When Kimberly Marlow, financial-aid counselor for the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law, nominated service coordinator Trish Smith for a USA Funds^® “There for You” award, Marlow says she did so “with 24 stars.”

“She’s my savior,” Marlow says of Smith. “I don’t know where I’d be without her.”

Marlow is a one-person financial-aid office serving 450 students at the Tucson, Ariz., school, so she says any help she receives is invaluable. She says Smith, who works on behalf of USA Funds, “goes one step beyond” to be there for Marlow whenever needed.

“You are an extreme pleasure to work with,” Marlow wrote in an e-mail to Smith, which Marlow submitted with her nomination. “On many days you are that guardian angel needed by both myself and the students.”

Marlow cites as an example of Smith’s outstanding work the service coordinator’s efforts to clear up confusion about Grad PLUS loans for the law school’s students. At the start of last school year and this year, Smith personally contacted students — sometimes by phone — to help resolve the issue.

“And she did it with a smile,” Marlow says. “The students were so thankful.”

For her excellent customer service, Smith recently received the USA Funds “There for You” award. If you have received superior customer service from USA Funds, you can nominate the employee who delivered the service to receive recognition for being “There for You.”