USA Funds Tools Help Platt College in Default Prevention

Mary Kay Ford attended Platt College 20 years ago. When she completed her education in travel and tourism and began repaying her student loans, she experienced some problems and almost went into default.

“People just weren’t as friendly and helpful then as they are today,” she says. Ford, who now is in charge of loan services for the eight Platt College campuses in Oklahoma and Texas, makes it her mission to ensure no Platt student faces the issues she did.

One of her partners in this effort is USA Funds Debt Manager^®, a Web-based communication tool that helps school officials connect with borrowers and prevent student loan defaults.

She tracks about 4,000 to 6,000 borrowers from several cohorts, and she uses the tool to help get in touch with those who are delinquent in repaying their student loans.

“Generally I call the borrowers who are 60 days or less delinquent and those who are more than 200 days behind in their payments,” Ford says. “I send letters to all borrowers who are 90 or more days delinquent.”

USA Funds Debt Manager is great, she says, because it lets her customize the content of the letters. She addresses the envelopes in a script font so that they look like an invitation, to entice students to open the envelopes. Inside each envelope she includes a form for forbearance as well as a stamped, addressed envelope so the student can return the form to her. When students return the forms, she files them with the lender.

“It’s important to offer that help,” Ford says. “We want our students to know we’re there for them whether they’re graduating or withdrawing — we’re not going to desert them.”

Ford notes that she’s probably saved more than 100 work hours each year she’s used USA Funds Debt Manager. That’s time she can spend counseling students and helping them understand their education loan repayment options.

“USA Funds Debt Manager is so easy to use. I can access a student’s information by name or Social Security number, and I can change addresses and update information and the tool tells me the last time I updated the information,” she says.

Ford also uses the USA Funds Cohort Analysis Tool^SM, which helps her to spot potential problems in the U.S. Department of Education’s cohort default rate report. She has successfully appealed to remove certain borrowers from the report and has been able to lower her school’s default rate.

Platt College opened its doors in 1979 in Oklahoma and has grown to eight campuses in the state and also in Texas. The private career school enrolls about 1,200 to 1,300 students in programs including medical and dental assisting, massage therapy, pharmacy technician, practical and registered nursing, associate of culinary arts and restaurant management.