USA Funds Supports Open Loan Systems

USA Funds^® continues to support a broad variety of student-loan community initiatives that promote openness in loan processing. By supporting the available "open" loan-processing products, schools have more choices that fit their processing needs. Among the initiatives that USA Funds supports are:

ELM and ELMNet. ELM allows schools to deliver loan data for multiple lenders and loan guarantors to a single data channel. The data is distributed to the appropriate parties for processing. Once processing is complete, the loan data again is transferred to the ELM data channel for distribution to schools. Schools transmit information only once, reducing processing time.

ELMNet is the next generation of ELM's loan-management system. It allows schools to submit real-time changes and view these changes online. Schools also can offer ELMNet to their borrowers as a means to access their latest loan-information data online. USA Funds continues as a member of ELM and ELMNet.

Meteor Project. Meteor is the result of a collaborate effort of service providers in the FFELP. It provides open, real-time access to aggregated student-loan information. Once Meteor is fully implemented, schools and borrowers will be able to view a student's complete financial-aid package in a single view. USA Funds is a sponsor and early adopter of Meteor.

National Student Clearinghouse. The National Student Clearinghouse serves as a central storage area for student-enrollment information. Students, schools and lenders use the Clearinghouse as a source to find current student-enrollment data and detailed student-loan information. The higher-education community founded the National Student Clearinghouse. USA Funds contributes data regularly to the Clearinghouse.

CommonLine, Common Record, CAM and XML. USA Funds continues to support CommonLine formats and the development of Common Record, Common Account Maintenance (CAM) and XML. The Electronic Standards Committee (ESC) of the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) sponsors the Common Standards initiatives. The objective is to develop electronic communication standards within the FFELP community. Past successes include the development of CommonLine, CAM and the Common Claim Initiative. USA Funds is represented on the ESC, and its Origination-and-Disbursement Change Transaction Advisory Team.

Mapping Your Future. The mission of Mapping Your Future is to provide students and parents detailed information about planning for college, financing higher education, entrance and exit counseling, and preparing for life after college. The award-winning Web site is sponsored by a group of guarantors, including USA Funds, that participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

A comparison matrix provides additional information about electronic loan-delivery products supported by USA Funds. More information about USA Funds' support of "openness" initiatives is available from Brian Allison, USA Funds' manager of Technology Initiatives.