Four Reports added to the Monthly Reports Menu
Four reports have been added to the Monthly reports window: 6F balancing report entire portfolio/trial balance, 12B balancing report monthly transactions/trial balance, 14A balancing report (FISAP)/trial balance and 18 GASB report. The 3 balancing reports were always in our product but the user had to view the reports by other means, not through SAL. These reports were added to the menu so the user can view the reports from within SAL. Below is a brief description of the 4 reports.
6F Balancing Report entire portfolio/trial balance
Choosing this option will create reports 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e and 6f.
This option will accumulate totals from all regular and archived accounts and retired records and compare these totals against the trial balance report (report 13). Any differences will be shown on the report.
12B Balancing Report monthly transactions/trial balance
Choosing this option will create reports 12 and 12b.
This option will compare totals from the Monthly transactions report (report 12) to the current column totals on the trial balance report (report 13). Any differences will be shown on the report.
14A Balancing Report (FISAP)/trial balance
Choosing this option will create reports 14 and 14a.
This option will compare the totals from the FISAP report (report 14) to the to-date column totals on the trial balance report (report 13). Any differences will be shown on the report.
18 GASB Report
GASB 34 is an accounting standard issued by the Government Accounting Standards Board. It sets standards for the financial statements issued by all state and local government entities in the U.S. The standard sets accounting rules for these financial statements and for the accounting data the financial statements contain.
$1.35-Trillion Tax-Cut Bill Clears Congress
Congress passed a $1.35-trillion tax-cut bill on Saturday, May 26, 2001
that includes several provisions aimed at helping students and
parents save money for college and repay student loans.
President Bush has said he will sign the legislation, which
also includes an estate-tax repeal that some college officials
worry will reduce charitable giving.
The legislation will gradually increase the amount of an
individual's estate that can be exempted from taxation, to
$3.5-million in 2009 from its current $675,000. The tax will
be repealed entirely in 2010. The Council for Advancement and
Support of Education, an association of college fund raisers,
says the repeal of the tax exemption could remove an important
incentive to charitable giving. But Sheldon E. Steinbach, vice
president and general counsel of the American Council on
Education, noted that the repeal will expire in 2011 and would
then have to be considered for renewal by lawmakers.
Most of the other provisions in the bill that are related to
higher education more clearly benefit students, their
families, and colleges.
One provision eliminates the current 60-month limit on the
amount of time that borrowers can deduct from their taxable
income the interest paid on their student loans. Also, the
income level for taking advantage of such a deduction will
increase, making more people eligible for it.
Another provision in the tax bill makes permanent a tax
deduction for educational assistance provided to an employee
by an employer. The $5,250 deduction has traditionally covered
only undergraduate work, and has had to be extended by
lawmakers every few years. In addition to making the tax break
permanent, this year's tax bill will apply it to graduate
studies as well. "Now there's a real degree of continuity that
individuals can rely on," Mr. Steinbach said. "It provides a
tremendous incentive to increase the educational background of
the American working force at all levels."
The new bill also eliminates taxes on interest earned under
state prepaid-tuition plans and allows private institutions to
set up such plans, with the same tax benefits, starting in
2004. To encourage savings for college, the bill also allows
parents to contribute as much as $2,000 a year, up from the
current $500, to an educational savings account.
The legislation also creates a new deduction for people who,
because they earn too much money, do not qualify for the
federal Lifelong Learning or Hope tax credits. From 2002 to
2004, the deduction will rise to $4,000 from $2,000, but the
provision ends in 2005 and will need to be re-enacted.
A few items sought by higher-education lobbyists did not make
it into the bill. One would have enabled people to donate
their individual retirement accounts to charitable
organizations without paying taxes. Another would have allowed
people who do not itemize deductions on their tax returns to
nonetheless take a deduction for charitable giving. Mr.
Steinbach said that both could be included in the legislation
to carry out President Bush's plan to have faith-based
organizations deliver social services. "However, with the
changeover in control of the Senate," Mr. Steinbach said, "the
likelihood of that legislation clearing the Congress seems to
be significantly less."
Senate's Expected Democratic Tilt Could Benefit Colleges, Lobbyists Say
U.S. Sen. James M. Jeffords's expected announcement that he is
leaving the Republican Party, which would shift control of the
Senate to the Democrats, has college lobbyists hoping that
they can win more money for the federal student-aid programs
and scientific research than President Bush has proposed.
The Vermont senator has told his Congressional staff and
lawmakers from both political parties that he plans today to
announce that he is becoming an independent, but will vote
with Democrats on organizational matters. Under this scenario,
the Senate, which has been split 50-50, would be made up of 50
Democrats, 49 Republicans, and 1 independent who leans
Democratic.
The White House and Senate Republicans made last-ditch
attempts on Wednesday to dissuade Mr. Jeffords from making the
change, but few observers believed that the efforts would
succeed.
