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November 17, 20166:00 pm ETCoordinator:Welcome and thank you all for standing by. All participants will be in a listen-only mode throughout the duration of today’s conference call.Today’s call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this point.Now I will turn the meeting over to your host, Mr. Byron Scott. Sir, you may now begin.Byron Scott:Thank you. Welcome everyone. My name is Byron Scott and I work for the office of Federal Student Aid at the US Department of Education. This webinar is about the closure of schools that are owned by the Weston Education Group -- Heritage College, Heritage Institute, and Missouri College. Before we begin, I want to encourage you to download this presentation, which you can do in the top left corner of your screen under the box marked Files, click on Webinar About Closure - Heritage, and then download files. This presentation has many links in it and so this will be a helpful resource for you going forward. Also in the bottom left of your screen, you’ll see a Q&A box where you can ask questions throughout the presentation. We will endeavor to answer all of your questions during the presentation, but if not you may include your email address and we will respond to you later. We will remain on the line for a few minutes after the presentation concludes in case there are any last minute questions. On November 1, 2016 officials from the Weston Education Group notified the US Department of Education and their state postsecondary education oversight bodies that they were immediately closing their 11 Heritage Colleges and Institutes and Missouri College locations across the country. As a result of this sudden closure, all Heritage and Missouri College locations have lost their eligibility to receive federal student aid funds from the Department. The Department has created a website to assist students affected by the closure of Heritage and Missouri College. And it can be found on our website at the link shown on this slide. If you were attending a Heritage or a Missouri College campus that closed, you have two primary options. You can transfer to another school. Resources such as the College Navigator website can help you find a school that fits your career goals. You should contact individual schools for transfer hour policies. Or you can apply for a closed school discharge. Our website has information about the closed school discharge process. Some states have a tuition recovery fund. If you were enrolled in a school in a state that has a tuition recovery fund, you may be eligible for a refund from this source. To learn more, you can find the applicable state postsecondary education agency for your state listed in the Heritage section of closures. If you want to learn more about the options for closed school discharge, visit our website at this link shown on the slide for additional information about closed school loan discharges. To apply for a closed school discharge, complete and return the closed school loan discharge application and return it to your loan servicer. To find your loan servicer, you log in to My Federal Student Aid at the website shown. The application for a closed school discharge can be found on our Student Aid website at the link shown on the bottom of this slide. Do you qualify for a closed school discharge? As a student loan borrower or a parent who borrowed a PLUS loan on a student’s behalf, you may be eligible for a 100% discharge of your federal student loans borrowed to attend the closed school under either of these circumstances -- your school closed while you were enrolled and you did not complete your program because of the closure. If you were on an approved leave of absence from the school for the purposes of federal student aid, you are considered to have been enrolled in the school. Or if your school closed within 120 days after you withdrew from all classes. You are not eligible for discharge of your loans if your school closed and any of the following is true: you withdrew from all classes before July 4, 2016 which is more than 120 days before Heritage and Missouri College closed; or if you completed all your coursework for your program prior to your school closing even though you have not received a diploma or a certificate; and finally, if you are completing a comparable education program at another school through a teach-out agreement with the school or by transferring hours earned at the closed school to another school or by any other comparable means. The Department recommends that you take your time, all the time that’s necessary, to review all of your options before making any decisions. What is right for you may not be the best decision for another student. We also urge you not to pay for any services, like loan forgiveness, that the Department provides for free. For more information, please visit the website shown on this slide to learn about way you can avoid scams. We have been collecting frequently asked questions about school closures. And that repository is posted online at our website. On the following slides, we’ll go over a sampling of these frequently asked questions. Will I be able to finish my program? You will not be able to complete your current program at Heritage or Missouri College. However, you may be able to transfer to a new institution and finish your program at the new institution. Each school will have its own requirements that are used to determine which of your credits or hours earned will transfer. If you do transfer into a comparable program offered by another school, that school will evaluate your previous coursework and decide whether all of your completed credits or hours will be accepted and what remaining hours or credits you need to complete.Students have asked how do I obtain my transcript? Heritage has indicated that all