Recent News

If you've been somewhat conservative or cautious about maintaining a Facebook page for your financial aid office because of a potential drain on staff resources, here are some quick tips on how to set up and handle Facebook notifications, responses, content curation, and postings…in only two hours per week.

Starting in late March and spanning until the end of May, Great Lakes' knowledgeable representatives will be hitting the road to attend nearly 20 state and regional conferences. From Bismarck to Biloxi and Norfolk to Newport, learn how we'll be listening to—and connecting with—financial aid professionals nationwide.

Have you ever spent weeks trying to convince a friend or loved one that they should make a health care appointment? There's nothing more frustrating than convincing them to make the call, only to hear that the next available appointment is in four months. We understand the need for immediate help, especially when it comes to your student loan customers who are delinquent on their accounts. That's why Great Lakes has a Default Management Hotline, which acts as a fast track to specialized repayment help.

This is Great Lakes, reporting live on the Financial Aid Professionals portal at the premiere of Portfolio Navigator with Action Center. These are exciting times for us to help you reach the students we're all trying to help succeed in repayment—but audience participation is crucial. You've been watching the previews for weeks, but now that Portfolio Navigator with Action Center is premiering, you may want to take a seat, settle in, and get ready to take some action. (Popcorn not provided.)

The Common Manual has been updated to incorporate changes recently approved by the Common Manual Governing Board. You can find these changes now in the Common Manual Policy Change Bulletins through schools.mygreatlakes.org.

For some students, April 15 seems like just another day. For others, the thought of filing their income taxes can be as intimidating as a final exam. Fortunately, there are some helpful answers you can share with your students to make tax season less stressful, keep them in good standing with the IRS, and maybe even help them earn a refund in the process.

Great Lakes provides a variety of resources to support you as you counsel student borrowers about whether the Direct Consolidation Loan option is right for them. Plus, you can easily check the status of a student's Direct Loan Consolidation application via Borrower Status Tool…and just four simple steps.

Part of our commitment to keeping you informed is calling your attention to changes in the industry. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education announced the availability of an alternative to the Two-Factor Authentication physical token required by users of Federal Student Aid data systems. We've got everything you need to know about the transition to the use of "soft tokens" as an alternative for authentication.

Like you, putting people on the path to economic prosperity by helping them complete college and successfully repay their student loans is something Great Lakes works to do on a daily basis. The Great Lakes National Scholarship Program, which awards up to 750 scholarships of $2,500 each to qualifying majors in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) disciplines, was established with this same goal in mind. Learn more so that you can encourage your students who qualify to apply.