Department of Education

STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Request

CONTENTS

Page

Appropriations Language ........................................................................................................ Z-1

Analysis of Language Provisions and Changes....................................................................... Z-3

Amounts Available for Obligation ............................................................................................ Z-6

Obligations by Object Classification ........................................................................................ Z-7

Summary of Changes ............................................................................................................. Z-8

Authorizing Legislation............................................................................................................ Z-9

Appropriations History........................................................................................................... Z-10

Significant Items in FY 2020 Appropriations Reports............................................................. Z-11

Summary of Request ............................................................................................................ Z-13

Activity: 

Student Aid Administration ........................................................................................... Z-14

STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-1 

Appropriation s Langu ag e For Federal administrative expenses to carry out part D of title I, and subparts 1[3,] and

9[, and 10] of part A, and parts B, C, D, and E of title IV of the HEA, and subpart 1 of part A of 

title VII of the Public Health Service Act 1 [$1,768,943,000] $1,883,309,000, to remain available 

through September 30,[2021 2 :Provided, That the Secretary shall allocate new student loan 

borrower accounts to eligible student loan servicers on the basis of their performance compared 

to all loan servicers utilizing established common metrics, and on the basis of the capacity of 

each servicer to process new and existing accounts: 3 Provided further, That for student loan 

contracts awarded prior to October 1, 2017, the Secretary shall allow student loan borrowers 

who are consolidating Federal student loans to select from any student loan servicer to service 

their new consolidated student loan: 4 Provided further, That in order to promote accountability 

and high-quality service to borrowers, the Secretary shall not award funding for any contract 

solicitation for a new Federal student loan servicing environment, including the solicitation for 

the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment, unless 

such an environment provides for the participation of multiple student loan servicers that 

contract directly with the Department of Education to manage a unique portfolio of borrower

accounts and the full life-cycle of loans from disbursement to pay-off with certain limited 

exceptions, and allocates student loan borrower accounts to eligible student loan servicers 

based on performance: 5 Provided further, That the Department shall re-allocate accounts from 

servicers for recurring non-compliance with FSA guidelines, contractual requirements, and 

applicable laws, including for failure to sufficiently inform borrowers of available repayment 

options: 6 Provided further, That such servicers shall be evaluated based on their ability to meet 

contract requirements (including an understanding of Federal and State law), future 

performance on the contracts, and history of compliance with applicable consumer protections 

laws: 7 Provided further, That to the extent (FSA) permits student loan servicing subcontracting, 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-2 

FSA shall hold prime contractors accountable for meeting the requirements of the contract, and

the performance and expectations of subcontractors shall be accounted for in the prime contract 

and in the overall performance of the prime contractor: 8 Provided further, That FSA shall ensure 

that the Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment, or any new Federal loan 

servicing environment, incentivize more support to borrowers at risk of delinquency or default. : 9

Provided further, That FSA shall ensure that in such environment contractors have the capacity 

to meet and are held accountable for performance on service levels; are held accountable for 

and have a history of compliance with applicable consumer protection laws; and have a relevant 

experience and demonstrate effectiveness: 10 Provided further, That the Secretary shall provide 

quarterly briefings to the Committees on Appropriations and Education and Labor of the House 

of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations and Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions of the Senate on general progress related to solicitations for Federal student loan 

servicing contracts.11 Provided further, That FSA shall strengthen transparency through 

expanded publication of aggregate data on student loan and servicer performance] 12 2022. 

(Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2020.)

NOTE

Each language provision that is followed by a footnote reference is explained in the Analysis of Language 

Provisions and Changes document which follows the appropriation language
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-3 

Analysis of Language Provisions and Changes

Language Provision Explanation

1 ... part D of title I, and subparts 1 [,3] and 9 [, 

and 10] 

The fiscal year 2021 request proposes to 

move the Iraq and Afghanistan Service 

Grants program to the Pell Grant program. 

SEOG is proposed to be eliminated.

2 to remain available through September 30, 

[2021] 2022 

This language provides for appropriated funds 

to remain available for 2 years.

3 ... [:Provided, That the Secretary shall 

allocate new student loan borrower accounts 

to eligible student loan servicers on the basis 

of their performance compared to all loan 

servicers utilizing established common 

metrics, and on the basis of the capacity of 

each servicer to process new and existing 

accounts] 

This language would require the Secretary to 

allocate new student loan accounts to student 

loan servicers based on performance. This 

language is eliminated because this 

requirement will be incorporated into contracts 

awarded in 2020 under the Next Gen FSA 

Initiative. With Next Gen FSA, Federal 

Student Aid will become the single point of 

contact for multiple contracts that will be 

awarded to Business Process Operations 

(BPO) vendors to perform customer-facing 

call center and back office services. These 

BPO contracts will incorporate the

requirement for performance-based 

allocations across multiple vendors. 

4 ... [Provided further, That for student loan 

contracts awarded prior to October 1, 2017, 

the Secretary shall allow student loan 

borrowers who are consolidating Federal 

student loans to select from any student loan 

servicer to service their new consolidated 

student loan] 

This language would allow consolidated 

student loan borrowers to select from any 

student loan servicer. This language is 

eliminated because as a result of new 

procurements, Federal Student Aid will be the 

sole consolidator of loans upon contract 

award.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-4 

Language Provision Explanation

5 ... [Provided further, That in order to promote 

accountability and high-quality service to 

borrowers, the Secretary shall not award 

funding for any contract solicitation for a new 

Federal student loan servicing environment, 

including the solicitation for the Federal 

Student Aid (FSA) Next Generation 

Processing and Servicing Environment, 

unless such an environment provides for the 

participation of multiple student loan servicers 

that contract directly with the Department of 

Education to manage a unique portfolio of 

borrower accounts and the full life-cycle of 

loans from disbursement to pay-off with 

certain limited exceptions, and allocates 

student loan borrower accounts to eligible 

student loan servicers based on 

performance:]

This language is eliminated because this 

requirement will be incorporated into contracts 

awarded in 2020 under the Next Gen FSA 

initiative. With Next Gen FSA, Federal 

Student Aid will become the single point of 

contact for multiple contracts that will be 

awarded to Business Process Operations 

(BPO) vendors to perform customer-facing 

call center and back office services. These 

BPO contracts will incorporate the 

requirement for performance-based 

allocations across multiple vendors.

6 ... [Provided further, That the Department 

shall re-allocate accounts from servicers for 

recurring non-compliance with FSA 

guidelines, contractual requirements, and 

applicable laws, including for failure to 

sufficiently inform borrowers of available 

repayment options:

This language would require the Secretary to 

reallocate accounts from servicers with 

recurring compliance issues. This language 

is eliminated because Federal Student Aid will 

incorporate this requirement into new 

contracts under Next Gen FSA prior to the 

end of fiscal year 2020. 

7 ... [Provided further, That such servicers 

shall be evaluated based on their ability to 

meet contract requirements (including an 

understanding of Federal and State law), 

future performance on the contracts, and 

history of compliance with applicable 

consumer protections laws:]

This language would require the Secretary to 

evaluate servicers based on history of 

compliance and ability to comply with contract 

requirements. This language is eliminated 

because Federal Student Aid will incorporate 

this requirement into new contracts under 

Next Gen FSA prior to the end of fiscal year 

2020.

8

 ... [Provided further, That to the extent (FSA) 

permits student loan servicing subcontracting, 

FSA shall hold prime contractors accountable 

for meeting the requirements of the contract, 

and the performance and expectations of 

subcontractors shall be accounted for in the 

prime contract and in the overall performance 

of the prime contractor.]

This language would allow FSA to permit 

student loan servicing subcontracting but hold 

the prime contractors accountable for 

subcontractors’ performance. This language 

is eliminated because Federal Student Aid 

expects to award contracts incorporating this 

requirement prior to the end of fiscal year 

2020.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-5 

Language Provision Explanation

9 ... [Provided further, That FSA shall ensure 

that the Next Generation Processing and 

Servicing Environment, or any new Federal 

loan servicing environment, incentivize more 

support to borrowers at risk of delinquency or 

default..]

This language would require FSA to ensure 

that Next Gen contracts provide for increased 

support to distressed borrowers. This 

language is eliminated because Federal

Student Aid expects to award contracts 

incorporating this requirement prior to the end 

of fiscal year 2020. 

10 ... [Provided further, That FSA shall ensure 

that in such environment contractors have the 

capacity to meet and are held accountable for 

performance on service levels; are held 

accountable for and have a history of 

compliance with applicable consumer 

protection laws; and have a relevant 

experience and demonstrate effectiveness.]

This language would require FSA to establish 

and ensure a variety of requirements for Next 

Gen FSA contractors. This language is 

eliminated because Federal Student Aid 

expects to award contracts incorporating 

these requirements prior to the end of fiscal 

year 2020. 

11 ... [Provided further, That the Secretary 

shall provide quarterly briefings to the 

Committees on Appropriations and Education 

and Labor of the House of Representatives 

and the Committees on Appropriations and 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 

Senate on general progress related to 

solicitations for Federal student loan servicing 

contracts.]

This language would require the Secretary to 

provide quarterly briefings on the progress of 

Federal student loan servicing solicitations. 

This language is eliminated because Federal 

Student Aid expects to conclude these 

solicitations prior to the end of fiscal year 

2020. 

12 ... [Provided further, That FSA shall 

strengthen transparency through expanded 

publication of aggregate data on student loan 

and servicer performance.]

This language is removed because FSA plans 

to expand and modernize the FSA Data 

Center and continue to augment its data 

warehouse with new data sets as necessary 

to facilitate these efforts. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-6 

Amounts Available for Obligation

(dollars in thousands)

Appropriation and Adjustments 2019 2020 2021

Discretionary appropriation:

Discretionary – Appropriation ......................................... $1,678,943 $1,768,943 $1,883,309

Unobligated balance, start of year................ 151 0 0

Recovery of prior-year obligations................ 16,636 0 0

Unobligated balance expiring....................... 16,782 0 0

Unobligated balance, end of year................. 9,151 0 0

Subtotal, adjusted discretionary 

appropriation .................................... 1,721,390 1,768,943 1,883,309
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-7 

Obligations by Object Classification

(dollars in thousands)

Objec

t 

Class 

# Object Class

2019 

Actual

2020

Appropriation 

2021 

Request

Change 

from 2020 

to 2021

11.10 Full-time permanent $159,958 $178,430 $192,077 $13,647

11.31 Full-time temporary 437 0 0 0

11.32 Part-time 747 0 0 0

11.33 Consultants 84 0 0 0

11.51 Overtime 298 75 351 276

11.52 Awards 2,845 2,818 3,628 810

11.80 Other Compensation 137 0 0 0

Subtotal, Personnel Comp. 164,506 181,323 196,056 14,733

12.00 Benefits

 

