See also Higher Education News for information about newsletters, magazines and newspapers concerning higher education and student financial aid news.

Guides to Federal Regulations Concerning Financial Aid

Electronic Financial Aid Library (EFAL)
EFAL is a commercial product consisting of a series of information databases that contain Student Financial Assistance documents disseminated by the US Department of Education (DoEd) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to colleges, universities, guarantors and lenders. These infobases include compilations of current law, regulations, regulation interpretations, accounting and recordkeeping procedures and Act amendments which affect federal student financial aid programs. They also contain all Dear Colleague Letters and relevant Federal Registers and Policy Memorandums. EFAL also includes the 1994-95 Student Financial Aid Handbook. For more information contact efal-info@mhs.scbbs.com.

NASFAA Encyclopedia of Student Financial Aid
The NASFAA Encyclopedia is a comprehensive reference guide to the federal Title IV student assistance programs. It chronicles the programs from their authorizing legislation through eligibility and administrative requirements. It integrates the information from legislation, regulations, "Dear Colleague" letters and ED handbooks into a single, well-organized resource. It is updated on an as-needed basis. The Encyclopedia is available in electronic and paper versions. The electronic version is available in Windows format using Lotus SmarText.

NASFAA Members may purchase the electronic version of the Encyclopedia for $345 plus $75 for each additional user. The paper version costs $310. Renewal subscriptions are $150 plus $75 for each additional user for the electronic version and $115 for the paper version.

Non-Members may purchase the electronic version of the Encyclopedia for $615 plus $135 for each additional user. The paper version costs $550. Renewal subscriptions are $270 plus $135 for each additional user for the electronic version and $205 for the paper version.

For more information or to order, call 1-202-785-0453, fax 1-202-785-1487, write to NASFAA, 1920 L Street, N.W., Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036-5020, or send email to ask@smtp.nasfaa.org.

NCHELP Common Information Resources Kit CD-ROM
The Common Information Resources Kit is a CD-ROM of the statutes, regulations and procedures that govern student assistance programs. The CD-ROM contains the following materials in Adobe Acrobat format:

• Higher Education Act
• 34 CFR
• Federal Registers in relationship to 34 CFR for 1994, 1995 and 1996
• Dear Colleague Letters (approximately 2,000 pages)
• Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook
• Common Manual
• CommonLine 96 Reference Manual
• Test Cases for CommonLine 96
• NCHELP Parity Regulations Training
• CHELP DCL Training
• Illinois (ISAC) Rules and Publications

The CD-ROM includes the Adobe Acrobat Search Engine to make it easy to find relevant documents. The CD-ROM was compiled by the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP). It is available for free to college financial aid offices, with a limit of one or two copies per institution. To obtain a copy of the CD-ROM, or for further information, write to NCHELP, 801 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Suite 375, Washington, DC 20002, or send email to Brett Lief at brettlief@aol.com.

Software and Computer Products

CampusDocs
CampusDocs is a web-based hosted document management system designed. It is based on EMC Documentum.

Campus Management Corporation
Campus Management Corporation sells administrative software packages for colleges and universities. Their Campus2000 software includes a module for administering Title IV funds. It includes batch packaging capabilities, refund calculations, and Pell/sub/unsub tracking. It is compatible with Common Line IV and interoperates with the US Department of Education's Common Origination and Disbursement system.

CSAS Refund/Repayment Calculator
This Refund/Repayment Calculator performs refund and repayment calculations according to the rules set down in the 1996-97 Federal Financial Aid Handbook. The system operates in Windows (95, 3.1, NT), is network ready and supports multiple users. The single page report meets all auditor needs and can be used as counseling tool as well as meeting federal regulations. The cost of the calculator is $495 plus $10 shipping. Sales tax is 6.5% for Ohio for-profit organizations. The fee is for a one-year subscription that includes all upgrades resulting from government rule changes. One the subscription expires, the user may continue to view existing records and print reports, but not add new records. The renewal subscription price is $495. For more information, call 1-330-569-7883, fax 1-330-569-3202, write to Alan Donley, Consolidated Student Aid Service, 11799 Kenyon, Box 98, Hiram, OH 44234, or send email to donleya@worldnet.att.net.

Datatel
Datatel sells administrative software packages for higher education institutions. Their Colleague Financial Aid module provides self-service options for students, automatic data exchange with the US Department of Education (FAFSA, Pell, FFELP and Direct Loan data), automatic packaging, Commonline functionality, return of Title IV funds, and SAP calculator.

