by law, based on the residency policy of the BOR or TCSG. In addition, students are required to meet satisfactory academic progress (SAP) based on the institution's Title IV SAP policy. Currently, when GSFC Compliance Officers review HOPE and LEAP awards at BOR or TCSG institutions, they review the residency determinations that have been based on their policy. We have reviewed this practice as well as the respective administrative office's practices on monitoring and auditing compliance with their policies and determined that we will rely on an annual certification from the institution's president that it is making residency and SAP eligibility determinations for the state scholarship and grant programs in compliance with BOR or TCSG policies. A copy of the certification form is attached for your review. Accordingly, GSFC Compliance Officers will no longer review residency and SAP eligibility determinations for the state scholarship and grant programs for BOR and TCSG institutions. However, if, while conducting a review of other eligibility factors a residency or SAP related conflict or discrepancy is noted, both the school and the respective BOR or TCSG administrative office will be advised so the matter can be properly reviewed and resolved. Institutions have previously been sent the certification letter and asked to return them no later than February 27, 2009. We will advise BOR or TCSG administrative offices of any institution that did not execute the certification since it will be an indicator to us that the institution is unable to certify that it is complying with BOR or TCSG and institutional policies on residency and SAP. While we do not review each school every year, a school scheduled to be reviewed that does not return its certification in a timely manner will receive a full residency and SAP review by our Compliance Team. Since private and proprietary institutions are required by law to adhere to GSFC's policies on residency and SAP, we will still be reviewing their eligibility determinations with respect to the state scholarship and grants programs.
Our second change relates to schools that receive benchmark scores above the median. In 2007, GSFC began assigning values to findings based on their severity and frequency and using them to calculate a benchmark score for all schools reviewed in a given year. This score was then used to determine how a school performed on its review. Schools with benchmark scores above the median were scheduled for a follow-up review the following year. This year, we plan to change this process. Institutions with benchmark scores above the median will be required to submit corrective action plans to GSFC. GSFC will then make sure that the institution has instituted the plan and will generally wait a year before conducting the follow-up review. Of course, there may be instances where the frequency and severity of the findings require GSFC to expand its review of the current year or not wait a year to conduct a follow-up review.
The final change is one that we believe will be beneficial to both GSFC and the institutions. It is our hope to conduct a large portion of the reviews remotely. We will still visit each school being reviewed and conduct an entrance and exit interview. The entrance interview will still involve a meeting with all the institutional officers involved in the process. The exit interview however will not be as in depth as in previous years and will focus on missing documentation since we will not have completed the review. To accomplish this, we will offer multiple options that a school can use to allow us to access the relevant data.
We would remotely access and review some of the applicable Banner screens for the students in the sample, and also access student data on the institution's imaging system if applicable; or Receive an encrypted disk containing images or file data of the requested information prior to the on-site review; or Be provided access to the downloaded files in the sample via a secure file transfer protocol (FTP) link.
Of course, our access to the Banner system would be limited to the screens specified and for a very limited time period in a read-only format. These are the same screens that the Compliance Review Team currently has access to during an on-site review. We hope you will agree that this new process will help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our reviews and assist us with its implementation. The specific screen shots that we will need are attached to this article and have already been shared with BOR and TCSG central office staff and with many of the institutions.
We will also be sharing with you a copy of the revised guidelines for Compliance Reviews so you will have a clear understanding of the expectations. We are conducting training sessions on the revised procedures prior to the first review. Very few of the guidelines have changed from prior years with the exception of those related to the changes above. We hope that all institutions will allow secure FTP or remote access to their materials and/or provide a soft copy of the information. However, those that do not or those that are not prepared for the review when our Review Team arrives will receive a full on-site review by the Team.
GSFC's responsibility for these programs is critical and by working together with the institutions, we are able to make sure that these vital programs assist as many students as possible. Together, we are able to safeguard the state funds and make sure that they will be available for the future.
Please feel free to contact Richard Hawkshead, V.P. of Internal Audit and Compliance at 770-724-9012, or any member of the Compliance Team at complianceteam@gsfc.org should you have any questions about these changes.
Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place Tucker, Georgia 30084 (770) 724-9000 or 1-800-505-GSFC (4732) FAX (770) 724-9089