52,013 56,804 63,366 6,562

13.10 Benefits for Former Personnel 36 241 241 0

Subtotal, Per. Comp & Ben. 216,555 238,368 259,663 21,295

21.00 Travel 2,045 2,902 3,169 267

22.00 Transportation of things 22 0 0 0

23.10 Rental payments to GSA 20,476 19,500 19,500 0

23.31 Communications 0 0 0 0

23.32 Postage/fees 22 33 33 0

Subtotal, 23 20,498 19,533 19,533 0 

24.00 Printing and reproduction 71 0 0 0

25.10 Advisory and assistance services 2,211 2,203 2,317 114

25.21 Other services 903,870 993,103 949,713 -43,390

25.22 Training/Tuition/Contracts 1,008 2,331 3,288 957

25.30 Goods/Services from Gov’t 42,218 41,815 37,148 -4,667

25.40 Operations/Maint of Facilities 0 0 0 0

25.71 Operations/Maint of Equipment 1 28 28 0

25.72 IT Services/Contracts 485,967 468,228 607,939 139,711

Subtotal, 25 1,435,275 1,507,708 1,600,433 92,725

26.00 Supplies 201 276 348 72

31.10 IT Equipment/Software 192 156 163 7

31.30 Other Equipment 0 0 0 0

Subtotal, 31 192 156 163 7 

32.00 Building Alterations 1,275 0 0 0

43.10 Prompt payment interest 9 0 0 0

 Total, Obligations 1,676,143 1,768,943 1,883,309 114,366
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-8 

Summary of Changes

(dollars in thousands)

2020 ............................................................................................... $1,768,943

2021 ................................................................................................ 1,883,309

Net change............................................................... +114,366

Increases:

2020

Appropriation 

Change 

from Base

Built-in: 

Increase in Personnel Compensation and Benefits $238,368 +$21,295

Program:

Increase in travel 2,902 +267

Increase in advisory and assistance services 2,203 +114

Increase in Training/Tuition/Contracts 2,331 +957

Increase in contracted IT services primarily for Next Gen 

Legacy Core Processing 468,228 +139,711

Increase in supplies 276 +72

Increase in IT equipment/software 156 +7

Subtotal, increases +162,423

Decreases:

Program: 

Decrease in other services primarily due to transitioning to the 

Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment 993,103 -43,390

Decrease in goods and services from the Government 41,815 -4,667

Subtotal, decreases -48,057

Net Change +114,366
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-9 

Z-9 

Authorizing Legislation

(dollars in thousands)

Activity

2020

Authorized

2020

Appropriation

2021

Authorized

2021

Request

Student aid administration (Higher Education Act 

of 1965, I-D) 01 $1,768,943 To be determined2 $1,883,309

Total appropriation 1,768,943 1,883,309

Portion of request not authorized 1,883,309

1 The program was authorized in 2020 through appropriation language.

2 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2015; reauthorizing legislation is sought for fiscal year 2021. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-10

Appropriations History

(dollars in thousands)

Year

Budget 

Estimate 

to Congress 

House 

Allowance Foot

note

Senate 

Allowance Foot

note AppropriationFootnote

2012 $1,095,418 $992,0121 $1,045,3631 $1,043,387

2013 1,126,363 1,043,3872 1,126,3632 978,9243

2014 1,050,0914 N/A5 1,044,301 1,166,0006

2015 1,446,9247 N/A5 1,446,924 8 1,396,924

2016 1,581,8547 1,446,9249 1,361,700 1,551,854

2017 1,631,990 1,551,85410 1,546,85410 1,576,85410

2018 1,697,71111 1,697,71111 1,576,85411 1,678,94311

2019 1,772,000 1,678,94312 1,678,943

12

12 1,678,943

12

2020 1,812,000 1,678,94313 1,778,94313 1,768,94313

2021 1,883,309

1 The level for the House allowance reflects an introduced bill; the level for the Senate allowance reflects Senate 

Committee action only.

2 The levels for the House and Senate allowance reflect action on the regular annual 2013 appropriation bill, which 

proceeded in the 112th Congress only through the House Subcommittee and the Senate Committee.

3 Total transfer $9,888 thousand to Program Administration, Office for Civil Rights and Office of Inspector General. 4 Excludes $2,807 thousand proposed for transfer from Department of Health and Human Services to Department of 

Education for the Health Education Assistance Loan program. 5 The House allowance is shown as N/A because there was no Subcommittee action.

6 Excludes $996 thousand transferred from Department of Health and Human Services to Department of Education 

for the Health Education Assistance Loan program. 

7 The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 eliminated mandatory funding for the Not-for-Profit (NFP) servicing costs, which 

were previously not reflected in this table. Starting in fiscal year 2015, the estimate reflects total cost to service loans, 

discretionary funding and what was previously considered mandatory funding.

8 The level for the Senate allowance reflects Senate Subcommittee action only.

9 The levels for House and Senate allowances reflect action on the annual 2016 appropriations bill, which proceeded 

in the 114th Congress only through the House Committee and Senate Committee.

10 The levels for the House and Senate allowances reflect Committee action on the regular annual 2017 

appropriations bill; the Appropriation reflects the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017.

11 The levels for the House reflect floor action on an Omnibus appropriation bill; Senate allowances reflect Committee 

action on the regular annual 2018 appropriations bill; the Appropriation reflects the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2018 (P.L. 115-141). 12 The levels for the House and Senate allowance reflect Committee action on the regular annual 2019 appropriations 

bill; the Appropriation reflects enactment of the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and 

Education Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 115-245). 13 The Senate allowance reflects the Chairman’s mark; the Appropriation reflects the Further Consolidated 

Appropriation Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94)
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-11

Significant Items in FY 2020 Appropriations Reports

Borrower Defense

House To ensure implementation of the regulation and to provide sufficient oversight, 

the Committee directs the Secretary to update the Borrower Defense to 

Repayment Report on FSA’s Data Center on a monthly basis, beginning no 

later than 30 days after enactment of this Act. The Committee also directs the 

Secretary to submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations, within 60 

days of enactment of this Act, providing the number of claims and the total 

amount of the loans covered by those claims by school and institutional type.

Response The Department will update and submit monthly reports to the Committees as 

directed. 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

House The Committee directs the Secretary to update the PSLF Report on FSA’s 

Data Center on a monthly basis within 30 days after enactment of this Act. 

The Committee also directs the Secretary to include updates for TEPSLF 

within the updated reports.

Response The Department will update and submit monthly reports to the Committees as 

directed. 

Student Loan Servicing 

Senate The Committee directs the Department to continue to provide quarterly reports 

detailing its obligation plan by quarter for student aid administrative activities 

broken out by servicer and activity and detailing performance metrics, total 

loan volume and number of accounts, broken out by servicer and for each 

private collection agency. Further, any reallocation of funds between 

administrative costs and servicing activities within this account should be 

treated as a reprogramming of funds, and the Committee should be notified in 

advance of any such changes. 

Response The Department will continue to provide the requested quarterly reports to the 

Committees as directed.

Managers’ 

Statement

The agreement directs the Department to continue to provide to the 

Committee quarterly reports detailing its obligation plan by quarter for student 

aid administrative activities broken out by servicer, Next Gen contractor and 

activity detailing performance metrics, total loan volume and number of 

accounts, broken out by servicer, Next Gen contractor and for each private 

collection agency. 

Response The Department will continue to provide the requested quarterly reports to the 

Committees as directed. 
Z-13

Z-13

SUMMARY OF REQUEST

Click here for an accessible version

Uest

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FISCAL YEAR 2021 PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

(in thousands of dollars)

Cat 

Code

2019

Appropriation

2020

Appropriation

2021 President's 

Budget

2021 President's Budget Compared to 

2020 Appropriation

Amount Percent

1.

2.

Total 1,678,943 1,768,943 1,883,309 114,366 6.47%

NOTES: D = discretionary program; M = mandatory program 

Detail may not add to totals due to rounding.

1 The 2019 Appropriation column reflects actual obligations and the 2020 Appropriation column reflects updated servicing reestimates.

Student Aid Administration (HEA I-D)

Salaries and expenses D 850,066 911,843 1,148,604 236,761 25.97%

Servicing activities 1 D 828,877 857,100 734,705 (122,395) -14.28%
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-14

Activity

STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

(Higher Education Act of 1965, I-D) 

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2021 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority: 

Categories

2020 2021

Change from

2020 to 2021

Personnel Comp. & Ben. Costs $238,368 $259,663 +$21,295

Non-Personnel Costs,

excluding Loan Servicing Costs 673,475 888,941 +215,466

Subtotal, Salaries and 

Expenses

911,843 1,148,604 +236,761

Loan Servicing Costs 857,1002 734,705 -122,395

Total, Student Aid 

Administration 1,768,943 1,883,309 +114,336

FTE 1,451 1,584 133

1The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2015; reauthorizing legislation is sought for fiscal year 2021. 2 The 2020 appropriation column reflects the updated Servicing reestimate of $857,100 thousand.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Student Aid Administration (SAA) provides funds to administer the Federal student financial 

assistance programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as 

amended.

The Title IV programs, which provide funds to help students and families pay for the cost of 

postsecondary education, are the Nation’s largest source of financial aid for postsecondary 

students. The account provides funding to administer the student aid lifecycle, including: 

educating students and families about the process for obtaining Federal aid and repaying 

Federal student loans; processing approximately 18.7 million student financial aid applications; 

disbursing nearly $134 billion in Direct Loans, including consolidation loans and approximately 

$30.3 billion in Pell grants a year; administering a loan portfolio of nearly $1.5 trillion; and

protecting students and taxpayers by ensuring that Federal resources are used appropriately. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-15

The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 established Federal Student Aid (FSA) as the 

Federal Government’s first performance-based organization to improve service for students, 

parents, schools, and other program participants; to reduce student aid administration costs; to 

increase the accountability of the officials responsible for administering program operations; and 

to integrate the student aid processing and delivery systems. FSA administers more than $125 

billion in aid to approximately 12 million students and their families

The Offices of Postsecondary Education (OPE), the Office of the Under Secretary (OUS), and 

FSA oversee and administer the Federal student financial assistance programs. OPE, under 

the direction of the Under Secretary, formulates policy for these student financial assistance 

programs and administers other Federal postsecondary education programs. In addition, other 

Department offices—Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO); Office of the General 

Counsel (OGC); Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD) and Office of 

Finance and Operations (OFO)—contribute to the policy formulation, administration and 

oversight of the student aid programs.

FSA administers the following Federal student financial assistance programs:

The Federal Pell Grant Program is the foundation of a low-or moderate-income student’s 

financial aid package. The program provides financial assistance to students attending 

postsecondary education programs disbursing approximately $28.3 billion to 6.8 million low-and 

middle-income undergraduate students during the 2019–2020 award year, with an average 

award of $4,233. The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2020–2021 award year is $6,345. 

The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (DL) Program drives a significant portion of FSA’s 

workload. The DL program lends funds directly to students and their families through 

participating schools. In fiscal year 2021, the Department will originate $93 billion in new Direct 

Loans, excluding Consolidation Loans. The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program 

is like the DL Program except private lenders provided those funds, which are insured by loan 

guaranty agencies and then reinsured by the Government. 

SAFRA (Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act), Title II, Part A of the Health Care Education 

Reconciliation Act, 2010, ended the FFEL program’s authority to originate new Federal student 

loans. Since July 1, 2010, the Department has originated and serviced all new Federal student 

loans through the DL program. FSA continues to administer the FFEL program, while lenders 

and guaranty agencies continue to service and collect some outstanding loans in the FFEL 

portfolio. FSA services the government held FFEL program loans and DL program loans 

through the use of private contractors. 