ELM Resources
ELM Resources provides automated data exchange and update services for lenders, guarantors and servicers. They provide a technology conduit that allows the education finance industry to communicate. For more information, call 1-888-NEED-ELM or 1-866-524-8198, fax 1-510-271-0043, or write to ELM Resources, 500 12th Street, Suite 300, Oakland, CA 94607.

EMPOWER by ComSpec International, Inc.
EMPOWER is a fully integrated Student Information System designed for higher education institutions. Its financial aid module includes: automated packaging, ISIR data loading, automated loan file postings, automated Pell awarding, Pell reporting of originations and disbursements, group budget processing, satisfactory academic progress (qualitative & quantitative), communications & document tracking, automated missing document letters, customized award letters and loan entrance/exit interview tracking. It also includes reporting functions for FISAP, 1098-T's, Clearinghouse, other federal and state reporting as well as a large number of inquiry screens and reports for analyzing the financial aid data. Other modules included are admissions, records & registration, student billing, student payroll, housing, degree audit, campus security, alumni & donor development and web functionality. EMPOWER is a rules-based client/server application using the latest 4GL, relational database and web technology. For more information, call 1-888-826-6773, send email to info@empower-xl.com or write to EMPOWER, ComSpec International, Inc., 30800 Telegraph Road, Suite 2775, Bingham Farms, MI 48025.

Financial Aid Systems Technologies, Inc. (FAST)
FASTCASH is a PC program for financial aid administrators that lets them transmit the FAFSA through the Electronic Data Exchange (EDE), receive and print an ESAR/ISIR, certify loans, identify missing documents, calculate refunds, maintain a student database and much more. For more information, call 1-209-228-0722, write to FAST Inc., PO Box 6112, Fresno, CA 93703-6112, or send email to fast@valleynet.com.

Hershey Systems
Hershey Systems publishes document imaging and management systems, including web-based systems.

ImageNow
ImageNow provides document imaging solutions for postsecondary institutions.

MCS Applications
MCS Applications sells the following PC programs for financial aid offices:

MCS Policies and Procedures 3.0. Puts your office policies in a computer database, for easy access by your staff. $75 per PC or $200 for a site license.

MCS Financial Aid Training 96-97. A tutorial introduction to the Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook. Includes a searchable interface to the text of the entire Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook. $150 per PC or $350 for a site license.

MCS Student Loan Counseling 2.0. This award-winning entrance and exit counseling program is intended for use by students. After reading the text, the students must answer questions to demonstrate that they understand the material presented by the program. A loan calculator helps students explore repayment. All material can be easily updated and customized by schools. $75 per PC or $200 for a site license.

These programs were developed by a group of financial aid professionals at Utah State University. For more information, call 1-801-797-0190, fax 1-801-797-0654, write to MCS Applications, 1061 North 400 East, Logan, UT 84341, or send email to Steve Sharp at sjsharp@cc.usu.edu.

OnBase
Hyland Software publishes OnBase, an integrated document and records management system.

Overture Technologies
Overture Technologies provides specialized tools for colleges and universities to help students navigate the financial aid process and for lenders to quickly and accurately underwrite student loans. Payment Planner, Overture's web-based self-service virtual financial aid office, educates students and their parents about their funding options, guides them through the financial aid process, and communicates the institution's case for affordability. Key features include an online award letter tool, debt planning and interactive budgeting worksheets, and a task list tool. Student Loan Marketplace, Overture's loan comparison tool, allows students to compare actual pricing on student loan products from multiple lenders with a single credit check. The Marketplace is based on the core technology of Amadeus, which is Overture's underwriting, decisioning and pricing solution for the student loan industry. For more information, call 1-301-492-2155 or send email to davidkirby@overturecorp.com. You can also call 1-301-492-2149, fax 1-301-652-8599, write to Overture Technologies, 6900 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20815 or send email to info@overturecorp.com.

PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft is an international client-server application development company. Among their products is PeopleSoft Student Administration, a client-server student information system. This product includes a financial aid component, along with admissions, student records, academic advisement, student financials and campus community. It includes integrated EDI, Internet capabilities, interactive voice response, self-service information kiosks, online analytical processing and electronic catalogs and forms. For more information, call 1-800-947-7753 or 1-510-225-3000, fax 1-510-225-3100, write to PeopleSoft Inc. World Headquarters, 4440 Rosewood Drive, Pleasanton, CA 94588-3031, or send email to info@peoplesoft.com.

