Terms to Know

TRIO: TRIO programs were established by Congress to help students overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to higher education. Nationally, more than 323,541 students are enrolled in over 360 Talent Search TRIO programs. 

VFA: Voluntary Flexible Agreement. An agreement ASA entered into with the Department of Education that bases our revenues on a system of “pay-for-performance” weighted toward the results of our delinquency and default prevention activities. This agreement provides ASA with a financial incentive to prevent students from defaulting on loans and to instead borrow successfully and while maintaining good credit. In contrast, other guarantors have a financial incentive to aggressively collect defaulted loans.

Wellness: Inspiring long-term financial success and good credit standing in borrowers.

Administering loans and providing comprehensive financial aid information in the District of Columbia

ASA is the designated administrator of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) for the District of Columbia. Under the FFELP guidelines, every state must be represented by an agency that will guarantee student loan funds on behalf of the federal government. While ASA guarantees and administers FFELP loans, it is also responsible in this role for providing comprehensive information on access to college, financial aid, and related outreach resources within its designated areas.

ASA works under a Voluntary Flexible Agreement (VFA) (see Terms to Know at right) with the Department of Education (ED) and is one of only five administrators across the U.S. who has entered into such an agreement with ED. This special relationship distinguishes ASA among guarantors for its dedication to putting students and families first. Other guarantors have a financial incentive to function as little more than debt collectors, but through the VFA, American Student Assistance’s business model matches its ideological commitment to preventing default, protecting students’ credit, and helping families borrow for education with great success.

In our unique position as the designated FFELP administrator for the District of Columbia, and driven by our public-service mission to provide student loan borrowers with the education and encouragement they need to successfully manage their debt, ASA cooperates closely with many other non-profit agencies to promote financial responsibility through education and community outreach.

In the D.C. area, ASA collaborates with the non-profit organization Reach4Succes to arm students and families, including adult learners, high school and middle school students, and parents of college-bound children, with the information that will lead to their success in college and beyond.

Reach4Success

Reach4Success is a college access organization dedicated to the mission of bringing higher education into the lives of potential students of all ages. It offers students and families considering college and trade school a range of advising services, pre-encouragement programs, and outreach activities to promote the concept of education as a path to future achievement.

With a wide audience to serve, Reach4Success supplies an array of programs and resources. Its College Info Center supports low-income students of all ages who are interested in continuing their education. On a walk-in basis, they may seek help with choosing careers and schools as well as with filling out college, financial aid, and scholarship forms.

Get Financially Fit for College, a workshop series, helps low-income parents of children as young as middle school prepare for college by teaching them basic financial literacy skills and providing college planning support. The Learn2Earn program supports adults who are returning to school or pursuing higher education for the first time by providing college and career counseling, workshops, and information and by matching students to D.C.-area schools. Educational Talent Search is a federally funded TRIO program (see Terms to Know at right) that helps students stay in school, graduate from high school, and continue their educations. Talent Search provides tutoring, mentoring, and learning opportunities outside the classroom.

ASA and Reach4Success also offer a joint initiative called the Financial Aid Roadmap program (formerly known as the Financial Aid Life Cycle Initiative). The goal of Financial Aid Roadmap is to target students with the right financial information at the right time. Financial Aid Roadmap workshops tackle different issues for parents of students at different ages. For example, parents of early middle school students may learn how to introduce saving for college into their household budgets, while parents of high school seniors may be introduced to such important information as how loans and scholarships work, and how students can avoid misusing credit cards.

A particularly effective aspect of the Financial Aid Roadmap program is its focus on training “financial aid coaches” within the community, such as teachers, guidance counselors, and mentors, to conduct the workshops and pass on the principles of fiscal responsibility. For instance, a series of workshops target high school guidance counselors, who interact with students at a crucial point in their college preparation, and arm them with the financial awareness messages their students need to hear.

These respected figures have access to students and parents in their daily lives, communicate to them effectively, and successfully spread the message of financial Wellness (see Terms to Know at right). ASA is proud to enable this remarkable initiative and to support the work of Reach4Success.

 

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