See the Student Loans Overview and Student Aid Overview for details on Student Loan 

programs in the fiscal year 2021 request. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-16

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were: 

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

footnote

2016............................................................................... $1,551,854

2017................................................................................. 1,576,854

2018................................................................................. 1,678,943

2019................................................................................. 1,678,943

2020................................................................................. 1,768,943

FY 2021 BUDGET REQUEST

The Administration requests $1.88 billion in fiscal year 2021 for the administration of Federal 

student aid programs, $114 million more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. Over the past 

10 years, the Federal student loan portfolio increased 125 percent from $657 billion in fiscal 

year 2009 to $1.5 trillion in fiscal year 2019, and the number of loan recipients increased 34

percent from 32 million to 43 million. 

Today, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) manages the servicing of one of the largest 

consumer loan portfolios in the world. In addition, FSA provides oversight for more than 6,000 

institutions of higher education that participate in the Title IV programs; develops and 

implements the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) process; and secures the data of the 

over 40 million Americans with Federal student loans. Recognizing the significant growth in the 

scope and complexity of FSA’s responsibilities since its establishment as a performance-based 

organization more than 20 years ago, the President’s Budget proposes the evaluation of FSA as 

a separate organization, with reformed governance. An updated governance model could 

significantly increase FSA’s ability to serve students and taxpayers by improving its 

management, oversight, and administration of the Federal student aid programs.

FSA strives to be the most trusted and reliable source of student financial aid information and

services in the Nation, but legacy systems and complex processes have made attaining that 

goal difficult. The increase in the number of outstanding loans and borrowers has placed a 

strain on aging loan system infrastructure. In addition, the current financial student aid process 

requires students and families to navigate multiple systems and vendors which can create 

confusion and result in borrowers failing to understand their repayment options and financial 

implications of their student debt and ultimately result in higher loan delinquency and default 

rates. These operational complexities and inefficiencies also result in higher administrative costs 

and ineffective oversight. 

Given these challenges, the Administration is pursuing an innovative strategy to deliver Federal 

student aid services and information to our customers. Next Generation Federal Student Aid 

(Next Gen FSA), will create an improved, high quality customer experience for FSA's millions of 

customers, while creating a more agile, flexible servicing model that will streamline FSA's 

existing operations. Next Gen FSA will improve the integrity of the Title IV programs and 

transform how FSA provides oversight of organizations that support its shared mission. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-17

Next Gen FSA will streamline student aid systems and processes through consolidation of 

websites, loan servicing platforms, and other supporting operations. With a focus on mobile 

engagement, Next Gen FSA will allow customers to connect with FSA on the device of their 

choice. This effort will deliver an exceptional customer experience for millions of borrowers 

across the entire student aid life cycle, from fostering greater awareness about the availability of 

financial aid to successfully repaying loans. At the same time, FSA is increasing its support to, 

and oversight of, its servicing contractors, partner organizations, and the student loan portfolio 

to ensure that students, parents, borrowers, and taxpayers have access to effective and efficient 

federal student aid programs. 

The fiscal year 2021 request is necessary to fund critical FSA operations including: (1) 

continued loan servicing on legacy systems that have yet to migrate to the Next Gen FSA; (2) 

operations for application processing, originations and disbursements; (3) information 

technology (IT) system hosting; (4) oversight of postsecondary schools and financial institutions; 

(5) effective defense of taxpayers and students against unlawful conduct with regards to Federal 

loans and campus safety; and (6) the modernization, management and oversight of the Federal 

student aid program.

Highlights of the fiscal year 2021 request include 

• Next Gen FSA activities total $1.1 billion, an increase of $13 million over the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. The increase is primarily attributable to Next Gen FSA program 

implementation costs.

• Student Experience and Aid Delivery (SEAD) activities total $125 million, $7 million 

less than fiscal year 2020 appropriation, to manage delivery of pre-application student 

aid information through student loan repayment. 

• Partner Participation and Oversight activities total $244 million, an increase of $38

million over the fiscal year 2020 appropriation, to support and provide oversight for 

postsecondary schools and financial institutions as well as protecting borrowers and 

students. This increase is a result of an increase in full-time equivalent personnel (FTE) 

and Borrower Defense program requirements, analysis and quality assurance reviews, 

increased contractor and partner oversight, and expanded loan portfolio management 

evaluation and modeling.

• Personnel, Compensation and Benefits (PC&B) for SAA totals $259 million an 

increase of $21 million over the fiscal year 2020 appropriation due to an increase of 133

FTE to total 1,584 FTE in fiscal year 2021 from 1,451 FTE in fiscal year 2020. The total 

FTE for both fiscal years 2020 and 2021 includes 1,320 FTE and 1,453 FTE for FSA 

respectively. Additionally, 131 FTE are included for FTE in non-FSA offices that support 

FSA’s mission in both fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The increased staffing level for FSA is 

required to provide more experienced program management staff to lead the Next Gen 

FSA effort, improved management of the Federal student aid program through enhanced 

data analysis and quality assurance reviews, increased contractor and partner oversight, 

and expanded loan portfolio management evaluation and modeling. While the total FTE 

highlights FTE usage, FSA expects to achieve an overall headcount of 1,500 FTE by the 

end of fiscal year 2021. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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The Federal Student Aid (FSA) Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Request Summary Table 

(dollars in thousands)

FSA Offices 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

Next Gen FSA Program Office $1,109,079 $1,139,331 $30,252

Student Experience and Aid Delivery 132,803 125,256 -7,547

Partner Participation and Outreach 206,430 244,165 37,735

Strategic Measures and Outreach 22,703 23,991 1,288

Strategy, Innovation, and Transformation 2,099 4,942 2,843

Supporting Offices 164,147 204,163 40,016

Total 1,637,261 1,741,848 104,587

Next Gen FSA Program Office

For fiscal year 2021 the Administration requests $1.1 billion for the Next Gen FSA program, $30

million more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. The request will support continued 

investments in Next Gen FSA and the transition of borrower accounts to modernized and 

consolidated loan servicing platforms. The management of the Next Gen FSA program has 

been consolidated in the Next Gen FSA Program Office (NGPO) to ensure the effective and 

integrated implementation of the complex series of projects and initiatives. The NGPO includes 

47 FTE, and additional FSA staff from the business units are assigned to NGPO as needed to 

support the development and implementation of the Next Gen FSA initiatives in their respective 

areas. The requested funding for each Next Gen FSA initiatives is provided in the following 

table: 

(dollars in thousands)

Next Gen FSA Program Office 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $7,334 $7,350 $16

Loan Servicing 837,100 734,705 -102,395

Next Gen Business Process Operations 65,000 106,088 41,088

Next Gen Communications 2,061 2,199 138

Next Gen Digital and Customer Care 110,519 95,356 -15,163

Next Gen Enhanced Processing Solution 42,000 139,750 97,750

Next Gen Enterprise-wide Data Management 

and Analytics

22,474 30,000 7,526

Next Gen Identity and Access Management 11,103 14,500 3,397

Next Gen Partnership Participation/Oversight 6,389 7,849 1,460

Next Gen Financial Services Environment 

Transformation Support

4,998 1,434 -3,564

Mission Critical Support 100 100 0

Total $1,109,079 $1,139,331 $30,252

Next Gen FSA will modernize FSA’s operational infrastructure to deliver and manage the 

Federal student aid programs, replacing the current patchwork of systems with a cohesive, 

FSA-managed environment that reduces inefficiencies and allows FSA to better oversee our 

systems and contractors. This new environment will be governed by standardized processes 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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and procedures and combined with the inclusion of clear performance expectations tied to 

explicit contractual incentives and disincentives. The result will be simplified oversight of vendor 

performance and better compliance with consumer protection and customer service standards. 

At the same time, FSA will leverage the latest in middleware, processing, data storage and 

security to create a more efficient, cost-effective technical infrastructure. 

Next Gen FSA not only reforms FSA’s operational approach – it also provides several 

improvements that directly impact customers and schools. An enhanced StudentAid.gov was 

launched in December 2019, and subsequent releases in fiscal year 2020 will give students, 

parents, and borrowers access to a suite of new tools that will help them get personalized 

information about the aid they have received, their eligibility for programs such as Public Service 

Loan Forgiveness, and repayment options that best suit their needs. When Next Gen FSA is 

fully implemented, all federally held student loans will be repaid through this FSA-branded 

website, providing a one-stop shop for all of FSA’s customer-facing interactions. Additionally, 

schools will also be provided with a single portal through which they can manage their 

institution’s federal student aid program eligibility, funds, and documents. The first iteration of 

this platform is being built in fiscal year 2020 and the first launch is expected in early fiscal year 

2021.

In addition to improving the administration and delivery of the Federal student aid programs, 

Next Gen FSA may reduce FSA operating costs once the systems are fully implemented. For 

example, when customers can easily access personalized information and use mobile or web 

technology to apply for aid, change their password, make payments, or change repayment 

plans, it should reduce the volume of calls and manual activities to be processed by FSA 

vendors and staff. This process has already begun with the launch of the enhanced 

StudentAid.gov website under our Next Gen Digital and Customer Care (DCC) release in 

December 2019. DCC features will continue to be phased in during fiscal year 2020, after 

which FSA will transition to a steady-state production environment in fiscal year 2021 that 

streamlines the customer experience into a single web and mobile presence. During that time, 

FSA anticipates customers will increase use of self-service options, which will significantly

reduce call volumes and improve customer satisfaction. 

In fiscal year 2021, FSA will continue the transfer of borrower accounts to the new Next Gen 

servicing platform, which we expect to begin during fiscal year 2020. This new platform, called 

the Next Generation FSA Enhanced Processing Solution (EPS), will interface with DCC and 

multiple Business Process Operations (BPO) vendors that will compete based on performance 

to perform call center and back-office processing activities across the student aid lifecycle. This 

transition will continue throughout fiscal year 2021. Until it is completed, funding is required in 

fiscal year 2021 for remaining expenses on legacy systems, including system decommissioning 

and retirement costs and any statutory changes that cannot wait for completion of the migration 

to the replacement systems. Total fiscal year 2021 loan servicing costs are expected to be $734 

million. 

These and other NGPO major fiscal year 2021 initiatives are described below: 

• Next Gen Digital and Customer Care (DCC) $95 million, $15 million less than the fiscal 

year 2020 appropriation. 
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DCC provides an enterprise-wide, FSA-branded digital platform, StudentAid.gov, which 

serves as the FSA digital front door for all customer interactions. The DCC platform 

consolidates multiple customer-facing websites (such as StudentLoans.gov and NSLDS 

Student Access) and includes the myStudentAid mobile app with expanded functionality. 

DCC also consolidates and enhances capabilities across phone, chat, chatbot, email, text, 

and social channels onto a single platform, including providing a single 1-800 number for 

students, parents, and borrowers. These capabilities are managed by a centralized 

command center that coordinates activity across all FSA contact centers and provides 

performance data FSA will use to ensure quality customer care. As a result, customers will 

receive consistent and personalized information about their financial aid and repayment 

options through their preferred communication channel. The reduction is related to its 

delivery in fiscal year 2020 as the first milestone in the transition to Next Gen FSA. 

• Next Gen Enterprise-wide Data Management and Analytics Platform Services 

(EDMAPS): $30 million, $7.5 million more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

EDMAPS will provide a unified data platform with improved enterprise-level governance, 

data architecture and standards for all FSA data under the Next Gen FSA program. The 

result will be a scalable, high speed, high volume, high frequency transaction data repository 

designed to seamlessly integrate with the improvements to existing FSA systems and the 

implementation of future FSA systems including but not limited to Digital Customer Care 

(DCC), Enhanced Processing Systems (EPS), Optimal Process System (OPS), Business 

Process Operations (BPO), Partner Participation and Oversight (PPO), and Identify and 

Access Management System (IAM). 

