Bulletin ID
DLB - 95 - 11
| PublicationDate: 6/1/95 BulletinID: DLB - 95 - 11 June 1995 DLB-11 SUMMARY: Account Management Staff to Assist in Direct Loan Customer Service Dear Colleague: We are now ending the first year of implementation of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, and we are proud and happy to tell you that it has been a very successful effort. In fact, in a recent independent study of our year one schools, the Department of Education's approval rating was outstanding. Nearly 57 percent of the 104 schools polled gave us the top rating on a 5-point scale and 92 percent gave us a rating of 4 or better. To a significant degree, we attribute that level of satisfaction to our unswerving commitment to customer service. The Direct Loan Task Force was responsible for coordinating operations, training, and technical assistance to participating schools during the first year. However, the Task Force will not be able to continue to ensure that same level of support and assistance with the significant expansion of Direct Loans for year two. Therefore, the Department has expanded its customer support and technical assistance capability through the establishment of the Federal Direct Loan Account Management Staff, which will be located in each of our regional offices. The primary mission of the Account Management Staff is to assist institutions in the successful implementation and operation of the Direct Loan Program by providing exceptional customer service and the highest level of technical assistance to participating schools. The Account Management Staff, in conjunction with the Task Force, the Direct Loan Servicing Center, the CPS (Central Processing System) Customer Service staff, the General Electronic Support (GES) Customer Service staff, and the Public Inquiry Contractor provides the Department with the resources it needs to ensure that every participating school is successful in implementing the Direct Loan Program on its campus. The Account Management Staff will be located in each of the Department's ten regional offices and in Washington, D.C. For your information, I have enclosed a listing of each of the Account Management Teams with their addresses, and telephone and FAX numbers. Your Account Manager will be contacting your school to offer whatever assistance he or she can to help you in your implementation activities. I have also enclosed a listing of important telephone numbers to remember for assistance on a variety of issues, questions, or problems you might have. If you have a question or wish to discuss an issue not clearly identified on this listing, please feel free to call your Account Manager for assistance. Similarly, if you have talked to one or more of these offices and feel that additional assistance is needed, your Account Manager will be able to help you. To further assist you and in response to many requests we have had to make training more accessible, the Department is establishing 11 state-of-the-art Direct Loan training centers that will be managed by the Account Management staff. These new training facilities will be located in each of our regional offices and Washington, D.C., and they will allow us to provide more flexible and responsive training to Direct Loan schools. I am very pleased that we are able to continue to offer you and other Direct Loan schools the same level of customer service and technical assistance as was available to our year one schools. The establishment of our new Account Management staff will allow us to meet the needs of our expanded Direct Loan population. I know these individuals will be of invaluable assistance to you, and they look forward to serving you. Thank you for your continuing support of the Direct Loan Program. Leo Kornfeld Senior Advisor to the Secretary Enclosures cc: Chief Fiscal Officers Financial Aid Directors |