PowerFAIDS from the College Board
PowerFAIDS is a rule-based client/server financial aid software package to automate routine decisions and processes for college and university financial aid offices. PowerFAIDS runs under Windows and has been deployed at nearly 500 US institutions of higher education. PowerFAIDS performs need analysis and packaging automation using either institutional or federal data. Other office automation features include automatic creation of student records, application tracking, tailored student budgets, funds management, Pell Grant processing, personalized letter creation, disbursement support and electronic loan processing. The software is also customizable and integrates with other campus software applications. For more information on PowerFAIDS, call 1-800-227-6734, send email to powerfaids@collegeboard.com or write to PowerFAIDS, The College Board, 11911 Freedom Drive, Suite 300, Reston, VA 20190-5602.

Systems & Computer Technology Corporation (SCT)
SCT provides information management software and services for higher education, government, manufacturing and utilities. In addition to their higher education outsourcing services, they have two product lines of interest to financial aid offices. The first is the BANNER Financial Aid System, which automates financial aid from application through disbursement. It includes facilities to create and track applicant records, allocate budget dollars, calculate and evaluate need, manage and disburse funds, process FFELP and FDSLP loans, conduct verification and generate correspondence. It also includes functions for reporting, packaging, transcripts and EDE. It is fully integrated with BANNER modules that support other university offices. The second is the IA-Plus Series which includes two modules of interest to financial aid offices. All of these modules are integrated with modules for other university offices. The Student Information System (SIS) has a Financial Aid Management (FAM) component that automates the financial aid process, from need analysis to transcripts and FISAP reporting. The Loan Management System (LMS) automates billing, diligence and collection functions, loan portfolio management and regulatory compliance. See the list of mailing lists for information on the LMS mailing list. Both BANNER and IA-Plus include voice response (VR), graphical user interface (GUI), English-language query and electronic data interchange (EDI) capabilities. For more information, call 1-800-223-7036 or 1-610-647-5930, write to SCT Education Systems, 4 Country View Road, Malvern, PA 19355, or fill out their Product Information Request Form.

Regent Financial Aid Management Systems
The Regent Financial Aid Management System provides a web-based automated financial aid management system that complies with various open standards including CommonLine and COD. Features include Pell, Work Study, FFEL and DL processing, automated award packaging and adjustments, automated document tracking, SAP monitoring, student self service, and canned/customizable reporting. For more information, call 1-301-662-5592 or 1-800-639-0927, or write to Regent, 4650 Wedgewood Boulevard, Suite 104, Frederick, MD 21703.

Sigma Systems
Sigma Systems publishes financial aid and student accounts receivable software systems.

Sungard Higher Education
Sungard HE provides the Banner enrollment management system, along with other higher education products and services.

Wolffpack
Wolffpack's FINANCIER software package provides comprehensive financial aid management. It accepts electronic applicant records from the Central Processor and other sources, including EDE and CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. Its capabilities include requirements tracking, budgeting, need analysis, packaging, verification, fund management, disbursement, and loan processing, as well as history and audit trails. For more information, call 1-888-WOLFFPACK or send email to sales@wolffpack.com.

Legal & Professional Services

Brustein & Manasevit
Brustein & Manasevit provides legal advice concerning the Higher Education Act, federal grants management, and the Perkins Loan Program.

CHESS, Evans Consulting Group
Two resources for financial aid administrators are The Center for Higher Education Support Services (CHESS) and The Evans Consulting Group, Inc. These groups offer management consulting services to assist colleges and universities with financial aid. Services include: institutional recertification, operations review, check-up service, policy review and development, program review resolution, federal fund reconciliation and recovery, financial aid process reengineering, quality control, training and staff development. Their web pages provide information of general interest to financial aid administrators, such as news, links, sample consulting reports, and other information. CHESS offers Endgame, a free newsletter for financial aid administrators focusing on financial aid management and legal issues. For more information about CHESS, send email to info@chessconsulting.org. For more information about The Evans Consulting Group, send email to info@evansconsulting.org or call 1-888-454-3101.

Cology
Cology provides student loan origination and disbursement platforms and consulting services, as well as customer management programs, sales and marketing.

Deborah John & Associates (DJA)
Since 1988 Deborah John & Associates, Inc. (DJA) has assisted schools and colleges with their financial aid administration. Based in Mulvane, Kansas, DJA provides servicing and consulting to institutions from Alaska to Florida.