enrolled students and those who withdrew on or after July 4, 2016 may request a transcript by email to Heritage.studentsservices@heritage-. Students should email questions about transcripts or any other student records for any Heritage College or Institute campus in any state to @heritage-. Missouri College has indicated that all enrolled students and those who withdrew on or after July 4, 2016 can anticipate receiving both an official and unofficial transcript from the school. Student from Missouri College may also visit to request that an electronic official version of their transcripts be sent to a transfer school. Questions about transcripts or other student records can be sent to moco.students@heritage-. Where can I find information about the federal student aid I received and how much more I might be eligible to receive? For information on your federal student aid history and your remaining eligibility for certain federal student aid programs, please visit the My Federal Student Aid web page. Each student’s eligibility for additional student aid funds will be evaluated independently. When enrolling in a new institution, you should update your current FAFSA to include the federal school code for your new school, then schedule a meeting with the financial aid office at the new school to discuss your financial aid eligibility. If you are a student who has not recently accessed the Department’s financial aid systems, you can no longer use your federal student aid PIN. If you do not have an FSA ID, you’ll need one to access your federal financial loan history. And you can find more information about this process at the link shown on this slide. If I enroll by transferring hours earned from Heritage or Missouri College in a comparable program at another school for the purpose of completing the program for which the loan was made at Heritage or Missouri College, can I still receive a closed school loan discharge? No. Not if you completed or in the process of completing a comparable program of study at the new institution. I transferred from Heritage or Missouri College and enrolled in a completely different program at the new school and completed the new program. Are the previous loans from Heritage or Missouri College dischargeable?Yes, because the program of study at the new school is completely different than that of the closed school for which the loans were intended. I recently enrolled in a new school in a comparable program of study to what I was enrolled in in Heritage or Missouri College but I did not receive credit for the work completed at Heritage or Missouri College. Am I still eligible for a closed school loan discharge?Yes, assuming that you meet all other eligibility criteria, you may be eligible for a closed school loan discharge of the loans you received to finance your course of study at Heritage or Missouri College. Does my Federal Pell Grant eligibility duration reset due to the closure of Heritage or Missouri College? The amount of Federal Pell Grant funds you may receive over your lifetime is currently limited by federal law to the equivalent of six years of Pell Grant funding. Since the maximum amount of Pell Grant funding you can receive each year is equal to 100% the six-year equivalent is 600%. For more information, you can visit the website shown on this screen. In late October 2016 the Department of Education announced a policy change which would restore period of Pell Grant eligibility to students who are unable to complete their course of study due to the closure of the institution. The Department intends to implement this change over the coming months and plans to notify each eligible student when his or her available limits to receive Pell Grant funding have been adjusted. Even though we are from the Department of Education, we’d like to share a little bit of information relevant to veterans. The action by Heritage and Missouri College means you can no longer receive GI Bill benefits, including the monthly housing allowance or any future classes at Heritage or Missouri College. Even if your enrollment for the upcoming term was already submitted to VA, VA cannot pay for it. This includes payments under any GI Bill benefit program, including the post 9/11 GI Bill and the Survivors Independence Educational Assistance Program. As noted at the Department of Veterans Affairs GI Bill website, the VA does not have the legal authority to restore GI Bill benefits to veterans who are impacted by the Heritage and Missouri College closure. You are, however, free to pursue your educational goals at another GI Bill-approved school or training facility. If you’re interested in transferring your credits to another institution, you are encouraged to use the GI Bill comparison tool to find the program that’s right for you. Veterans may also be eligible to receive personalized counseling and support through the VA’s education and career counseling program to help you identify an institution that aligns with your educational goals. Student Veterans of America, with a network of over 1,400 student chapters at colleges and universities, may also provide answers to your questions. We want you to get the help you need to understand your options. If you have additional questions on the topics covered in this webinar, please contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1 (800) 4-FED-AID. The Department of Veterans Affairs Education Call Center is available at (888) 442-4551. The VA also has a Facebook and Twitter page where you can receive additional information. That concludes this presentation. We will remain on the line for a few more minutes to answer questions. And we encourage you to download this presentation so you’ll have it available as a resource. Thank you very much for joining us, and good luck. END ................
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