Student Aid: Management, Certification and Recommendations

The Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) is a Principal Office of the Department of Education (Education) and is tasked with ensuring that all eligible students enrolled in postsecondary educational schools benefit from federal financial assistance for education and training The objectives of chapter 1 are to: describe how FSA and schools use information they collect to manage the federal student aid program, determine the extent to which FSA policies and procedures for managing and protecting this information align with federal requirements, describe the extent to which schools have established policies and procedures for managing student aid information, and determine the extent to which FSA ensures that schools protect this information. Chapter 2 examines how Education certifies schools to administer federal student aid and how frequently schools are approved and denied certification; and the role of compliance audits in the certification process and what, if any, steps Education has taken to address the quality of the audit information. Chapter 3 describes the need analysis formulas used to calculate the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for federal student aid applicants. The Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) partners with various entities ('non-school partners') that are involved primarily in supporting the repayment and collection of student loans The objectives of chapter 4 are to describe the roles of non-school partners and the types of personally identifiable information (PII) shared with them and assess the extent to which FSA policies and procedures for overseeing the non-school partners' protection of student aid data adhere to federal requirements, guidance, and best practices. Chapter 5 examines how schools work with borrowers to manage schools' cohort default rates, and how these strategies affect borrowers and schools' accountability for defaults, and the extent to which Education oversees the strategies schools and their default management consultants use to manage schools' cohort default rates and informs the public about its efforts to hold schools accountable. Chapter 6 examines the status of Education's efforts to implement prior recommendations for improving oversight of federal student loan servicers. Year after year, more student loan dollars are disbursed than are repaid, resulting in an expanding federal loan portfolio as described in chapter 7.