| AwardYear: 1998-1999 ChapterNumber: ChapterTitle: Overview PageNumbers: 1-4 rview-1 This School Guide gives you simple answers to your questions about how to administer the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loans) and describes how to access the additional resources available to you. It is organized into chapters that address aspects of the Direct Loan Program affecting school functions. Some chapters deal with more than one function, as some tasks are interrelated. Chapter 1: Direct Loan Participation describes general participation and origination criteria. Chapter 2: Electronic Resources describes the electronic support the Department provides, including information on Electronic Data Exchange (EDE), EDExpress, and the Direct Loan component of EDExpress (Direct Loan software.) Reference telephone numbers are provided. Chapter 3: Education Department Resources for Schools and Students on the World Wide Web describes the information available to schools and students via the Departments Direct Loan web site. Chapter 4: Information and Counseling for Borrowers provides information and guidance to assist you in disseminating information to Direct Loan borrowers and other students interested in attending your school. Chapter 5: Establishing Student Eligibility provides information on the student application process, determination of loan amounts, and loan monitoring. Chapter 6: Origination Records and Promissory Notes explains the process for creating these loan records and documents, and transmitting them to the Direct Loan Origination Center (LOC) for action. Chapter 7: Receiving and Disbursing Funds describes the procedures for making Direct Loan fund requests, disbursing funds and reporting disbursements. Chapter 8: Reconciliation discusses the process of accounting for Direct Loan funds between the school and the Loan Origination Center. Chapter 9: Certifying Borrower Enrollment briefly discusses the Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR) process. Chapter 10: Direct Loan Servicing Center Response and Support covers issues related to servicing and problem resolution. Chapter 11: Quality Assurance provides basic information about the Direct Loan Quality Assurance Program. Each chapter begins with a list of essential questions related to the chapters contents. These are questions you and your colleagues may have asked about the Direct Loan Program. Answers to the questions are provided throughout the narrative. Charts are included to help you visualize procedures and choose the best option for implementing a simple process and a flexible system for your borrowers and school. Records Management principles have been incorporated throughout the School Guide where appropriate, rather than designating a specific chapter on this topic. A body of reference information is incorporated as appendices at the end of the School Guide. This information includes a sample list of Direct Loan regulatory citations and Department publications. The School Guide also contains the following: * telephone numbers for the Department and its contractors including the Direct Loan Task Force, the Regional Direct Loan Client Account Management staffs, the Direct Loan Origination Center, the Central Processing System, and Title IV Wide Area Network, and the Direct Loan Servicing Center. * samples of school and borrower forms such as promissory notes, borrowers rights and responsibilities information, and promissory note manifests * samples of Servicing Center communications to borrowers * samples of Loan Origination Center communications to schools * Web site information Program Description Direct lending includes the concepts of direct financing, direct delivery, and direct communications. The federal government, rather than financial institutions, provides the loan capital for Direct Loans. Participating schools, acting on behalf of the government, deliver loan funds to student and parent borrowers. Schools do not service or collect Direct Loan repayments; the Direct Loan Servicing Center handles these functions. School Functions Participating schools perform a variety of functions under the Direct Loan Program: * determining borrower eligibility and loan amounts * creating loan origination records * providing required entrance counseling to first-time borrowers * obtaining signed promissory notes from borrowers (Option 1 and 2 schools only) * sending loan origination records to the Loan Origination Center * sending signed promissory notes to the Loan Origination Center (Option 1 and 2 schools only) * requesting Direct Loan funds (Option 2 schools only) * receiving Direct Loan funds from ED * certifying borrowers enrollment status * disbursing loans to eligible borrowers * reporting disbursements to the Loan Origination Center * reconciling the Direct Loan School Account Statement (DLSAS) to internal records on a monthly basis * returning unused funds * providing required exit counseling to borrowers * implementing a quality assurance program, as required by ED Many of these tasks should be familiar to you because they are required for other Title IV Student Financial Aid Programs such as the Federal Family Education Loan [FFEL] Program. The School Guide includes practical information for handling these functions. |