Nation’s leading education-loan guarantor issues 2006 annual report

USA Funds helps students, education-finance professionals navigate changing times

USA Funds annual reportINDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, has issued its 2006 annual report, which highlights the many ways in which USA Funds helps students, higher-education administrators and education-lending professionals navigate the challenges that confront them.

“From helping financial-aid professionals and education lenders meet an aggressive schedule for complying with new student-aid legislation, to the development of new programs that address the changing demographics of the college-age population, USA Funds continues to be a trusted partner in changing times,” said Carl C. Dalstrom, USA Funds president and CEO.

The report features the following profiles that represent the thousands of students, student-aid professionals and education-lending representatives who receive guidance and support from USA Funds each year:

  • A first-generation Latino student receives one of USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships® to help pay for medical school at Stanford University in California.
  • A default manager for a regional group of campuses of the International Academy of Design and Technology uses USA Funds Debt Manager® to deliver regular communications to student-loan borrowers to prevent loan defaults.
  • A default-prevention specialist who works on USA Funds’ behalf uses her own experience as a student-loan borrower as she counsels borrowers who are experiencing loan-payment issues.
  • Whittier College in California uses 2Futuro®, a new education-finance and outreach program that is a joint initiative of USA Funds and Sallie Mae, to better serve its population of Hispanic students.
  • A new member of the financial-aid staff at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., uses USA Funds University online training to quickly learn the basics of financial-aid administration.
  • The managing director of operations for ALL Student Loan benefits from the latest policy, regulatory and product information presented during a USA Funds Education-Lender Forum.
  • A financial-aid administrator at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., uses USA Funds Connection®  Web portal to boost her personal productivity.
  • A frequently hospitalized high-school student in Phoenix graduates on time because an EduCat™ mobile classroom provided by USA Funds to Phoenix Children’s Hospital helps him keep up with his schoolwork.

USA Funds’ 2006 annual report also highlights the following additional service to higher education during the past year:

  • USA Funds’ record-setting volume of more than $27.3 billion in loans it guaranteed help more than 1.7 million students and parents pay higher-education expenses.
  • USA Funds’ default-prevention efforts avert default on more than 94 percent of seriously past-due accounts, thereby preventing nearly $15.8 billion in potential loan defaults.
  • On behalf of taxpayers, USA Funds recovers $1 billion from borrowers who had defaulted on their federal education loans. These collections include nearly $404 million in loan rehabilitation, in which borrowers can resolve their defaults and remove them from their credit records.
  • USA Funds awards or supports a total of $8.9 million in scholarships to help students pursue higher education during the 2006-2007 academic year.

Download a copy of USA Funds’ 2006 Annual Report.