Electronic Loan Debt Summary Puts Students on the Right Path

Making sure that students understand how much they have borrowed and whom they borrowed from can be the first step on the path to successful repayment. Many schools like to provide their borrowers with an annual borrowing check-up, so they can actively monitor their student loan information as they go. This also reduces the number of borrowers who are surprised by how much they borrowed at the end of their education.

Schools are providing this information using EDFUND's Electronic Student Loan Debt Summary. This online tool informs borrowers of their aggregate student loan indebtedness while they're still in school. Designed to help students plan for future borrowing needs, the summary lists federal Stafford, Direct, Perkins, Graduate/Professional PLUS and Consolidation loans verified through the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

While the statement does not include Parent PLUS, institutional or private loans, the borrower can add these additional loans to create a more accurate picture of debt. After saving the information, the borrower is taken back to the summary where the additional loans can be added to the balance and a new monthly payment amount and repayment schedule are calculated.

Help your students stay on top of their student loan debt by providing them access to their aggregate student loan indebtedness. If your students have at least one loan with EDFUND, then the Electronic Student Loan Debt Summary may be just the answer you've been looking for. Starting repayment on the right path can make all the difference on the long road to financial freedom for borrowers.

Contact your EDFUND client relations manager today for more information.

EDFUND's Electronic Student Loan Debt Summary

U.S.E.D Offers Electronic Cohort Default Rate Appeals Process Training for Schools

Federal Student Aid offers an electronic Cohort Default Rate Appeals process (eCDR Appeals) online training session specifically for schools. This instructor-led online training session will provide a demonstration of how a school user completes the registration process for the eCDR Appeals system and will demonstrate how a school user prepares an incorrect data challenge (IDC) and how a data manager user responds to an IDC through the eCDR Appeals system.

EDFUND's Lenders Profile Increasingly Popular

Over the past few months, the number of schools accessing the EDFUND Lender Profile to obtain information about FFEL Program lenders has increased significantly. The profile's burgeoning popularity makes it even more important that lender's information accurately represent your organization.

EDFUND is happy to work with you to keep your profile current. We invite you to contact our Lender Services Unit at 916.526.7321 or e-mail LenderServices@edfund.org to make any necessary changes. View your profile below to ensure the accuracy of the data.

EDFUND Lender Profile

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!

Have you ever sat through a workshop and had a burning question to ask? More often than not, there are other attendees that have the same question.

EDFUND encourages you to interact during your training, and asking questions is a great way to do this and greatly enhances the overall effectiveness of the session for both participants and trainer.

Remember that:

• The questioner may receive clarification on a particular point and benefit from the rest of the lesson, where he or she might otherwise be lost.
• The question might be of benefit to a number of other students who had not thought of it.
• The instructor will understand a lot better how his or her presentations are received. Instructors can (and should) adjust their lectures to the particular audience.
• The instructor might learn something new and look at things in a different light.
• The instructor may have made a mistake that he can now recognize and recover from. (It happens!)

Source: Do you never ask questions in class? — University of Utah

EDFUND is committed to being your first choice for all your training needs.

Our People Make the Difference

It is our pleasure to introduce you to some of the people at EDFUND who help make the difference through their commitment to helping make EDFUND the premier service provider in the student financial service industry.

Byron Blalock, EDFUND Shipping Center Even when you've got talent, skill and drive, perfection can only be achieved through practice.

For the past eight years, Byron Blalock has fine tuned his management of EDFUND's shipping center and warehouse and gotten it down to a science. With a staff of one assistant (Danny Capps) and an occasional temporary helper for busy seasons, Byron ensures the fast and accurate shipment of EDFUND's many publications to schools throughout the country.

High schools and colleges order through the ePubs system on www.edfund.org or via a phone call, and before they know it, their order has arrived — free, neatly packaged and ready for distribution to students and their families. In the meantime, those placing orders receive a confirmation e-mail and a UPS tracking number.

The 12,500 square-foot warehouse holds four-pallet high stacks of brochures, booklets and workbooks — the most popular ones being Tax Benefits Guides, Stafford and PLUS brochures and loan applications, and our number one publication: “Schools always say they love the Fund Your Future series,” says Byron. “They say it's the best thing of its kind out there.” The million plus Fund Your Future products shipped out each year attest to this.

Perhaps what's most striking about the warehouse is its cleanliness. “I've been managing warehouses for more than 20 years, and I'm a clean freak,” Byron says. “My house is spotless.” And speaking of “striking,” Byron has a passion for bowling. He recently bowled his second-ever 300 — a perfect score — at a bowling alley called Strikes in Rocklin, California. With regular league play on Friday nights, practice on Sundays and occasional competitions through the Amateur Bowlers' Tour, Byron continuously hones his bowling skills, just like his insistence on quality in the shipping center.

Despite the warehouse's floors being so clean that a speck of dirt stands out, Byron resists using the long aisles for bowling practice.

The busiest season of the year for fulfilling orders is drawing to a close this month, having begun in the fall with shipments averaging about 120 per day. Byron and his helper spend the quieter times optimizing the organization of inventory and recycling out-of-date publications. But, he says, “We're never idle. This operation is constantly growing.” The increasing volume of orders from the Midwest and East keep things challenging for the shipping center, but “it's a good challenge,” he says with a smile.

In Case of Disaster

In the wake of the devastating tornadoes last week, we remind institutions of guidance provided by the Department of Education for institutions that participate in Title IV programs and have been affected by a disaster.

The Department issued Dear Colleague Letter GEN-04-04 /FP-04-03 in 2004 to assist Title IV participants, including students, borrowers, institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies, in the event they are impacted by a federally-declared disaster.

Unless stated otherwise, this regulatory relief applies to all Title IV loan borrowers, students, and their families who, at the time of a disaster, were residing in, employed in, or attending an institution located in an area designated as a federally-declared disaster area.

In addition, it applies to institutions, lenders, and guaranty agencies if they are located in such areas.

Those designations are available by date of declaration on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Web site.

Anyone needing further general information may contact the FSA Customer Service Call Center at 1.800.433.7327.

CCRAA Overview Update

The Government Relations Unit has updated the Overview of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act document with guidance that was provided by the Department in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-08-01 /FP-08-0.

EDFUND Publications Update

EDFUND has revised and updated three of our consumer publications:

		Teacher Loan Forgiveness brochure – National (I-40.1) Now includes information on the TEACH Grant and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
		PLUS Loan brochure (I-44) and Spanish version (I-44.1) Now include language on lender choice, and are re-organized to better convey the benefits of a PLUS vs. private loan.
		Stafford brochure – Spanish Version (I-45.1) Includes information about the gradual reduction in interest rates starting July 1, 2008 as well as language on lender choice.

Add a quantity to your library of student counseling materials by ordering online.

President's Budget: FFEL Loans Less Expensive than DL

Back in December, EDFUND Link reported that the Direct Lending (DL) program is about two and half times more costly to operate than the FFEL (Federal Family Education Loan) program. This was the deduction using numbers from the Department of Education.

Now, for the first time, the President's Budget also reports that the DL program is more expensive than the FFEL program. The “total adjusted cost” for both programs, including administrative costs, for FY 2009, is 2.58 cents per dollar loaned for FFEL vs. 2.64 cents per dollar loaned for DL.

Direct Loan Program is More Than Twice as Expensive as FFELP—EDFUND Link: Volume 1, Issue 8 ~ December 14, 2007

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