Entries accepted for third-annual Excellence in Debt Management Awards

USA Funds to recognize successful campus debt-management initiatives

INDIANAPOLIS —USA Funds®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, is accepting entries for its third-annual Excellence in Debt Management Awards. The awards recognize postsecondary institutions that have successfully developed and implemented effective and creative debt-management programs for their students. The award program is open to all postsecondary institutions in the United States.

“Creative debt-management programs developed by postsecondary institutions have played a key role in the dramatic decline in student-loan-default rates,” said Carl C. Dalstrom, USA Funds president and CEO. “This award program is intended to highlight exceptional debt-management programs and to disseminate best practices in debt management throughout the higher-education community.”

USA Funds will award need-based-scholarship funds to three postsecondary institutions for their students in the following amounts:

  • Best Debt-Management Program — $2,500 scholarship.
  • First Runner-Up — $1,500 scholarship.
  • Second Runner-Up — $1,000 scholarship.

Entries will be judged by a panel consisting of USA Funds’ staff and debt-management consultants, as well as the following 2005 Excellence in Debt Management Award recipients:

  • Carla Lord-Hardy, manager, debt management, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 2005 Best Debt-Management Program.
  • Monty Hickman, director of financial aid, Bennett College, Greensboro, N.C., 2005 First Runner-Up.
  • Fred Stennis, director of financial aid, Oakwood College, Huntsville, Ala., 2005 Second Runner-Up.

Entries will be judged based on the results achieved by the program, creativity, scope of the program, involvement of campus staff and faculty, and the cost-effectiveness of the program.

To review official rules and to submit an entry online, visit the USA Funds Web site. A purchase is not necessary to enter and will not improve the chances of winning. The deadline for submission is May 19, 2006.