New online courses highlight key federal student-aid programs

USA Funds expands online training for financial-aid professionals

INDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds^®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, has enhanced its online-training program for financial-aid professionals. USA Funds has introduced five new online courses that provide overviews of key federal student-aid programs.

The new online courses cover the following subjects:

Federal Pell Grant Program. This course describes what a Pell Grant is and why the program was created. The course also explains which students are eligible to receive Pell Grants, how to calculate the amount of Pell Grants that students are eligible to receive, how Pell Grants are awarded and disbursed and how to determine the award amount of Pell Grants for students who attend summer terms and other crossover-payment periods.

Campus-Based Programs. This course guides financial-aid professionals through the common elements of the three campus-based programs — Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work-Study and Perkins Loan programs — and provides a basic understanding of the provisions common to all three programs.

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program. The course outlines general federal requirements for disbursing FSEOG funds, how to determine which students receive FSEOG funds, and how to calculate FSEOG-award amounts.

Federal Work-Study Program. This course supplies information about the purpose of the Federal Work-Study Program, identifies the types of employment that qualify for Federal Work-Study, and explains the awarding guidelines and parameters for administering the program.

Federal Perkins Loan Program. The Perkins-loan course discusses when and why the program started, what it was designed to achieve and how it is intended to be used. The course also describes awarding and disbursing guidelines, loan-counseling requirements and Perkins-loan-repayment options.

“These online courses would be perfect as part of an orientation for new financial-aid staff members or as a timely refresher for experienced aid administrators,” said Denise B. Feser, USA Funds vice president, customer relations. “By delivering training to a user’s personal computer, these courses save financial-aid offices time and travel expenses.”

Offered without cost to eligible postsecondary institutions, USA Funds’ online curriculum now includes a total of 15 courses. To date, staff members at 152 postsecondary institutions have taken one or more of the courses, and more than 80 percent have demonstrated gains in knowledge after completing the course.

The online courses are part of a comprehensive array of professional-development tools that USA Funds provides to promote effective administration of federal student-aid programs. Other components include USA Funds’ twice-yearly Financial-Aid Workshops, webcast training, customer-service training, training customized for individual postsecondary institutions, and a speaker’s bureau of expert presenters for campus or conference events.

View additional information about USA Funds training programs.