DJA's web page provides information on DJA's servicing EFAS (Electronic Financial Aid Servicing) and EFAS Express (PC connectivity to EFAS). In addition, the web page offers information on DJA's consulting services which can be acquired on a per incident or contract basis.

The web page also includes copies of the Deborah John & Associates Newsletter. This monthly newsletter informs financial aid administrators of recent regulations affecting financial aid and also provides information on upcoming DJA training sessions.

Finally, for those financial administrators interested in evaluating their in-house financial system or third party servicer, DJA's web page has a link to a financial aid checklist entitled 18 Questions to Help You Evaluate Your Financial Aid System and Future Needs.

For more information call 1-800-242-0977, fax 1-316-777-1703, send email to Deborah John at djainfo@gotodja.com, or write to Deborah John & Associates, 108 W Main, Mulvane, Kansas 67110.

Dow, Lohnes & Albertson (DLA)
DLA is a law firm that provides counsel for higher education institutions in the area of federal student financial aid, as well as other areas, including licensure and accreditation, intellectual property, technology transfer and telecommunicated learning. DLA also offers seminars on the defensive management of student aid programs and legal audits to identify potential compliance deficiencies. Their web site includes several articles about a variety of topics, including education. A few of the articles are focused on financial aid issues, such as:

• Leslie H. Wiesenfelder, Institutional Liability for Federal Student Financial Aid
• Blain B. Butner, Limiting Liability from Program Reviews and Audits
• The Reengineered Recertification Process: The "New and Improved" Application for Institutional Participation
• Michael B. Goldstein, Telecommunicated Learning and Federal Financial Aid

For more information, send email to mgoldstein@dlalaw.com call 1-202-776-2569, fax 1-202-776-2222, or write to DL&A, 1200 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036-6802.

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Drinker Biddle provides legal advice concerning Title IV compliance reviews and policy developments.

Educational Compliance Management
Educational Compliance Management, Inc. (ECM) provides financial aid processing and consulting services to colleges and universities. They handle all aspects of Title IV WAN including EdConnect, Edexpress, NSLDS and FISAP. They also provide training for financial aid staff and program reviews to ensure compliance with government regulations. For more information, call 1-516-679-1616, send email to randyr@ecmfinaid.com, or write to Educational Compliance Management, Inc., PO Box 2700, Wantagh, NY 11793.

Financial Aid Services, Inc. (FAS) (Salem, NH)
Financial Aid Services, Inc. (FAS), headquartered in Salem, NH, was established in 1980. FAS offers servicing, consulting, training, and processing services to schools. Their services include need analysis and early aid estimation, processing and disbursing all Title IV funds (FFELP and FDSLP), FFEL student loan certication, refund calculation, verification assistance, regulatory compliance, computerized financial aid processing, and accreditation, eligibility, and certification. Their consulting services include updates on changes in federal regulations, quality control services, program review and audit preparation, government reporting, default management assistance, and staff training in Title IV management. They also offer the Genesis SMSS school management software service. FAS's trademark is "Training, Educating, and Supporting the school while continuously developing systems to comply with the ever changing environment of student financial aid programs". For more information, call 1-800-4-FAS-INC (1-800-432-7462) or 1-603-328-1550, fax 1-603-328-1560, write to Financial Aid Services, Inc., 90 Stiles Road, Suite #101, Salem, NH 03079, or send email to fas@fasinc.net.

Global Financial Aid Services
Global Financial Aid Services provides front office and back office financial aid administration services. Global optimizes financial aid, maximizes enrollment, reduces costs, improves student service, improves accountability and ensures compliance. In 2004 Global managed financial aid for 250,000 students across 265 campuses and online environments and disbursed $1.3 billion in financial aid. For more information contact Sandra Kemp at 1-228-523-1044 or via email at skemp@globalfas.com.

Hogan & Hartson LLP
The education practice at Hogan & Hartson focuses on student financial aid, accreditation, and state education licensing.

The Kenaly Complement Inc.
The Kenaly Complement Inc. is a financial aid consulting and executive search firm specializing in making college financial aid offices more cost-effective, customer-focused and efficient. Their key services are temporary financial aid staffing (including interim financial aid directors) and executive search. They also offer financial aid office performance assessment, peer regulatory reviews, functional analysis, staff training, computer system setup, maintenance and conversion, new award year setup, R2T4, streamlining office processes, compliance reviews, program reconciliation and assisting with federal audits and program reviews, among other services. For more information call 1-817-466-4404 or write to The Kenaly Complement, Inc., 3330 Matlock Road, Suite 204B, Arlington, TX 76015 or send email to info@thekenalycomplement.com.

