USA Funds Recognizes Student Loan Debt Management Efforts of Four Schools

USA Funds Excellence in Debt Management Awards announced

INDIANAPOLIS, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- USA Funds(R), the nation's leading
education loan guarantor, has announced the recipients of its annual
excellence in debt management awards. USA Funds has selected the following
four postsecondary institutions for awards of merit based on their efforts to
help students minimize and manage their student loan debt:

Career Colleges of America -- The three campuses of this career college in
Southern California prepare students for health care and office administration
careers. The school's default prevention manager and her assistant include
information about student loan repayment in new-student orientations. As part
of the enrollment process, students are advised of their loan amounts,
repayment terms and their loan repayment responsibilities. The financial aid
staff sends monthly reminder letters -- supplemented by e-mails and phone
calls -- to former students who are behind in their loan payments. As a
result, the default rate for CCA declined to 7.3 percent for the most recent
year for which final figures are available, down from 17.6 percent in 2003.
During this same period, student completion rates for all campuses increased
between 8 percent and 10 percent.

Career Technical Institute -- This Washington, D.C., technical school prepares
students for careers in office administration, health care services and
information technology. CTI's debt management program incorporates
intermediate loan counseling with required entrance and exit counseling, life
skills training and borrower contact. The school uses USA Funds Debt
Manager(R) to send communications to its student loan borrowers. CTI sends
bimonthly student loan repayment reminders to recent graduates and withdrawn
students. Former students who are 90 days or more past due in their student
loan payments receive weekly calls and letters from the school. If borrowers
fall 200 days or more behind in their payments, CTI sends them color-coded
letters stressing the urgency of resolving their loan payment issues. Based on
a projected increase in its default rate, CTI changed the format and frequency
of its borrower communications. As a result, it has posted a draft 2007 cohort
default rate of 9.6 percent, down from a final default rate of 12.4 percent in
2006.

Hawaii Pacific University -- The largest private university in Hawaii serves a
culturally and geographically diverse student body. The director of student
loans in the university's financial aid office is largely responsible for the
school's debt management initiative. She uses USA Funds Debt Manager to send
letters and make phone calls to former students with student loan payment
problems. The university also uses USA Funds Loan Counselor(R) to advise its
student loan borrowers of their loan terms, rights and responsibilities. The
school is exploring an expanded use of USA Funds' financial literacy program,
USA Funds Life Skills(R), to help first-year students transition from high
school to college. The university's most recent final cohort default rate was
2.4 percent.

University of Hawaii at Hilo-- This campus of the state university system has
experienced a 31 percent increase in enrollment since 2001. Using financial
literacy materials from USA Funds Life Skills, members of the financial aid
staff work with faculty members to deliver workshops to freshmen on money
management, budgeting, and student loan and credit card debt. The university
provides loan counseling in a variety of formats, including Web-based, group
advising and by individual appointment, and has been updating students on
their current student loan debt levels with each new financial aid award
notice. Its exit counseling materials include a detailed summary of each
student's loans. UH Hilo also uses USA Funds Debt Manager to generate loan
payment reminder letters to former students during their student loan grace
periods and to send letters and make phone calls to borrowers with past-due
student loans. These activities have cut the university's most recent student
loan default rate to 3.2 percent, from a rate of 7.9 percent for 2001-2002.

"The debt management practices of these four institutions exemplify the best
efforts of postsecondary institutions nationwide to promote responsible
borrowing and to help former students successfully repay their student loans,"
said Denise B. Feser, USA Funds senior vice president, customer relations.

USA Funds Excellence in Debt Management Awards are presented annually to
highlight outstanding campus debt management programs and to disseminate to
other postsecondary institutions best practices in debt management and student
loan default prevention.

USA Funds staff and representatives of schools that received debt management
excellence awards in 2008 selected this year's recipients.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Funds is a nonprofit corporation that works
to enhance postsecondary education preparedness, access and success by
providing and supporting financial and other valued services. For more
information about USA Funds, visit www.usafunds.org.

SOURCE USA Funds

Robert P. Murray, Vice President, Corporate Communications of USA Funds,
+1-317-806-1283, bob.murray@usafunds.org