Web-based manual designed to help schools curb loan defaults
USA Funds Introduces Online Debt-Management Tools
INDIANAPOLIS—USA Funds®, the nation's largest education-loan guarantor, has announced the introduction of a comprehensive set of online tools to assist schools in their debt-management and default-prevention efforts. These tools represent a milestone in USA Funds' ambitious initiative to provide campus financial-aid professionals with the most comprehensive set of debt-management and default-prevention resources available in the student-loan program.
By visiting the USA Funds Web site —
www.usafunds.org — and selecting Financial-Aid Professionals and Debt-Management Information, financial-aid personnel can access a significant collection of debt-management resources. Developed as a joint effort of the USA Funds Default-Prevention Council and the USA Funds Debt-Management Team, the site provides resources and tools that schools can immediately download and easily incorporate into their debt-management and default-prevention programs.
A key component of the site is the online Best Practices Manual, which offers tactics drawn from schools that have implemented successful student-loan default-prevention programs. The manual contains training materials; sample forms, letters, and checklists; and proven default-prevention techniques that can be used throughout the entire student-loan life cycle. Specific debt-management tools are provided for use during student-loan-origination, in-school, grace and loan-repayment phases.
Additional resources, including access to a life-skills course and speaker's bureau, will be added to the site later this year.
"Because this information was developed by financial-aid professionals and default-prevention experts, we believe the resources available on the debt-management site will be helpful to any school that wants to strengthen its default-prevention efforts," said E. Thomas Billard, who directs USA Funds' debt-management and default-prevention initiatives.
The 21-member USA Funds Default-Prevention Council was formed in late 1999 as a key component in USA Funds' $12 million, multi-year initiative to help colleges and universities reduce student-loan defaults. The council includes representatives of proprietary schools, community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, and public and private universities. Its role is to develop and disseminate information that will help schools achieve measurable reductions in their student-loan default rates.
USA Funds' Debt-Management Team comprises seven education-finance experts, who work with individual postsecondary institutions to help them improve and enhance their debt-management practices.
Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Funds is a nonprofit corporation that supports access to education by providing financial and other valued services to those who pursue, provide or promote education. USA Funds guarantees education loans in all 50 states and serves as the designated guarantor for nine states: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada and Wyoming.