As a former financial aid administrator, I remember the broad variety of financial aid questions our office handled from sometimes anxious students and parents. Given the difficult economy, your office is probably fielding even more questions, as well as helping students manage stress born out of the gloomy job forecast.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to help allay the worry of students and parents, including making sure borrowers know their payment options and have resources to better manage loans. The benefit is that such support may translate into a more successful repayment experience down the line. It may also have a positive impact on your school's cohort default rate. Here are four suggestions on loan management to offer borrowers.

Use Federal Loans First
A student who anticipates borrowing a student loan may view applying for a private student loan as preferable to completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), so it is important to remind students of the benefits of the federal loan programs. Consider adding a link from your school's website to the Department of Education's "Federal Aid First" page (http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/federalaidfirst/), which explains the differences between federal and private education loans and provides tips for completing the FAFSA. TG's corporate website, TG Online, provides borrowers a handy comparison of private and federal loans, stressing the importance of being well aware of the differences before using private loans (see http://www.tgslc.org/borrowers/loans/private.cfm).

Know Your Options for Loan Forgiveness and Repayment
Educating borrowers about loan repayment need not be confined to entrance and exit loan counseling. An understanding of the various forgiveness and repayment options such as teacher loan forgiveness, public service loan forgiveness, and Income-Based Repayment can affect a student's plans, from course registration and declaring a major to deciding on a career. Making information readily available about the programs through the financial aid office, career services, and academic advising centers can assist students in making the choices right for them. Visit TG's online request system (http://www.tgslc.org/order/) to order brochures about teacher loan forgiveness, Income-Based Repayment, and additional repayment assistance options. You can also direct students to the Department of Education’s public service loan forgiveness page at http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/PSF.jsp for more information on that program.

Track Your Loans through the National Student Loan Data System
Borrowers are often unaware of their outstanding student loan balance. They may also have multiple loans with multiple holders, which means they're not likely to have a complete picture of what they owe and to whom — unless they do some math and a bit of information gathering. The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/) can produce that picture of a borrower's outstanding balances and loan statuses. Encourage your students to access NSLDS in order to stay on top of their loans. Doing so may also help borrowers who are approaching aggregate loan limits to plan for future education-related financial needs. TG offers borrowers an online tool for tracking their TG-guaranteed loans — myTGsm (https://mytg.tgslc.org). The myTG tool helps borrowers manage their loan accounts with TG, including resuming payment in cases where a borrower's loans are in default.

Use Loan Repayment Calculators to Help Estimate Costs
A loan repayment calculator (http://www.aie.org/Paying-for-college/Finance-tools/college-loan-calculator.cfm) is a great tool that can benefit students who are making decisions about whether to borrow a student loan and how much to borrow. Borrowers who have decided on or are considering a particular career can better assess their repayment situation by reviewing their estimated monthly payment amount in conjunction with the earnings data in the Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/).

Default Aversion Sessions at the TG Annual Training Conference
Interested in lowering your school’s cohort default rate, or in learning about new default prevention strategies? Consider attending the TG Annual Training Conference, featuring a Default Aversion Boot Camp on Tuesday, April 26 and a Default Aversion session track April 27–28. Visit TG Online at www.tgslc.org/tgconference to register or to find out more about the 2011 TG Annual Training Conference. If you prefer to speak with someone directly, contact TG's event planning coordinator Judith Cunningham at (800) 252-9743, ext. 2905, or send an e-mail message to judith.cunningham@tgslc.org.

Ben Loya is a regional account executive with TG serving schools in MASFAA. You can reach Ben at (800) 252-9743, ext. 6718, or by e-mail at ben.loya@tgslc.org. Additional information about TG can be found online at www.tgslc.org.