Maintained for Historical Purposes

This resource is being maintained for historical purposes only and is not currently applicable.

(Loans) Subject: Introducing the Federal Loan School Support Team

Posted Date:July 14, 2011

Author: William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Introducing the Federal Loan School Support Team

Over the past 18 months, Federal Student Aid has been committed to assisting schools as they transitioned to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program and began processing Direct Loans through the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System. With a full year of processing now complete, we are expanding our focus to ensure that all schools receive enhanced and ongoing program support for Direct Loans and all other federally-owned loans. This includes Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program loans that have been purchased by or assigned to the Department of Education.

To effectively provide this assistance, we have created the Federal Loan School Support Team (FLSST). This dedicated team of Federal Student Aid staff will enhance the administration of federally-owned loans by providing assistance to schools and soliciting feedback about processing experiences, from origination through repayment.

The primary duties of the FLSST are as follows:

  • Provide assistance to schools in resolving complex Direct Loan processing issues.
  • Provide a direct line of communication through which schools provide feedback and discuss concerns related to the origination and disbursement processing of Direct Loans and the servicing of all federally-owned loans.
  • Solicit school input on system processing improvements, issue resolution, and training needs.

We are excited about the FLSST and the expansion of our school support services. The FLSST will augment—not replace—our established customer service call centers. Schools should continue to use the established customer service call centers to support their day-to-day operations. These include the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) School Relations Center, the Campus-Based Call Center, and our federal loan servicers. For a complete list of customer service call centers for schools and current contact information, refer to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site’s Service Centers for Schools page.

As a starting point, we have assigned a FLSST Point of Contact to each Direct Loan school. These assignments were made on the basis of school type and geographic region.

Over the next few weeks, each Direct Loan school will receive an e-mail from its FLSST Point of Contact. In this e-mail, the Point of Contact will introduce himself or herself, explain his or her role, and provide personal contact information.

If a school has questions in the meantime or does not receive an e-mail from a FLSST Point of Contact, the school should e-mail us at dlops@ed.gov. We will ensure that a FLSST Point of Contact is assigned and provides assistance to the school.

Again, we are excited about the expanded support we will provide to schools through the newly-formed FLSST. We look forward to our ongoing collaboration in serving the student and parent recipients of federally-owned loans.