EDMAPS will have 4 main components: 

o Master Data Management (MDM) - MDM and governance architecture that 

provides for a unified master record of FSA data entities

o Central Data Hub (Hub) - A standard framework to assure compatibility for 

existing and future functions and a transactional Data Hub to capture 

transactions in a repository

o Data Lake - to ingest all of FSA’s structured and unstructured data

o Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDWA) - A full repository of FSA aid lifecycle data 

for reporting and advanced analytics

• Next Gen Identity and Access Management (IAM): $14.5 million, $3.4 million less than 

the fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

IAM provides a consolidated identity management framework for the Next Gen FSA 

program. IAM makes identity and access management for the FSA systems more efficient 

and secure for the 88,000 privileged users (ED, FSA, and partners) and 60 million nonprivileged users that currently access our systems. IAM includes multiple systems and 

capabilities, including Access and Identity Management System (AIMS), Person 

Authentication Service (PAS – FSA-ID), Two Factor Authentication (TFA), and Privileged 

Access Management (PAM – CyberArk).
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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• Next Gen Partner Participation and Oversight (PPO): $7.8 million, $1.5 million more than 

the fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

PPO will provide a single portal through which schools can manage their access to the Title 

IV programs and their interactions with FSA. It will significantly improve FSA’s ability to 

facilitate program integrity efforts and assist with the required oversight of institutions 

participating in Title IV programs in a timely and efficient manner. PPO will significantly 

reduce paper communications and allow schools users and other FSA-designated 

stakeholders to securely upload, route, and review critical electronic documents to support 

case management. 

• Mission Critical Support Services: $100,000 for administrative items, including travel, 

training, supplies, and other small purchases.

Student Experience and Aid Delivery (SEAD)

Student Experience and Aid Delivery (SEAD) manages the Federal student aid life cycle from 

delivery of pre-application student aid information through student loan repayment by way of the 

following activities on the next page:

• Ensuring that students, parents and borrowers (“customers”) and potential customers 

know about the availability of federal financial aid, how to access this aid, and the 

prompt receipt of the correct amount of aid. 

• Providing borrowers with information, tools, and resources on loan repayment to help 

them manage their debt. 

• Sharing information and engages with customers via multiple communication 

channels. 

• Improving the tools and resources available to customers based on customer 

feedback and market research. 

• Identifying, measuring, and reporting customer expectations and satisfaction with the 

federal financial aid services and products offered by Federal Student Aid. SEAD 

monitors customers’ perception of service over their entire customer lifecycle and 

identifying ways to improve customer satisfaction. 

Through these activities, SEAD serves as the “voice of the customer” and works as an advocate 

for customers--students, parents, and taxpayers. 

The fiscal year 2021 request of $125 million supports operations and 295 FTE. The $7.5 million 

decrease is primarily attributable to the $19 million that was included in the fiscal year 2020 

level to implement the FUTURE Act. FSA is coordinating with its external partners as it 

develops its FUTURE Act implementation plans and intends to submit a preliminary plan as part 

of the 90-day report to Congress. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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(dollars in thousands)

Student Experience and Aid Delivery 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $43,899 $46,877 $2,978

Product Marketing and Delivery Service 35,202 32,335 -2,867

Delivery Systems and Extended Workforce 

Support

52,719 44,850 -7,869

Vendor Oversight/Program Accountability 580 594 14

Mission Critical Support 404 600 196

Total 132,803 125,256 -7,547

Product Marketing and Delivery Service

The Product Marketing and Delivery Service is responsible for strategy, innovation, and creation 

of customer-facing products. Major activities include:

• FSA Customer Contact Center: $29 million, $1 million more that the fiscal year 2020

appropriation. 

The FSA Customer Contact Center ensures that customers, both student applicants and 

schools, have accessible, accurate, timely, and professional responses to their inquiries via 

their preferred method of communication. Funding also supports call center operational 

support for the Ombudsman’s Group including call intake, casework, and customer 

response services for new and existing contacts to the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman 

Group. Increase funds operations and maintenance cost increases.

• Information Dissemination: $2.4 million, $600,000 over the fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

Information dissemination increases all students’ awareness of and access to 

postsecondary education and Federal financial aid. This initiative provides students, 

parents, and borrowers user-informed tools and resources to understand the benefits of 

college; demystify the process of planning, preparing, and paying for college; encourage 

responsible borrowing and debt management; and create financially empowered 

consumers. 

• Website and other supporting activities: $1 million, $500,000 over the fiscal year 2020

appropriation. Activities include translation and interpretation services, financial aid toolkit 

website support, and web analytics. 

Delivery Systems and Extended Workforce Support 

Delivery Systems and Extended Workforce oversees the systems that support student aid 

application processing and loan servicing operations borrower systems, application systems, 

borrower processing and provides supports vendors in the delivery of their services. Activities 

also include monitoring borrower account records activity, answering inquiries, resolving 

disputes, protecting customer rights and entitlements under the law, and advising them of their 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-23

options. The service also conducts perform Treasury Offset Hearings, Interagency Appeals and 

Administrative Wage Garnishment Hearings, and provides communications services to 

participants through training and information Services, special initiatives, and internal and 

external communications. The following systems and operations are supported:

• Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS): $26 million, $10 million more 

than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation and $84,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation. 

AEDS funds FAFSA filing, online and paper, systems and services, including application 

processing, determination of aid eligibility, and development of the upcoming annual 

application. Increase funds annual updates to the FAFSA application and processes. 

• Interagency Agreements: $17.5 million, $600,000 less than the fiscal 2020 appropriation.

The Department enters into agreements with other Government agencies to support SEAD 

operations for the purpose of verifying Federal student aid eligibility and accessibility and 

providing services to simplify the aid process. The fiscal year 2021 request funds the 

following agreements with Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social 

Security Administration (SSA), and the Department of Homeland Security: 

• IRS Data Retrieval Tool: $14.6 million, level to the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

An agreement with the IRS provides access to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT), which 

retrieves specific tax return information for authenticated users of the Department’s online 

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form (fafsa.gov) and the Income Driven 

Repayment plans (IDR) online applications. The tool provides users a convenient option to 

securely transfer encrypted tax return information to the online FAFSA form and or IDR 

applications for determining student eligibility for federal student aid and loan repayment 

options. 

Note: The FSA fiscal year 2020 budget request included $19 million to implement the 

FUTURE Act which, among other things, allows the Department to obtain directly from the 

IRS federal tax return information to administer Title IV federal student aid programs. Until 

implementation of the direct access to IRS federal tax information, FSA will continue to 

operate the DRT. 

• Other agreements: $2.9 million, level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

These interagency agreements are with the Department of Treasury for Lockbox services 

and the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security for 

applicant eligibility matching. These costs increase slightly to account for increased 

application and other transaction volumes.

• Background Investigation Unit: $700,000 million, $200,000 more than the fiscal year 

2020 request. This contract supports processing clearances to support approximately 

30,000 contract employees and 1,500 FSA employees. The timely processing of security 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-24

clearances and adjudications is vital to ensure contractors and FSA offices are fully staffed 

to manage and execute the financial student aid programs.

Vendor Oversight and Program Accountability 

Vendor oversight manages the relationships with contractors and provides direction regarding 

administrative, funding, past performance and quality assurance matters. This activity includes 

contract oversight and enforcement through monitoring of contractor processing. Program 

accountability also includes the Ombudsman and customer analytics. The Ombudsman is 

responsible for the feedback system, escalated issues, quality assurance and systems 

operations and security. The Ombudsman serves as a principal advisor to the Chief Operating 

Officer by providing expert findings, advice, and recommendations on matters pertaining to FSA 

program development and operational effectiveness. Customer analytics gathers, analyzes and 

reports on FSA customer behavior and issues through development of customer feedback 

systems to provide customers ways to provide information on FSA and customer contact vendor

performance. 

• Customer satisfaction surveys: $600,000, level with fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Surveys allow FSA to gather information on customer issues and ways to improve the 

delivery of federal student financial aid programs.

• Mission Critical Support Services: $600,000 for administrative obligations, including 

travel, training, supplies, and other small purchases.

Partner Participation and Outreach

Partner Participation and Outreach (PPO) manages activities covering the entire partner 

lifecycle that support and monitor partners, including postsecondary schools and financial 

institutions that participate in the Title IV student financial assistance programs. PPO enforces 

compliance with the laws, regulations, and policies governing the aid programs and employs an 

integrated approach to oversight by regularly conducting certification/eligibility determinations, 

audit reviews, financial statement analyses, program reviews, and institutional assistance 

service to domestic and foreign participants. PPO programs protect taxpayers and students 

from unlawful conduct regarding Federal loans and ensure compliance with Clery Act. PPO also 

serves as the principal FSA advisor on all FSA program policy issues and facilitates FSA 

involvement in the development, implementation and dissemination of FSA program policy. 

PPO supports and provides oversight for approximately 6,000 schools and originates and 

disburses over $120 billion in annual student financial aid.

For fiscal year 2021, the Administration requests $244 million to support core business system 

operations and 636 FTE, $37.8 million more that the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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(dollars in thousands)

Partner Participation and Outreach 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $92,679 $97,262 $4,583

Partner Outreach and Communications 983 1,077 94

Partner Management and Support Services 100,827 131,071 30,244

Policy Implementation and Oversight Services 255 150 -105

Policy Eligibility and Oversight Services 0 220 220

Partner Enforcement/Consumer Protection 8,896 10,705 1,809

Mission Critical Support 2,790 3,680 890

Total 206,430 244,165 37,735

Partner Outreach and Communications provides training, outreach and assistance to FSA 

partners.

• Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP): $1 million, level with the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

IFAP maintains the website and software required to consolidate financial partner content in 

one location.

• School Experience Support and Impact Evaluation: $100,000, an increase of $100,000 

over the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Funds identify and support the unique needs of postsecondary education institutions and 

evaluates the effectiveness of initiatives.

Partner Management and Support Services provides management services and support 

related to the performance of the Title IV portfolio and administering oversight of institutions, 

including schools, guaranty agencies, lenders, and servicers. 

• Title IV Origination and Disbursement System (TIVODS): $112 million, $25 million more

than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

FSA expects to originate and disburse over $181 billion in Pell Grants (HEA, Title IV, Part A, 

Subpart 1) and Direct Loans (HEA, Title IV, Part D) including loan consolidations in fiscal 

year 2021. The Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, via the Title IV 

Origination and Disbursement (TIVOD) contract, originates and disburses this aid to 

approximately 6,000 schools and millions of student recipients. The system also supports 

interfaces to other systems to verify borrower eligibility and provide loan consolidation, 

borrower counseling, financial reporting, and program oversight. The system automates 

administration of the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), 

Federal Perkins Loan, and Federal Work Study Programs; determines institutional funding 

needs and allocation levels based on data from the Fiscal Operations Report and 

Application to Participate; collects funding data to inform subsequent reallocations; 

maintains cumulative Perkins Loan funding histories; calculates institutional cohort default 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-26

rates; updates the list of qualifying schools that Teacher Education Assistance for College 

and Higher Education (TEACH) recipients and others looking for certain loan forgiveness 

benefits need to teach at to maintain eligibility. 