College lobbyists were not sure whether the change in the
Senate's power structure would affect the outcome of the
Congressional debate on President Bush's $1.35-trillion
tax-cut plan. It was widely reported that Mr. Jeffords had
agreed to delay his departure from the G.O.P. until after work
on the tax plan has been completed.
Mr. Jeffords's decision could slow down progress on
legislation to carry out much of the Bush administration's
plan for elementary and secondary education. That bill has
been on a fast track, but Democrats' priorities on those
issues differ from those of Republicans. By leaving the
Republican Party, Mr. Jeffords would lose the chairmanship of
the Senate committee that is in charge of education policy
making to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. In
return, the Democrats have offered Mr. Jeffords the
opportunity to head the Senate Committee on the Environment
and Public Works.
Higher-education officials believe that the ascension of the
Democrats in the Senate would help them get larger spending
increases for programs they care about.
Edward M. Elmendorf, vice president for governmental relations
at the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities, said that he thinks the Democrats would "give
greater visibility and recognition" to the proposals of the
Student Aid Alliance, a coalition of college and student
groups that lobby on behalf of the federal financial-aid
programs.
Members of the alliance were disappointed in April when, as
part of his budget proposals for the 2002 fiscal year,
President Bush asked Congress to raise the maximum Pell Grant
by only $100, to $3,850, and did not request additional money
for several other important student-aid programs, including
the College Work-Study and Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grant Programs.
In addition to pushing for the tax cut, the White House has
been trying to limit the growth of spending in federal social
programs. Republicans in the House of Representatives and the
Senate have vowed to follow the Bush administration's lead.
With Democrats in charge of the Senate, however, those limits
would probably be challenged, the college lobbyists say.
"This would change the whole appropriations dynamic, and that
would be a good thing," said Cynthia A. Littlefield, director
of federal relations for the Association of Jesuit Colleges
and Universities and vice president of the Committee for
Education Funding, an umbrella group of 100 education
organizations. "It is infinitely more difficult to work with
the White House and Congress when both branches of government
are controlled by the same party and are committed to the same
agenda."
With a Democratic takeover of the Senate, Sen. Tom Harkin, an
Iowa Democrat, would take the reins of the Senate
appropriations subcommittee that sets the budgets of the
student-aid programs and the National Institutes of Health, a
panel he led until 1995, when the Republicans took control of
the chamber.
Mr. Harkin has been a longtime supporter of financial aid. He
won much praise from college lobbyists in April when he pushed
through the Senate an amendment to its version of the budget
resolution that would have shifted $250-billion from the
president's proposed tax cut to increase spending on Pell
Grants and other education programs. That provision did not
make into the final version of the budget resolution.
Ms. Littlefield praised Mr. Harkin, saying, "We know that he
has our interests at heart."
But college lobbyists acknowledge that if Mr. Harkin becomes
chairman, he would have his work cut out for him. The final
budget resolution puts tight limits on how much spending
Congress can add for the 2002 fiscal year. The lobbyists said
they hoped that the Democrats would be more generous than the
president in allocating the limited funds to the student-aid
programs. They suggested that the Democrats could use
$6-billion that the Bush administration has set aside for
emergencies to increase spending on education programs.
Senator Harkin is also firmly committed to completing a plan,
begun in 1998, to double the N.I.H. budget by 2003, said Kevin
Mathis, executive director of the Campaign for Medical
Research, a lobbying effort to win support for the N.I.H. He
has worked closely with Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania
Republican, on the doubling effort, and the two have a strong
relationship, Mr. Mathis said.
"Sen. Harkin is an avowed supporter of biomedical research,"
said Richard Turman, director of federal relations for the
Association of American Universities. Mr. Turman and other
college lobbyists predict that a Democratic Senate would still
favor the politically popular N.I.H.
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, would probably
emerge as the chairwoman of the appropriations panel that
oversees the National Science Foundation and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. Research advocates say
that Senator Mikulski, the subcommittee's ranking Democrat,
has been a big booster for the N.S.F. and NASA, arguing for
substantial increases in both agencies' budgets.
Ms. Mikulski has urged other members of the Senate to support
an effort to double the N.S.F.'s budget by 2006, college
lobbyists noted.
A Democratic majority in the Senate could ultimately translate
into more money for the N.S.F., Mr. Turman said. Democrats
have argued for higher budget totals for discretionary
programs, and the science foundation in particular. Democratic
lawmakers -- and some Republicans -- were disappointed by
President Bush's proposed $4.47-billion budget for the agency,
a 1-percent increase.
College lobbyists said they were not sure what a Democratic
Senate majority would mean for the controversial issue of
embryonic-stem-cell research. The N.I.H. has proposed
financing such studies, but the Bush administration is
reviewing the agency's regulations and has not allowed it to
review any grant applications yet.
