Scarcely a day passes without a story in the news about the impact of legislation and the credit crisis on the participation of lenders in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and on student borrowers' access to federal loans. It is little wonder that some institutions have become anxious about the future availability of loans for their students.

Early this year, as indications of potential interruptions of FFELP loan availability began to surface, EDFUND started a Lender of Last Resort (LLR) enhancement project, aimed at providing much higher volume LLR possibilities should it become necessary.

Be assured that EDFUND, a nationwide guarantor of federal student loans, remains a strong participant in the FFEL Program. We are committed to continuing to provide quality services to students and colleges and helping all eligible borrowers secure the loans they need to make access to postsecondary education a reality. EDFUND is actively working with the Department of Education to implement a robust Federal LLR program for eligible borrowers.

Implementation of EDFUND's LLR program should involve little or no change to EDFUND's current school-initiated, guarantor-flow loan application process. Your staff and students retain all the services you've come to expect from EDFUND including access to our publications and online tools that ensure students understand the obligations and responsibilities associated with borrowing.

Our client relations managers will continue to work directly with financial aid staff to support the implementation of LLR, should an institution need such a program. We are confident that our LLR program will address the availability of federal loans for all students and demonstrate that the FFEL program, with its flexibility and service benefits, remains the right choice for your institution's financial aid programs.

As the community works together to define the details of an enhanced FFEL LLR program, we are committed to providing timely information to our valued customers and partners.

If you have any questions in the meantime about LLR or other concerns, contact your local EDFUND client relations manager.

EDFUND remains a strong and reliable partner in your efforts to ensure a financially successful educational experience for your students.

Lower CDR's with Timely Information and Proactive Outreach 

This serves as annual notification to schools of their option to make a blanket request to EDFUND for notification when any of their current or former students are the subject of a default aversion assistance request.

In an effort to maintain security of borrower information, we encourage schools to request electronic receipt of the Default Management Report (DMR) through EDFUND's File Transfer and Correspondence Exchange Station or through the Cohort Management System (CMS).

CMS is a powerful online tracking system to help schools manage borrower contact during grace, repayment, and delinquency periods. With built-in logic that identifies borrowers who will have the most immediate impact on your cohort default rate, CMS helps you focus on resolving delinquencies by:

• prioritizing borrower contacts according to days delinquent;
• organizing activities by recommending daily tasks;
• producing a list of follow-up activities customized to your specifications;
• showing all prior activities recorded in CMS, with steps you have already taken and who you have previously called; and
• providing a “notes” tab to include more information about borrower conversations, borrower information or anything you choose.

For more information on EDFUND's CMS or the File Transfer and Correspondence Exchange Station, please contact your client relations manager.

Getting the Most from Your Training

EDFUND offers a vast array of training topics to choose from in both webinar and national in-person workshops through the EDFUND Institute. See what's new and available now!

Webinars: Make it an Event!

Webinar training doesn't have to be limited to just you and your computer. With some pre-planning, you can involve other staff in the financial aid office and even staff from other departments. It's not as hard as you might think to plan a meeting event in which Web training will be the main attraction. All you have to do is go back to the basics.

Planning a great meeting event takes organization and creativity. Involve others in the process to make a memorable cross-training experience that fosters new relationships between staff and lays the foundation for future collaborative projects. Here's some help for creating a meeting planning checklist, courtesy of the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare:

What is your objective? What should be achieved by the end of the meeting?

• Consider your limitations, deadlines, constraints and available resources that affect your meeting.
• Who is expected to be involved? Who needs information? Who can contribute? Who would provide support?
• What topics/issues should be covered on your agenda? What will be the start and end times? Location date and time?
• Will there be pre-work to send out?

EDFUND webinars are one hour in length. You can plan a post-webinar discussion with those you have invited to the event. And you should always plan to provide a short evaluation at the end. Some questions to ask your participants could include:

• How was the training today?
• Did the purpose of the training match the outcome?
• What did you like? What did you dislike?
• Should we create any follow up or a list of items as a result of what we learned?

Formulate questions that will be useful in making improvements to your next event. And feel free to share those comments with us. Your comments allow us to evaluate whether our training is meeting your needs.

Financial Aid Guidance Review?

EDFUND's Government Relations staff has updated a document summarizing the latest communications to federal student aid administrators from ED.

A Guidance Review — View a listing of the Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs) and Electronic Announcements for April 2008.

College Navigator Now Available in Spanish

College Navigator is a free consumer information tool designed to help students, parents, high school counselors, and others get information about nearly 7,000 postsecondary institutions in the United States.

It provides a wide range of information—such as programs offered, retention and graduation rates, prices, aid available, degrees awarded, campus safety, athletics, and accreditation—in a user-friendly tool, which is now available in Spanish.