The fiscal year 2021 increase results from funding the TIVOD contract for the full fiscal year. 

In fiscal year 2020 the TIVOD contract is funded with a combination of fiscal years 2019 and 

2020 funds. 

• National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS): $12 million, $4 million more than the fiscal 

year 2020 appropriation. 

NSLDS provides administrative data on the provision of Title IV aid and provides the 

electronic data exchange between program participants and the system. Operation and 

management funding levels were reduced to cover minimal operation for fiscal year 2020, 

which resulted in an increased request of $4 million for continued support of NSLDS 

operations in fiscal year 2021. NSLDS will not require significant enhancements pending 

transition to EDMAPS. 

• Participation Management (PM): $2.5 million, $607,000 more than the fiscal year 2020

appropriation.

PM is the FSA system that manages partner organization enrollment in FSA data exchange 

services. Virtually all schools, third-party servicers, guaranty agencies, Federal loan 

servicers, FSA External Partners, State Agencies, and other organizations use PM to enroll 

in services provided by FSA systems such as NSLDS, TIVODS, FMS, SAIG, AIMS, CPS, 

FAA Access, TPD and Debt Management and Collections System (DMCS). The 

Development, Modernization and Enhancement (DME) budget was reduced to zero. The 

increase in fiscal year 2021 reflects a planned restoration of funding. The operation and 

management costs are driven by the AEDS contract funding break down over a three-year 

period (fiscal year 2019 – 2021).

• eZ-Audit: $2.5 million, $600,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

eZ-Audit is a web-based application for submission of financial statements and compliance 

audits from over 6,000 institutions and facilitates processing to instantly identify problems 

with incoming reports. If an issue is identified, the report is routed to the appropriate teams 

to support the regulatory requirement of completing audit determination reviews within 180 

days. eZ-Audit assists FSA with enhancing its program integrity, improving oversight of 

institutions (domestic and foreign), third-party servicers, and financial institutions 

participating in the Title IV program, and improving accountability to meet the mandated 

deadlines. 

• Postsecondary Education Participation System (PEPS): $1.2 million, level with the fiscal 

year 2020 appropriation.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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PEPS is a data repository for entities participating in the Title IV Programs. PEPS is used 

by FSA, institutions of higher education, the Office of Postsecondary Education, the Office of 

the Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office, State departments of 

education, guaranty agencies, regional and national accreditors, and State licensing 

agencies to resolve eligibility and compliance issues and to obtain data extracts for updates 

to other systems.

• EDExpress (EDE): $1 million, $500,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

EDE is a software suite provided to schools at no cost for their use in originating, disbursing, 

and packaging direct loans and grants for students. EDE automates most school tasks 

involved in building the XML Common Record file that TIVODS requires for origination and 

disbursement of student aid. The EDE Suite also provides reconciliation functionality to 

participating Title IV schools, allowing them to compare their internal organizational award 

databases against the TIVODS database for direct loan and grant awards, and identify 

discrepancies that require further attention. 

• Interagency agreements: $100,000, level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

PPO has several interagency agreements to obtain data from agencies for use in PPO 

operations, including the Department of Treasury, Social Security Administration, and Health 

Resources and Services Administration.

Policy Implementation and Oversight serves as the FSA principal advisor on all FSA program 

policy issues and facilitates FSA’s involvement in the development, implementation and 

dissemination of FSA program policy. It also manages and monitors the delivery of student aid 

under the Experimental Sites authority and maintains the Federal Student Aid Handbook which 

provides detailed guidance for FSA school partners.

• Experimental Sites Evaluation and Reporting Tool: $200,000, $100,000 more than the 

fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

The Experimental Sites Evaluation authority tests the impact of making targeting 

modifications to statutory and regulatory framework that govern the FSA system, and 

thereby, inform policymakers both in Congress and the Administration. Evaluation of these 

initiatives are needed to determine the effectiveness of the experiments. In fiscal year 2020, 

the Department will evaluate the impact of the ESI on loan counseling practices that can 

help students make borrowing decisions that are right for them. Fiscal year 2021 funding

allows the Department to evaluate ongoing or upcoming initiatives.

Partner Eligibility and Oversight Services provides support to, and oversight of, institutions, 

including schools, guaranty agencies, lenders, and servicers. 

• Technical Assistance: $200,000 which is level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Funds support provision of technical assistance to schools participating in the federal 

student aid programs administered by FSA.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Partner Enforcement and Consumer Protection Unit enforces the Title IV statutory and 

regulatory requirements applicable to institutions of higher education to protect students, 

borrowers, and taxpayers and ensure compliance with the student financial aid programs 

administered by FSA. It also provides analysis and adjudication of claims from borrowers of 

Direct Loans under Title IV. 

• Borrower Defense: $6.5 million, $1.8 million more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

The Borrower Defense program provides operations and maintenance support for Borrower 

Defense to loan repayment applications and includes the necessary software, platform, 

licenses, and technology integration to help process the applications. It authenticates users 

on the Customer Engagement Management System (CEMS), a cloud platform solution, and 

supports multiple other products used by internal users and borrowers. The ability to 

automatically update student loan data is crucial to quickly respond to borrower inquiries, 

expediting borrower defense student applications, increasing efficiencies in operational 

tasks, and providing up-to-date reporting. This increase is required to implementation of 

regulatory requirements and address increasing transaction volume.

• Enforcement Operations: $4.2 million, level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Funds support review of Borrower Defense claims and the interagency agreement that 

enables FSA to use the Department of Justice E-Discovery services to search case files, 

investigate existing data, or identify key issues in a large set of documents.

• Mission Critical Support Services: $3.7 million for administrative items, including travel, 

training, supplies, oversight and compliance, and small purchases.

Strategic Measures and Outcomes

Strategic Measures and Outcomes (SMO) develops enterprise-wide strategic planning and 

integrated performance measures to track and improve FSA operations, vendor performance, 

and loan portfolio management. SMO produces for FSA and external stakeholders data 

analytics and research analysis based on the information in the data warehouse it maintains;

develops and maintains an enterprise risk management function; establishes standards 

processes, and analyses by which FSA manages programs, performance, and risk and 

improves vendor performance and oversight; and implements bank-grade and government 

portfolio management practices. The Administration requests $25 million, $477,000 more than 

the fiscal year 2020 appropriation to support Strategic Measures and Outcomes operations and 

69 FTE.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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(dollars in thousands)

Strategic Measures and Outcomes 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $10,580 $11,248 $668

Enterprise Data 7,750 7,500 -250

Enterprise Risk 1,663 1,663 0

Operational Improvement and Oversight 0 1,717 1,717

Portfolio Management 165 1,175 1,010

Strategic Planning 0 375 375

Mission Critical Support 2,545 313 -2,232

Total 22,703 23,991 1,288

Enterprise Data provides enterprise data governance, management and advanced analytics; 

manages the governance of data including appropriate use by the FSA organization, 

government, and external parties; maintains and provides access to data for FSA operations 

offices; provides a modernized data architecture; deploys advanced analytics to enhance 

strategic decision support; and provides insights, reporting capabilities, analytics tools, training, 

and support throughout the FSA enterprise. Enterprise Data prepares and publishes data for 

public consumption and provides data for congressional and other Federal agency requests. 

Enterprise Data manages the availability, usability, integrity and security of FSA data through a 

data governance program and an organizational data strategy. Enterprise Data develops 

sophisticated analytical techniques designed to parse, explore, and analyze data and produce 

results to support FSA business decisions.

• Enterprise Data Warehouse Analytics (EDWA): $7.5 million, $300,000 less than the fiscal 

year 2020 appropriation. 

EDWA provides enterprise-wide data management and analytics to centralize FSA lifecycle 

data, and the fiscal year 2021 request supports ongoing development, operations and 

maintenance. EDWA allows the Department to access timely, accurate, consistent, and 

repeatable data for improved analytics, insights, and reporting; and allows FSA to 

responsibly expand data available for research without compromising the administration of 

the Federal student aid programs. This work aligns with the principles of Next Gen FSA, 

and all EDWA work will be integrated into, and further expanded, under Next Gen. As Next 

Gen advances, EDWA is moving toward a future state where it is expected to be able to 

provide and receive data from production systems in near real time, further integrating

analytics and data-driven decisions into business processes. The platform is a critical tool 

that will allow the Department to respond to recommendations on how to improve the 

program and policy modeling from congressional staff, the Government Accountability 

Office, the Office of the Inspector General, and external policymakers. EDWA offers the 

opportunity for significant return on investment via data-driven insights to improve program 

management, retirement of redundant systems, and alleviation of strain currently placed on 

NSLDS and other operational systems. 

EDWA recently implemented a new Machine Learning Model located in operations to better 

target applicants selected for income verification, allowing FSA to reduce burden on 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Z-30

students and schools by lowering verification selection rates while maintaining low levels of 

improper payments that result from misreporting on the FAFSA. EDWA also developed a 

third-party debt relief fraud model to combat this growing problem. EDWA continues to 

improve upon FSA’s Annual Risk Assessment, the annual process wherein schools are 

selected for program reviews taking it from a manual, time-consuming process that was at 

the risk of human error to an automated statistically rigorous product and process.

In fiscal year 2021, FSA plans to further refine, socialize, and provide training on 

dashboards and products constructed over the past several years including a default model 

at time of application. Additional technologies to facilitate data documentation, governance,

ease of access, use, security, collaboration, and training will be incorporated into the EDWA 

environment leading to a more capable workforce. FSA plans to conduct research on 

modeling efforts to further inform the management of the Title IV programs as well as 

identify potential cost savings. FSA also plans to expand and modernize the FSA Data 

Center and continue to augment EDWA with new data sets as necessary to facilitate these 

efforts. The fiscal year 2021 request supports continual operations and maintenance and 

development work.

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) designs and executes FSA’s ERM system, which uses

systematic processes to identify, assess, monitor, and respond to risks that impact FSA’s

accomplishment of its strategic objectives. The system leverages the second line of defense 

approach that provides risk management frameworks for key risk focus areas, supports 

management policies, and monitors accuracy and completeness of reporting, compliance with 

laws and regulations, and timely remediation of deficiencies.

• Office of Inspector General (OIG) Fraud Referral: $1.7 million, level with the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

The OIG Fraud Referral initiative streamlines FSA receipt process of fraud referrals from 

OIG to determine if fraudulent activities occurred and whether there was an appropriate 

resolution. FSA is implementing workflow, case management, and improved analytics to 

analyze all OIG fraud referrals in the existing CEMS infrastructure. 

Operational Improvement and Oversight Group promotes a culture of quality assurance 

throughout FSA with specific emphasis in the area of vendor management. OIO leverages the 

second line of defense approach that provides quality management frameworks, standards, and 

practices. OIO works collaboratively with FSA businesses to carry out an enterprise quality 

management program and performs independent quality assurance audits and inspections. 

• Operational Improvement and Oversight Group Support: $1.7 million, $1.7 million more 

than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Funding to support this contract was zero in fiscal year 2020. The fiscal year 2021 request 

provides support to the operational improvement and oversight function It is the objective of 

this investment to support FSA's Project Management Office (PMO) Comprehensive 

Program/Project management training and education program. Assisting in FSA Project 

Managers (PM) career developments, continuous learning and monitoring and tracking of 
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success are key to effectively maintaining a robust PM workforce. The PMO will ensure it 

provides mandated continuing education credits for program and project managers to 

maintain their professional certifications. 

