USA Funds Connection provides single sign-on to loan-management services
USA Funds offers new online tool for financial-aid professionals
INDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, has released a new online tool that links financial-aid professionals to the people and resources they need to deliver excellent service to students and their parents. USA Funds Connection®, offers an online gateway to products and services, information resources and personal-productivity tools for the financial-aid office.
One of the time-saving features of USA Funds Connection permits users to sign on once and access the following key loan-delivery and support services without having to sign on to each service separately:
- OpenNet, an online loan-delivery platform.
- Meteor, a source of aggregated, student-specific loan data.
- USA Funds Stafford Loan Guide, USA Funds’ new online Stafford-loan entrance-counseling service.
- USA Funds University Online Learning Site, which offers access to online training and webcasts, as well as information and registration for workshops and other training opportunities.
“We built USA Funds Connection to offer financial-aid administrators easier and convenient access to the online resources they need to successfully carry out their responsibilities,” said Denise B. Feser, USA Funds vice president, customer relations. “In future releases, we will offer greater customization so that users have direct access to the most-relevant information and services for their campuses and their roles in the financial-aid office.”
Additional resources available through USA Funds Connection include the following items:
- Workshops and training, which offers a list of training programs for which a user has registered, as well as other available professional-development opportunities.
- Contacts, which permits users to develop a personal address book of key contacts and to share those contacts with other campus users. A school’s key contacts for service from USA Funds also are listed.
- Tasks, which permits administrators to organize and track tasks for the USA Funds Connection users on their campus.
USA Funds Connection also links users to the latest information about student-aid administration, policies and regulations. The Web portal provides access to resources for enhancing campus debt-management programs and permits users to easily and conveniently order publications and forms online.
“I open the USA Funds portal first thing every workday morning,” said Tricia Inscho, financial aid assistant, Art Academy of Cincinnati. “I can access from one location OpenNet, NSLDS and any other Web sites I need. I also register for workshops and order materials through the portal. It’s been a huge help to me.”
For more information, visit the USA Funds Web site.