NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2006 CONTACT Nora Bruce 916.526.8438 Symposium Highlights Accomplishments of EDSHARE Borrower Education Grants RANCHO CORDOVA, CA— EDFUND, the nation’s second largest provider of student loan guarantee services, recently hosted the third annual EDSHARE Symposium. The two-day event offered participating schools an opportunity to share their accomplishments as recipients of borrower education grants under EDFUND's EDSHARE® program. Representatives from 67 colleges and universities from throughout the United States gathered in San Diego for this year’s event. The symposium spotlighted the unique tools created by financial aid offices to build students' financial literacy and reduce student loan defaults. Through featured presentations and roundtable discussions, attendees demonstrated their programs, displayed materials and shared their success stories. EDSHARE is a competitive grant program offering colleges up to $40,000 per year — renewable for up to three years — to develop borrower education, debt management and default prevention programs. Since it began in 2002, EDSHARE has funded programs at 72 colleges, universities and vocational schools in three annual grant cycles. While renewal grants continue to be funded, EDFUND has completed the initial-grant phase of the program and is now turning to evaluation and dissemination of successful concepts. "The EDSHARE Symposium gives grantees a forum for collaborating and finding out what their colleagues are doing to benefit students," said EDFUND President Sam Kipp. "It’s exciting to see the impact of EDFUND's investment in default prevention efforts through the dynamic, successful EDSHARE projects." For more information on EDSHARE and to see a list of grant recipients, please visit www.edfund.org. From the Quick Links menu on the home page, select "EDSHARE."   ### EDFUND, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, is the nation’s second largest provider of student loan guarantee services under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. EDFUND offers students a wide range of financial aid and debt management information while supporting schools with advanced loan processing solutions and default prevention techniques. Operating as an auxiliary corporation of the California Student Aid Commission, EDFUND processes more than $7.8 billion in student loans annually (including consolidation loans) and manages a portfolio of outstanding loans valued at $26 billion. EDFUND is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California with regional offices located throughout the nation. EDFUND its associated graphic and EDSHARE are registered trademarks of EDFUND.   Legal Information | Security and Browser Information Copyright 1998-2006, EDFUND. All rights reserved.