Portfolio Management and Analysis (PMA) is responsible for operational and financial 

analysis of FSA’s loan portfolio. PMA provides analyses, reporting, and recommendations to 

FSA’s operations managers and senior executives for improving portfolio performance. PMA 

supports student loan costing, forecasting, and valuation models and provides expanded data 

analysis and reporting on the student loan portfolio composition and performance. 

• Portfolio Management Support: $1.2 million, $1 million more than the fiscal year 2020

appropriation. 

Portfolio Management Support was underfunded in fiscal year 2020; the fiscal year 2021 

request fully restores funding to support to the loan portfolio management function. 

Strategic Planning Reporting (SPAR) develops and manages strategic performance 

measurement initiatives and data in order to track program and organizational performance. 

The office is responsible for coordinating and improving the strategic planning process, 

producing the annual updated Five-Year Performance Plan, and for analyzing and updating 

metrics. SPAR serves as the point of contact for the Department concerning the Department’s 

Organizational Performance Review process. SPAR provides leadership and organizational 

support in the evaluation, assessment and improvement of programs and management systems 

by applying a wide range of qualitative and quantitative techniques.

• Strategic Planning Support: $375,000, $100,000 more than fiscal year 2020 

appropriation.

Provides support to the FSA strategic planning effort. 

• Mission Critical Support Services: $300,000, for administrative items, including travel, 

training, supplies, and other small purchases. The $2.2 million decrease from the fiscal year

2020 appropriation reflects the reallocation of support funding to OIO and PMA.

Strategy, Innovation, and Transformation (SIT)

Strategy, Innovation, and Transformation (SIT) provides sustained, focused innovation to 

support the FSA mission. SIT provides strategic oversight of Next Gen FSA to ensure alignment 

with FSA mission and goals. SIT also completes targeted research on forward-looking, 

strategic topics to support planning and decision making on the FSA mission in the future. For 

fiscal year 2021, the Administration requests $4.9 million, most of which will support staff to 

evaluate existing business processes in order to deliver FSA objectives. The request supports 

SIT operations and 19 FTE. SIT is a new initiative in the fiscal year 2021 request. 
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(dollars in thousands)

Strategy, Innovation, and Transformation 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $1,889 $2,892 $1,003

Innovation & Transformation Support 0 2,000 2,000

Mission Critical Support 210 50 -159

Total 2,099 4,942 2,843

• Innovation and Transformation Support: $2 million, $2 million more than the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

The request funds independent research in a range of areas, including research projects 

initiated by the FSA Chief Operating Officer; the Department’s Offices of the Secretary, 

Deputy Secretary, and Under Secretary. The non-personnel, compensation and benefits 

portion of the budget is for contract support of on-going staff activities in areas of strategy, 

outreach, research, project execution and the Innovation Lab, which provides a forum for 

capturing ideas on how to improve FSA’s business processes. The strategic outputs from 

these activities will be used to pilot enhancements to FSA’s business model.

Chief Operating Officer 

The Office of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for effective management of 

Federal Student Aid (FSA) as a Performance-Based Organization (PBO). The office manages 

FSA operations to ensure that best-in-business performance is consistently delivered to 

accomplish the FSA mission. The Administration requests $4.6 million, $161,000 more than the 

fiscal year 2020 appropriation, to support operations and 23 FTE. 

(dollars in thousands)

Chief Operating Office 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $4,301 $4,464 $162

Mission Critical Support 149 148 -1

Total 4,451 4,612 161

Technology Office

The Technology Office manages the effective use of technology to achieve FSA strategic 

objectives through technology planning, integrated technical architecture and standards, 

systems development, and production support. The Office ensures FSA IT systems and 

infrastructure are compliant with all cybersecurity requirements; approves IT system Authority to 

Operate (ATO) certifications; approves all FSA IT investments and coordinates Departmental 

approval in accordance with agency and statutory requirements; and oversees integration 

of FSA system implementations to ensure alignment with the enterprise business architecture. 

The Administration requests $133.5 million, $25 million more than the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. The request supports operations and 120 FTE to meet the growing needs of 
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application, testing, and infrastructure support as the Next Gen FSA initiative expands the tools 

and solutions that will be available to our customers on various new platforms.

(dollars in thousands)

Technology Office 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $17,572 $20,443 $2,871

Application Development Group 3,313 3,465 152

Enterprise IT Architecture & Strategic 

Infrastructure Group 9,453 9,467 13

Infrastructure Operations Group 36,161 61,453 25,292

Next Gen Cybersecurity Program 39,093 38,664 -429

Mission Critical Support 2,668 2,903 236

Total 108,260 136,396 28,136

Infrastructure Operations Group (IOG) provides a stable, reliable, and recoverable operating 

environment to meet FSA's data processing and system support needs.

• Next Generation Data Center (NGDC): $36.4 million, $26 million more than the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

 

NGDC is a hosted technical infrastructure that provides protection of controlled unclassified 

information, improved availability and reliability of the technical services that support FSA 

operations, improved service delivery performance, the ability to scale resources with 

shorter lead times, and preservation of essential legacy capabilities. The increase is due to 

year-to-year contract pricing escalations and growth in the data center as new system are 

transitioned into the center with the implementation of Next Gen FSA. The fiscal year 2021 

increase results from funding the NGDC contract for the full fiscal year. In fiscal year 2020 

the NGDC contract is funded with a combination of fiscal year 2019 and 2020 funds.

• Enterprise Software Licensing: $16.5 million, level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Enterprise Software Licensing acquires enterprise-wide agreements, along with volume 

discount buys, and consolidates the same kinds of software with different renewal dates 

under one agreement. 

• Data Center Dedicated Circuits: $4.2 million, $1.2 million less than the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

The Data Center Dedicated Circuits initiative provides the telecommunications backbone to 

FSA systems and call centers. Network services include NGDC, more than 15 Call Centers, 

and Managed Trusted Internet Protocol Services (MTIPS) for COD and DMCS which is used 

to support systems management functions, as well as inquiries into data processing by 

trading partners, institutions and borrowers. This service includes data and voice lines and 

toll-free numbers. 
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• Data Center Support Contractor: $3.5 million, $200,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

Data Center Contractor Support Services assist in overseeing approximately 350 to 450 

critical projects and deliverables for its business owners. Support services include cloud 

computing, contract management, project management, service management, operations 

management, financial management, and risk management.

The increase results from a new task order that will be awarded with standard contract 

pricing escalations in fiscal year 2021 to support IOG projects.

• Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG): $900,000, level with the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

SAIG provides secure telecommunications support and facilitates data transmission 

between FSA customers. The decrease results from SAIG moving to steady-state 

operations and maintenance. 

Enterprise IT Architecture & Strategic Infrastructure Group (EITASIG) - Provides 

enterprise-wide technology planning and oversight; develops and maintains technology and 

provides the necessary processes and discipline to ensure that FSA is investing and using 

information technology wisely.

• Enterprise Architecture & Engineering (EAE): $9.5 million, level with the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

EAE provides a full range of technical architecture and engineering functions that provide the 

services and support to plan, maintain, and develop the FSA enterprise architecture. 

Engineering services include Enterprise IT Architecture (EITA), middleware architecture 

services, and Enterprise Performance Testing (EPT) services. Architecture services include 

Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Technical Architecture Services (TAS).

• EITA provides critical technology platform and technical support services, including 

integrated technical architecture and middleware architecture. EITA provides product 

support services, including root cause analysis and resolution of middleware-related 

production issues for FSA's mission-critical applications. Middleware services reduce 

security vulnerabilities in the FSA system architecture. 

• EPT provides performance testing analysis services that ensure FSA applications are 

configured appropriately. It also makes sure that enough capacity is deployed during 

production for each mission critical application within the NGDC. 

• EA provides essential IT architecture information and tools for use in evaluation and 

acquisition of new solutions. 
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• TAS provides IT engineering expertise to ensure technical solutions meet FSA technical 

requirements, represent industry best practices, and implement FSA IT engineering 

processes that evaluate and improve design standards. FSA takes seriously the ongoing 

security threats to operations and the real risks of compromising borrowers’ personal 

information. FSA works collaboratively with OCIO to ensure compliance with the Federal 

Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). 

Application Development Group (ADG) provides services that support FSA business 

initiatives, strengthen FSA IT functions, and develop technology to achieve FSA strategic 

objectives.

• Enterprise Business Collaboration (EBC): $2.4 million, $100,000 more than fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

EBC provides a standard platform for effective and expeditious development of workflow 

applications through packaged workflow, document management and user presentation 

capabilities. Employee Enterprise Business Collaboration provides a platform for application 

development through shared sites that reduce storage and network load. Partners 

Enterprise Business Collaboration provides the ability to create team sites where external 

entities can exchange information, upload documents, and interact with FSA staff in a 

secure manner.

• Application Development Portfolio Production Support: $900,000, level with the fiscal 

year 2020 appropriation. 

The Application Development initiative achieves three key objectives to ensure ADG can 

maintain steady-state operations of that portfolio. First it allows the Group to acquire 

enough resources to meet the daily operations and maintenance (O&M) needs for all 

applications. Second, it allows the Group to implement a comprehensive low-cost solution 

which is proactive, risk-adverse and more efficient. Third, it allows the Group to follow the 

industry model for ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) Service Management 

by implementing a lifecycle framework that focuses on continuous improvement and the 

best ways to deliver long-term O&M success. 

• Enterprise Testing Services: $200,000, level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Enterprise Testing Services implements and maintains automated testing, ensures testers 

use devices most frequently used by our customers, provides the test team training to 

become efficient users of FSA’s Rational tools suite and update FSA’s Enterprise Test 

Management Standards based on lessons learned and best practices. 

• Next Gen FSA Cybersecurity Program (NGCS): $38.7 million, $400,000 less than the 

fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

NGCS provides cybersecurity services and protection for the Next Generation FSA program 

and strengthens FSA cybersecurity defenses based on current and emerging threats. 

NGCS protects the stores of personal and financial data of consumers, students, and 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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banking institutions. As a result, FSA invests significant resources to ensure continuous 

improvements in developing, implementing, and institutionalizing best practices; developing 

and retaining the cybersecurity workforce; and working with public and private sector 

research and development communities to leverage the best emerging technologies. NGCS 

directly supports the Department's compliance with the Federal Information Security 

Management Act (FISMA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) security standards and requirements. 

• Mission Critical Support Services: includes $2.9 million for administrative items, travel, 

training, supplies, Rational Support, and Enterprise Configuration Management (ECM) 

Support.

Finance Office

The Finance Office leads FSA financial management operations. The Administration requests 

$22.5 million, $2.8 million more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation, to support operations 

and 80 FTE.

(dollars in thousands)

Finance Office 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $10,841 $13,198 $2,356

Budget Group 1,000 1,005 5

Financial Management 1,325 1,394 70

Financial Management Systems Group 6,365 6,630 265

Mission Critical Support 157 267 110

Total 19,688 22,494 2,806

Financial Management Systems Group (FMSG) manages the Financial Management System 

(FMS) and oversees the FSA financial management system functions and defines financial 

management IT requirements to meet financial reporting, collections, payments and funds 

control requirements. FMSG identifies and plans financial management technology initiatives, 

coordinates FMS application changes, and supports all security functions. 

