FAP510: Two year anniversary of Monique Leonard and the Financial Aid Podcast

Student Financial Aid News
+ From Inside Higher Ed: In the wake of revelations last week that financial aid officers at Columbia University, the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin and an Education Department official who oversees the loan industry all owned stock in Student Loan Xpress, Kennedy, who heads the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Wednesday that his own investigation had found that the company’s now-president, Fabrizio Balestri, had sold the stock to the officials in 2001 at a significant discount from its market value, and that the way he had sold the stock (after purchasing the stock himself in a transaction known as a “private placement”) might have violated federal law. Kennedy said his review showed that the lender had gained an increasing share of the universities’ private loan business after the stock transaction.
+ “The characteristics of this transaction, especially Mr. Balestri’s apparent effort to conceal his sale of shares to financial aid administrators and an Education Department official, raise significant concerns about its legality under securities laws,” Kennedy said in a news release. “It also raises the question of whether a quid pro quo existed between these financial aid officers and Student Loan Xpress.” Kennedy released the text of a letter that he said he had sent to the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to review the transactions.
+ Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who heads the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee, said his panel would hold a hearing on the investigative hearing into the “unethical practices and conflicts of interest that have recently been revealed within the student loan industry,” and that the star witness would be … Cuomo.
+ With the “assurance of discontinuance” its officials signed Wednesday, Sallie Mae became the second major lender (following Citibank, which settled with Cuomo last week) to agree to abide by the attorney general’s code of conduct. Under the accord, Sallie Mae did not formally admit to any wrongdoing (though it suggests that the lender did break New York law), but it agreed that it would:
+ Stop paying travel and hotel expenses for the college officials on its advisory board to attend its occasional meetings. Tom Joyce, vice president for corporate communications at Sallie Mae, said the company several months ago had ended the $300 to $350 per-meeting honorariums that it had previously paid to its advisers, but that the lender would maintain the advisory boards themselves.
+ Phase out the arrangements it has with financial aid offices at 19 colleges to have employees at its call centers answer inquiries from students about financial aid matters. Under the agreement, Sallie Mae will have up to 18 months to end its existing contracts, and it agreed not to create any more such arrangements. Sallie Mae declined to identify the colleges, although recent press reports have identified some of them.
+ “Donate” $2 million to a fund the attorney general is creating to educate high school seniors and their parents about the financial aid process. The agreement says that the payment is “in recognition of the attorney general’s leadership in improving the circumstances under which education financing is made available to college students and consistent with Sallie Mae’s commitment to educating the public about the financial aid process.” Joyce disputed a reporter’s assertion that the $2 million payment appeared to be a fine. “We do not see it that way. We voluntarily entered into this agreement. We were asked to contribute, and it fits in very well with a number of efforts we’re funding around the country.”

Scholarship Update
+ ASCAP Foundation Music Scholarships Directory
+ Compendium of music-related scholarships at high schools and colleges around the country
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site
+ First check for Bum Rush the Charts for about $250 rolling in soon
+ Second royalty check should be much larger – this is Linkshare only
+ BRTC totals: $1,000 from the Student Loan Network, $250 from Linkshare affiliates
+ It’s still not too late if your company wants to join in the sponsorship

A Look Back
+ April 11, 2005 – I get a Powerbook G4 and an iPod Mini, start listening to DSC, D&D, and simultaneously have an employee who needs to hear things more than once
+ April 12, 2005 – the show starts off weekly as the Student Financial Aid News Podcast
+ Bits of this legacy name are still around, like our Feedburner URL and the first section of the show
+ Most early shows are me reading pages off our web sites
+ June 27, 2005 – Apple releases iTunes 4.9 with podcast support
+ June 29, 2005 – The Financial Aid Podcast goes daily
+ Two years of expert interviews: Jack Kopnesky, Mitch Joel, Mark Kantrowitz, Mark Nemcoff, CC Chapman, Francine Jackson, John Pearson, Ellen Frishberg, Janet Fike, Pam Stimpert, Nicole Barry
+ Almost 1,000 pieces of podsafe music – heck, the show was around before podsafe music was formalized

Birthday Messages
+ Jen from the Bucket Podcast
+ Charlotte LoFranco
+ Clinton from the Comedy4Cast
+ Karen Cardoza from the Patriot World Podcast
+ Whitney Hoffman from the LD Podcast
+ Bill Deys
+ Ed Roberts, Kansas City Weather
+ Dan Johnson Jr.

Podsafe Music
+ Black Lab, Remember
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ From Binary Star Records

Reminders
+ Private student loans
+ Stafford loans | Other federal student loans
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA tutorials and free help
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidNews.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

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