Senators Harkin and Specter have cosponsored legislation to
allow researchers to use federal funds to perform stem-cell
research. They have introduced the bill in previous years, but
it has not been put on the Senate floor for a vote. If Sen.
Thomas A. Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, becomes the
Senate's majority leader, college lobbyists speculate that he
would allow the bill to go to a vote.
2001 User Conference
ECSI held its annual user conference in Pittsburgh, April 23rd through April
25th. This year's schedule was packed to present as many topics as possible.
We had several of the favorite sessions such as regulations, Internet
services, Credit bureau, an agency panel, and a Cohort panel. This year, we
included several new topics such as accessing SAL with Microsoft Access,
debt management, document imaging, and exit interviews.
Our Internet services session showed many of the new features available on
our web site in the last year, including our new electronic bill presentment
and payment features, our proposed electronic exit interview and much, much
more.
Five of our clients agreed to participate in our Cohort panel discussion.
This was a chance to share both proactive and reactive ideas and approaches
that the participants use to lower their cohort default rate. For their
effort, we want to extend our appreciation for their participation to the
following: Greg Atkins (Coe College), Sanjana Rimal (Rutgers University),
Pat McDole (Simpson College), Sharon Wilhelm (University of Illinois),
Beverly Golden (University of Miami) and Joyce Willms (University of
Northern Iowa).
Representatives from twelve agencies participated in a discussion of the
issues related to agencies. While we deal with specific agencies, often on a
daily or weekly basis, it is always beneficial to share the different
approaches each agency takes to working a client's accounts.
Linda Dotson from San Diego State University presented our session on debt
management. She also gave the presentation of exit interviews from a
school's perspective.
Dave Martin from the North Dakota Student Loan Server Center shared his
knowledge of interfacing SAL's data dump with Microsoft Access to produce
ad-hoc reports and queries.
Randall Petschauer from Optimal Office Technologies presented one example of
a document imaging solution that could benefit many of the attendants. In
less than 40 minutes, Randy introduced the concepts of imaging and
demonstrated building an entire document imaging and workflow management
system -- right before our eyes!
This year's conference was a huge success because of the participation of
the clients who attended. There was plenty of time for interaction and the
questions and discussions were well received by all.
If you didn't attend the conference, all is not lost. We have all the slides
and handouts on our web site. In fact, all the conferences since 1998 are
archived so you can review them. We encourage you to review the slides and
handouts. We think once you see the breadth of information covered, you just
might be convinced to attend next year's conference.
2001 User Conference
We're finally past the conference and back to our regular routine. Since the
last issue, we've managed to get all the slide shows, handouts and a few of
the demonstrations up on our web site. You can find everything concerning
the conference on the Client page.
This year we have added audio to the slide shows. The first show has audio
directly on the slides. The other shows have an 'Audio Cassette Icon' on the
left so you can play the audio track while reviewing the slides. You don't
need anything special to listen to the shows, just the Windows Media Player
that comes with Microsoft Windows.
We did the audio shows two ways as an experiment. If you have time, take a
look at the Introduction show and one of the other presentations. Let us
know your preference. We will continue to include audio in the future and we
want to make sure we do it right.
Several people have requested a copy of the show on CD-ROM because they have
slow Internet connections or just don't have time to review the information
at work. ECSI has the same information on CD-ROM as is on our web site.
Contact admin@ecsi.net if you would like to inquire about a CD-ROM.
LiveHelper is Back!
We offer borrowers many ways to contact ECSI with questions or problems. Of
course we offer telephone support but we also offer several forms of
electronic support. We have provided Email support for over four years, and
on-line customer service forms for well over a year. The electronic support
vehicles have been extremely well received and their use grows every month.
LiveHelper is our newest addition to our on-line services. It provides
visitors to our web site the chance to hold an electronic conversation with
one of our customer service representatives.
Conversations in LiveHelper are text-based messages, very similar to other
types of text-chats available on the Internet. This makes it very simple to
use for people already familiar with this type of service. What makes
LiveHelper different is that the conversation is a private, one-on-one
environment. Visitors to our site can feel comfortable knowing that
their conversation has the same intimacy as a phone call.
An added advantage is that ECSIs executive staff can review conversations
to ensure that the same level of customer service is provided electronically
as is provide by more traditional methods.
New services typically have a ramp-up period. Some people hate trying new
things and it takes a while to warm up to a new service. The response to
LiveHelper has been astonishing. When the link was on only one page, several
people started using it immedialely. Since we have put the link right in the table of
contents, we are seeing dozens of new visitors using it each day, no sign of slowing down.
Of the people who took the time to comment on the service, satisfaction was
unanimous. We have yet to receive a single negative comment.
When you have a moment, give it a try yourself! You will find the LiveHelper
link in the left-hand table of contents. Hold a brief conversation with one
of our staff and you will quickly understand the value of this service to
your borrowers.