• Financial Management System (FMS): $6.6 million, $300,000 more than the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

Funds operations and maintenance for FMS which consolidates and manages all financial 

transactions from FSA feeder systems. FMS facilitates reconciliation and internal program 

management and reporting. The system tracks and manages payment processing for 

Federal Direct Loan originations and Pell Grant awards and processes refunds to borrowers 

for overpaid loans and payments to lenders and guaranty agencies. 

Budget Group formulates and executes the FSA administrative budget; processes travel, 

reimbursements, invoices and administrative payments; and produces budget reports and 

forecasts. 
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• Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management: $1 million, level with the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

The Tool and Training/Support services contract ensures FSA uses a standard process for 

submitting, reviewing and selecting initiative requests.

The Financial Management Group (FMG) manages FSA accounting and financial operations, 

internal control framework assessment, and improper payment reporting. 

• A-123 Requirements: $1.4 million, $100,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

Supports compliance with Federal Manager's Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) and OMB 

Circular A-123 and the annual internal control review and testing to produce management's 

annual assurance on the effectiveness of these controls and includes coordination of 

Improper Payment Act reporting requirements.

• Mission Critical Support Services: The Administration requests $375,000 to support

administrative items, including travel, training, supplies, and certain FSA central travel and 

other charges.

Acquisitions Office

The Acquisitions Group provides acquisition leadership to assure effective delivery of goods and 

services through proper planning, execution and management of investment decisions. The 

Administration request $16.0 million, $4 million more that the fiscal year 2020 appropriation, to 

support operations and a total of 81 FTE. 

(dollars in thousands)

Acquisitions Office 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $10,198 $13,618 $3,420

Business Procurement Division 600 550 -50

Mission Procurement Division 1,000 1,000 0

Strategic Initiatives and Knowledge 

Management Division

85 175 90

Mission Critical Support 178 670 492

Total 12,061 16,013 3,952

Business Procurement Division provides acquisition services for procurements associated 

with infrastructure and administration supporting FSA internal operations. Such procurement 

actions include, but are not limited to, contracts related to the delivery of human resources 

services, employee development, facility services, or other supplies/services. Additionally, the 

group supports simplified acquisitions, as well as the coordination, execution, and administration 

of Interagency Agreements.
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• Contract Specialist Support: $550,000, $50,000 less than the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

Contract Specialist support provides required support to execute procurements across FSA 

in a timely and efficient manner. 

Mission Procurement Division provides acquisition services to FSA business units for large 

procurements directly related to the accomplishment of FSA's mission. Such procurement 

actions include, but are not limited to, contracts related to the development, administration and 

maintenance of automated processing systems for delivering Title IV aid to students and 

schools servicing FSA loans and/or collecting loans that have fallen into default.

• Attestation Services: $1 million, level with the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Attestation Services provide required support for various non-audits and reviews to ensure 

that FSA is accurately and appropriately compensating its various service providers. These 

activities require a CPA firm’s highest level of assurance on an organization’s financial 

statements and internal control system including performance and compliance reviews, cost 

estimation and pricing analysis, contractual compliance, and proposal examinations 

services. Attestation Services allows FSA to evaluate a wide range of proposed and 

existing contract actions supporting Title IV activities.

Strategic Initiatives and Knowledge Management Division monitors compliance of all 

acquisitions with applicable laws and regulations; prepares internal policies, procedures and 

practices; develops and implements acquisition workforce of the future strategies; manages 

government property assigned to contractor staff; evaluates the effectiveness of acquisition 

programs, operations and management; and independently assesses acquisition program

strategy, management systems and IT programs supporting those systems.

• Acquisition Analytical and Research Tools: $175,000, $90,000 more than the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. Acquisition tools provide technical support to Contracting Officers in the 

execution of their procurement responsibilities.

• Mission Critical Support Services: The Administration requests include $670,000 for 

administrative items, including travel, training, supplies, and Acquisition Workforce Human 

Development. The request will support the increase in FTE dedicated to support a much 

larger organization.

Management Services

Management Services manages FSA activities related to human resources programs and 

operations, facilities and security operations, and employee development. The fiscal year 2021 

request of $16.8 million supports operations and 60 FTE. The net increase of $4.4 million from 

the fiscal year 2020 request is primarily attributable to the increase in FTE and training funds in 

order to support a larger organization. 
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(dollars in thousands)

Management Services 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $8,977 $11,695 $2,718

Facilities, Security, Emergency Management 250 500 250

FSA Competency and Development 554 2,000 1,446

Human Resources 2,480 2,292 -188

Mission Critical Support 106 275 169

Total 12,367 16,762 4,395

Facilities, Security & Emergency Management Services provides a safe, secure, healthy 

and productive work environment for FSA staff by overseeing building management, security 

operations, and security clearance processing. 

• Facilities Operations: $500,000, $250,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Facilities operations includes $.5 million for building maintenance and related expenses that 

are the responsibility of FSA.

Human Resources provides human capital support and workforce planning for all personnel 

actions, including recruitment, hiring, on-boarding, retirement planning, and employee relations. 

• Human Resources Support: $2.2 million, $189,000 less than the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

The Human Resources services contract provides support for processing personnel actions. 

The reduction in contract support reflects that more human resources work will be executed 

by the increased number of federal staff in the Human Resources group.

• FSA First Class: $134,000, level to the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

The request supports the communications and supporting programs involving activities and 

information for FSA employees. 

Workforce Development Services provides customized management, leadership, and other 

specialized developmental training to 1,453 FSA employees across all business units and 10 

regional offices. The diverse training requirements necessitate a collaborative partnership, 

distance learning tools and performance-driven learning that improves competencies in a wide 

range of areas.

• FSA Competency and Development: $2 million, $1.4 million more than the fiscal year 

2020 appropriation. 

Funds are targeted for management, leadership, and other specialized developmental 

training to FSA employees.
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• Mission Critical Support Services: The Administration requests $275,000 for

administrative items, including travel, training, supplies, and other related Human Resources 

related expenses.

Strategic Communications

Strategic Communications leads, integrates, and executes external and internal communication 

strategies and activities in support of the FSA mission, including management of conferences, 

controlled correspondence, and Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act (FOIA) requests. 

The Administration requests $8 million, $567,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation, 

to support operations and 23 FTE.

(dollars in thousands)

Strategic Communications 2020

Appropriation

2021

Request

Change from

2020 to 2021

PC&B $4,580 $4,647 $67

Conference Management 2,448 2,500 52

Engine Room 165 588 423

Mission Critical Support 125 150 25

Total 7,318 7,885 567

Conferences Management plans and manages FSA-sponsored conferences, including both 

internal and external events; coordinates FSA support of and participation in conferences held 

by the student financial assistance and higher education communities; and aids, as needed, the 

Department in planning and managing conference events.

• FSA Conference Support: $2.5 million, $52,000 more than the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. 

Supports the annual FSA Conference and FSA participation in national financial aid related 

conferences (e.g., National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators). FSA trains 

over 6,500 financial aid professionals and disseminate information about Title IV programs

through the conferences. This training is part of FSA school oversight and responsibility and 

increases the integrity of the Federal student aid programs while ensuring appropriate 

stewardship of taxpayer resources. 

Engine Room manages FSA correspondence, including executive correspondence to

members of Congress; FOIA and Privacy Act requests; and responses to Government 

Accountability Office and Office of Inspector General audit reports. The team develops briefing 

books; reviews memorandums of understanding, computer matching agreements, statement 

of records notices, and interagency agreements; and responds to FOIA request appeals and 

provides support in FOIA litigation matters.

• FOIA Management System and Support: $589,000, which will support FOIA management 

and tracking. 
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• Mission Critical Support Services include $150,000 for administrative items, including 

travel, training, and supplies.

Non-Federal Student Aid Activities 

The SAA account additionally includes funding for activities carried out by non-Federal Student 

Aid offices. While these activities are not directly administered by Federal Student Aid, they are 

vitally important to carrying out Federal Student Aid’s mission. These activities include central 

computer services and financial management systems operations, student loan cost estimates, 

rent, legal and policy expertise, and other necessary support. The fiscal year 2021 request for 

non-FSA activities is $141 million, $116 million in overhead and $25 million in non-FSA 

personnel compensation and benefits. The fiscal year 2021 request is $9.7 million more than 

the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. 

Rent payments to the General Services Administration for FSA-occupied space will total $20.4 

million for fiscal year 2021. 

Combined funding for central computer services and telecommunications will total $30 million in 

fiscal year 2021, $1 million less than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

Other non-pay central support services including background investigations, guard services, 

security, and departmental training and development courses will total $26.7 million in fiscal 

year 2020.

Non-Federal Student Aid Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employment 

The Administration’s request for SAA in fiscal year 2021 includes a total of 1,584 FTE, 133 FTE 

more than the fiscal year 2020 appropriation. In addition to 1,453 FSA full-time staff, the fiscal 

year 2021 request also provides $25 million for the salaries and benefits of 131 FTE outside 

FSA who perform student-aid related activities supporting the mission of FSA, but are located in 

the Office of Finance and Operations, the Office of Chief Information Officer; Office of the 

General Counsel; Office of Postsecondary Education; Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy 

Development, and the Office of the Under Secretary.

Student Loan Modeling Investment 

One key activity managed by the Office of Finance and Operations is Student Loan Modeling. 

The fiscal year 2021 request is $4.4 million, an increase of $1.3 million over the fiscal year 2020 

appropriation. The Student Loan Modeling investment provides support for developing cost 

estimates and budgetary impacts of student loan policies affecting the $1.5 trillion portfolio. 

Given the magnitude of the portfolio, cost estimates of the student loan programs are vitally 

important. The Department’s financial reporting, informed policy making, and effective 

monitoring of Government borrowing by Treasury all rely on accurate cost estimates. This 

investment is critical for the projection of future cost estimates and will support 1) continued 

development of the microsimulation model, 2) credit and modeling analysis, and 3) validation 

support for credit models. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Microsimulation Model Development 

In order to more accurately estimate student loan costs, to provide more detailed analysis of 

program effects, and better inform student loan policy, one of the major goals of this investment 

is to develop and implement a borrower-based microsimulation model. This model will consist of 

multiple components, most significantly the Servicer Emulator (which will process borrower and 

loan events to calculate cash flows) and the Event Generator (which will simulate borrower and 

loan events). Full development of this model is expected to be highly complex and rely on a 

combination of Department, interagency, and vendor support.

• Servicer Emulator: The Department currently has an interagency agreement with the U.S. 

Department of the Treasury to develop a borrower-based (i.e., microsimulation) cash flow 

model. The Servicer Emulator (SE) piece of the model replicates the events and actions that 

occur during the life of a loan. The fiscal year 2021 request of $495,000, an increase of 

$40,000 over the fiscal year 2020 appropriation, will continue to fund this agreement. In 

2020, Treasury and CEAD staff will finalize testing of the maturity, deferment and 

forbearance components. In fiscal year 2019, the SE was adapted to support a modification 

cost estimate for the Temporary Extended Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) 

authority. Treasury will continue to support that effort and make updates and adjustments as 

needed. The TEPSLF adaptation has led to refinements of the SE Income Driven 

Repayment (IDR) component, further testing of which will be done in fiscal year 2020 with 

CEAD staff developing test scenarios from its current IDR cash flow model. To the extent 

that CEAD management can devote sufficient staff resources to building comprehensive test 

scenarios, Treasury and CEAD will perform an operational test of the Servicer Emulator 

immediately following the fiscal year 2021 President’s Budget cycle. Operational testing will 

continue as CEAD updates its assumptions for the fiscal year 2020 Financial Statements. 

