INDIANAPOLIS (January 29, 2008) — USA Funds® the nation’s leading education loan guarantor, has issued its annual report, “Getting Results for Students,” which highlights the services it delivers to students and former students of colleges, universities and private career colleges. The report focuses on six current and former students and how they have benefited from the following services that USA Funds supports:
Financial access to higher education. A graduate student at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., relies on a USA Funds Access to Education Scholarship and USA Funds-guaranteed student loans to help fund his studies. The student also runs a successful film production company and teaches filmmaking. The USA Funds guarantee supported more than billion to help families nationwide pay higher education expenses last year. USA Funds also awarded or supported more than .9 million in scholarships for higher education during 2007.
Student loan default prevention. A former student from St. Louis, who had difficulty making her student loan payments, received guidance from default prevention staff supported by USA Funds.
Based on this guidance, the student loan borrower was able to obtain a forbearance to temporarily delay her loan payments and subsequently consolidated her loans to reduce her monthly payments. As a result, she has been current on her student loan payments for more than a year. USA Funds’ default prevention efforts averted more than .7 billion in potential student loan defaults last year.
Counseling for student loan borrowers. A student at Prairie View A&M, a Historically Black College and University in Texas, has confidence that she can successfully manage her student loans, based on her use of USA Funds’ new online borrower counseling programs. USA Funds Loan Counselor® entrance and exit counseling helps students understand their rights and responsibilities and equips them to take control of their student loans. More than 125 schools nationwide are using USA Funds’ borrower counseling programs.
Financial literacy. A pharmacy student at Midwestern University in Glendale, Ariz., changed some of her spending and saving habits after studying components of USA Funds Life Skills®, a financial literacy program for college students. More than 500 postsecondary institutions have implemented USA Funds Life Skills.
College preparation. A freshman at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., benefited from the USA Funds-supported Learning Communities initiative when she attended Sunnyside High School in Tucson. As a result of the program, she qualified for a scholarship for college and also received support to complete her high school studies and pursue higher education. The Learning Communities initiative targets the resources of a coalition of national organizations to six predominantly low-income communities with the aim of enhancing high school completion and college-going rates.
College planning. A graduate of Edgewood High School in Merritt Island, Fla., received advice that shaped her college plans from an online resource that USA Funds is helping to integrate in the high school counseling process. As a result, the student and her family had a backup plan when she was not accepted to the postsecondary program that was her first choice.
Loans News