Lazard Dana LLP
Lazard Dana is a CPA firm. Their Education Services Team provides colleges with assistance with student financial aid audits, resolution of compliance issues, student financial aid staff training, and accreditation.

Manitu Communications LLC
Manitu Communications is a management consulting firm with experience in the higher education industry. For more information, call 1-301-571-9432, fax 1-301-299-8882, write to Manitu Communications, 6701 Democracy Boulevard, Suite 300, Bethesda, MD 20817, or send email to contactus@manitu.com.

MPR Associates Inc.
MPR Associates is an education consulting firm that has expertise in designing statistical studies, analyzing large databases, research and policy analysis. They were involved in the creation of the economicdiversity.org web site.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's Higher Education and Student Loan Financing practice has significant experience with the financing of federal and alternative loan programs. Their focus is on acting as bond counsel and underwriting counsel. For more information, send email to info@orrick.com.

Plante & Moran, PLLC
Plante & Moran is a CPA firm with experience with student financial aid audits and compliance reviews.

Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville P.C.
Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville P.C. is a Washington DC law firm with a practice area involving education law, among other practice areas. They specialize in the avoidance and minimization of regulatory compliance problems, resolution of program reviews and US Department of Education IG audits, establishing institutional and program eligibility for federal student aid, and obtaining and maintaining accreditation. For more information, call 1-202-466-6550, fax 1-202-785-1756, send email to ppsv@ppsv.com, or write to Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville P.C., 1875 Eye Street, NW, Twelfth Floor, Washington, DC 20006.

Salmon Beach & Associates, PLLC
Salmon Beach is an accounting and consulting firm with experience in student financial aid audits and compliance reviews.

Weber & Associates, Inc.
Weber & Associates, Inc. provides financial aid consulting and related services to colleges and universities. The company is an extension of Financial Aid Consulting and Training Services, Inc. (FACTS), a company founded by Harry V. Weber in 1974. Their services focus on Title IV programs, including Pell Grant processing, campus based program processing, and Federal Direct Loan processing. They also sell the Title IV Information Management System (TIVIMS) for managing Title IV student financial aid. Other services include college web site development and hosting. For more information, write to Weber & Associates, Inc., 1200 Woodruff Road, Suite B-17, Greenville, SC 29607, call 1-800-441-1621, fax, 1-864-675-9017, or send email to hv.weber@weberassocinc.com.

Preferred Lender Lists

Student Lending Analytics
Student Lending Analytics LLC provides financial aid administrators with data concerning preferred lender list disclosures and borrower benefits industrywide. They also provide tools for an effective preferred lender list RFI/RFP process. Their Report on Student Loan Disclosure (October 23, 2007) provided an overview of the amount of disclosure in the school preferred lender lists and analyzed the correlation with default rates. For more information write to Student Lending Analytics LLC, 1731 Embarcadero Road, Suite 212, Palo Alto, CA 94303, call 1-650-858-2724, fax 1-650-324-2901 or send email to info@studentlendinganalytics.com.

MyLenderList.com
MyLenderList is a service from Student Loan Xpress to simplify the creation of an online preferred lender list.

SelectYourLender.com
SelectYourLender is a service from ELM Resources to make it easy for colleges to assemble and display their preferred lender lists.

Miscellaneous

Student Marketmeasure
Student Marketmeasure provides market share and competitive intelligence information to lenders, guarantee agencies and servicers. Their web site includes a variety of summary reports, including the top ten FFELP lenders, total loan originations.

StudentPOLL
StudentPOLL provides market intelligence concerning student recruitment, college admissions and financial aid. It evaluates student and parent opinions and behavior.

Eduational Assistance Ltd.
Eduational Assistance Ltd. is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization that helps businesses and colleges create scholarships. Businesses donate excess inventory, taking a tax writeoff. Colleges buy the inventory at reduced cost, creating need-based scholarships at their college in lieu of the additional funds they would have had to pay to buy the inventory at retail. For more information, call 1-630-690-0010, fax 1-630-690-0565, write to Educational Assistance Ltd., PO Box 3021, Gen Ellyn, IL 60138-3021, or send email to info@ealworks.org.