Treasury staff will also be working with CEAD staff to resolve any issues that might arise 

under the new Pivot H environment, the Department’s network infrastructure for webhosting. 

Lastly, Treasury staff will work with the contractor that will eventually be awarded the MicroSimulation Event Generator contract to facilitate integration and data sharing between the 

two model components.

• Event Generator: In fiscal year 2020, the Department plans to issue a Request for 

Proposals (RFP) in order to award a contract. The Department expects to begin model 

development upon award; the fiscal year 2021 request includes $3 million to fund the first 

phase of this development.

Credit and Modeling Analysis and Validation

The Department has engaged contractor support to address various credit, modeling, and 

documentation needs, as well as continued support of the current cash flow model. For 

example, during fiscal year 2018, vendor support was used to analyze the budgetary effects of 

income recertification in Direct Student Loans, which addressed a GAO recommendation. In 

fiscal year 2019, the Department addressed several audit recommendations such as developing 

a comprehensive catalog of data elements used in its cost estimation models. In fiscal year 

2020, vendor support will also be provided to maintain the current cash flow model as well as 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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assist in preparation and support of the Agency Financial Report. In addition, the request 

includes funds needed for SAS licenses and server maintenance. 

Independent model validation was included as a key recommendation in the Independent 

Auditor’s Report on the Department’s 2016 Agency Financial Report. A robust validation 

program is also central to identifying and mitigating model risk. In fiscal year 2018, models 

validated included the Student Loan Model and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) cash flow 

model. In fiscal year 2019, validation activities included Deferment and Forbearance rate 

assumption, Default rate assumption, other key assumption updates, and the Servicer Emulator. 

Funds requested in fiscal year 2020 will support continued validation of the Department’s credit 

models. The specific credit models validated will be determined on a priority basis using an 

assessment of model risk. Current plans include additional work on changes to the IncomeDriven Repayment (IDR) cash flow model and the Collections assumption. The fiscal year 2021 

request for model analysis, validation, and SAS licenses is $655,000.
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PROGRAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Performance Measures

This section presents selected program performance information, including, for example, GPRA 

goals, objectives, measures, and performance targets and data; and an assessment of the 

progress made toward achieving program results. Achievement of program results is based on 

the cumulative effect of the Federal resources provided for the program as well as the resources 

and efforts invested by those served by the program. New Next Gen Federal Student Aid 

performance measures will be available in the Spring of 2020. 

Strategic Goal A: Improve quality of service for customers across the entire student aid 

life cycle.

Measure: Percent of first-time FAFSA filers among high school seniors.

Year Target Actual

2016 59.5–61.5 57.557.

2017 56.5–58.5 60.2.600.

2018 66.4–68.4 67.4

2019 67.0-69.0 65.9

2020 64.0-66.0 

2021 TBD

Note: The methodology for calculating this metric is changing in fiscal year 2018 to account for the fact that many 

high school seniors are 19 years of age. The previous methodology was undercounting high school seniors, since it 

was based on an age of 18 years.

Additional information: FSA did not meet its target for this metric with a result of 65.9 percent.

A major component of FSA’s mission is to ensure that all eligible individuals have access to 

federal student aid. In order to achieve this goal, FSA works diligently to increase awareness 

about the availability of student financial assistance. This performance indicator measures the 

largest and most visible outcome of FSA’s customer engagement efforts, the percent of 

graduating high school seniors who successfully file a FAFSA as a first step in furthering their 

education beyond the secondary level. 

In fiscal year 2019, FSA’s estimate of the number of high school seniors was set lower than 

actual numbers, which impacted the initial target and subsequent success in measurement 

performance. Per FSA policy, the current projection is based on the most recently released 

data from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The fiscal year 2018 performance 

metric that was used to set the target for fiscal year 2019 was calculated using the 2016 Digest 

of Education Statistics, which estimated the number of graduating high school seniors in 2017 –

18 as 3,612,500 and in 2018 – 19 as 3,606,230. During the course of the performance period, 

estimations for both years were revised by NCES. The revisions would have increased the 

numbers in 2017 – 18 and in 2018 – 19. Using estimates of graduating seniors from the 2016 

Education Digest would produce a fiscal year 2018 metric of 67.4 percent (as actually reported) 

and a fiscal year 2019 metric of 67.3 percent (counterfactual). Using estimates of graduating 
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seniors from the 2018 Education Digest would produce a fiscal year metric of 66.3 percent 

(counterfactual) and a fiscal year 2019 metric of 65.9 percent. 

In a fiscal year when unemployment hit a 50-year low, the percentage of high school seniors 

filing the FAFSA decreased only slightly more than 1 percent. That decrease was a result of a 

larger estimated number of seniors nationwide, not a decrease in the total number of FAFSAs 

filed by high school seniors. FSA has successful awareness and outreach campaigns and a 

consistent social media presence to reach high school seniors. In addition, FAFSA filing for the 

start of the fiscal year 2020 year increased, and two large states (Illinois and Texas) have 

passed laws requiring FAFSA filing as a requirement to graduate from high school, so FSA 

anticipates that the percentage of high school seniors filing a FAFSA will increase in fiscal year 

2020.

Measure: Persistence among first-time filing aid recipients.

Year Target Actual

2016 78.5–80.5 79.7

2017 78.7–80.7 82.6

2018 81.6–83.6 82.5

2019 82.0–84.0 82.8

2020 83.0–84.0

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 82.8 percent. 

Continuing FAFSA outreach campaigns, the premiere of a mobile FAFSA, and a strong social 

media presence all allowed FSA to meet its goal for persistence among first-time FAFSA filers. 

FSA plans to increase its outreach efforts to students while in school in fiscal year 2020. This 

should help to increase the number of first-time filers who return to file a second FAFSA.

This metric helps track performance across one of the desired outcomes of Federal Student Aid 

and its impact on program completion. By following first-time filing aid recipients – such as 

college freshmen or non-traditional students, into their second year – it is possible to see 

whether FSA is making improvements in how applicants are translating the aid that they receive 

into educational persistence. The denominator is the number of first-time FAFSA filers in the 

previous cycle with a program or degree length greater than one year that received aid for that 

award year (grants and/or loans). The numerator in the number of 2017 – 18 return applicants 

(by September 30 of the first year of the application cycle) that were identified in the 

denominator.
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Measure: Customer visits to StudentAid.gov.

Year Target Actual

2016 >=43.4 47.2

2017 >=43.3 44.3

2018 >=43.3 44.5

2019 >=150.0 183.7

2020 >=190.0

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA continued to exceed its target for this metric again in fiscal year

2019 with a result of 183.7 million customer visits. 

The October 2018 migration of the FAFSA home page to StudentAid.gov continued to drive a 

large number of customers to the website, resulting in an increase in the number of sessions on 

the site. 

FSA’s performance on this metric is a testament to the success of its effort on promoting the site 

as a trusted source and driving improvements to the student experience. Since its launch in 

2012, StudentAid.gov has evolved into FSA’s primary information interface for federal student 

aid tools, resources, and services.

Measure: Social media channel subscribership.

Year Target Actual

2016 >= 454,000 528,251

2017 >= 500,000 584,241

2018 >= 590,000 607,241

2019 >= 615,000 634,556

2020 >= 640,000

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA exceeded its target with more than 634,556 subscribers. 

FSA exceeded its target for this metric for the fifth year in a row, with subscribers to FSA’s 

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube social media channels. In today’s information age, digital 

media techniques are becoming increasingly critical for effective customer engagement. Within 

the past several years, FSA has aggressively leveraged social media tools to drive awareness, 

uncover insights, engage and interact with students and borrowers, and drive traffic to FSA’s 

websites. This metric helps track FSA’s progress in this domain.
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Measure: Customer service level of American Customer Satisfaction Index for entire aid 

lifecycle (1–100 Scale).

Year Target Actual

2016 Prior to revised metric 70.4

2017 69.4–71.4 69.9

2018 68.9–70.9 70.6

2019 70.0–72.0 70.0

2020 72.0–74.0

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 70.0. 

This performance measure is an index made up of several different measures. This metric 

measures how FSA is improving in terms of streamlined processes for interactions with 

customers applying for, receiving, and repaying Federal student aid. The metric measures the 

accessibility of information FSA provides to customers. Historically, to measure the overall 

customer satisfaction level throughout the student aid life cycle, FSA has calculated a weighted 

score for the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) surveys for FAFSA applicants, 

students in school, and borrowers in repayment. Together, the three measures span the three 

major parts of the student aid lifecycle. As Next Gen FSA efforts improve the customer 

experience of borrowers repaying their loans, FSA expects to see this score increase. 

Traditionally, the ACSI survey has been conducted annually for FSA’s major programs. The 

index provides a national, cross-industry, cross-sector economic indicator, using widely 

accepted methodologies to obtain standardized customer satisfaction information. Survey 

scores are indexed on a 100-point scale. The ACSI scores for application, in-school experience, 

and servicing are weighted by the utilization of each process/service and the intensity of the 

service provided.

Strategic Goal B: Proactively manage the student aid portfolio to mitigate risk.

Measure: Improper Payment Rate.

Year Target Actual

2016 N/A 4.85

2017 4.85 4.97

2018 4.97 4.95

2019 4.95 0.93

2020 0.89

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA achieved its target for this metric with a blended rate of 0.93 

percent.

In fiscal year 2019, FSA implemented a statistically valid estimation methodology to replace the 

non-statistically valid estimation methodology used in prior years. As a result, the fiscal year
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2019 estimate more accurately identifies the improper payment amounts in these programs and 

allows for more precise root cause analyses to improve corrective actions. 

FSA continues to enhance its internal control framework to prevent, detect, and recover 

improper payments. For more information on FSA’s improper payment program, including 

improper payment related internal controls for the Pell Grant and Direct Loan Programs, please 

see the Payment Integrity section of this report and of the Department’s AFR.

Measure: Percent of borrowers >90 days delinquent.

Year Target Actual

2016 9.9 8.8

2017 7.4 8.33

2018 8.18 7.4

2019 10.1* 9.8

2020 9.8

2021 TBD

* This performance metric methodology was revised in fiscal year 2019.

Additional information: FSA exceeded its target with a result of 9.8 percent. 

The Improper Payment Rate has improved in part from the migration of borrowers from 

traditional repayment plans to Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans. The movement to IDR 

plans has been facilitated by extensive outreach conducted by both FSA and its partners. 

Borrowers in Current Repayment are also less costly to service than borrowers in more-adverse 

repayment categories like delinquency.

The data source is NSLDS. The calculation uses the rounded results appearing in the FSA Data 

Center’s Direct Loan Delinquency report. The fiscal year metric is a moving average of the four 

quarters. 

Strategic Goal C: Improve operational efficiency and flexibility.

Measure: Aid Delivery Cost per Application.

Year Target Actual

2016 $13.11 $11.53

2017 11.46 10.68

2018 12.16 8.83

2019 11.99 9.55

2020 TBD*

2021 TBD

*Note: New Next Gen Federal Student Aid performance measures will be available in the Spring of 2020.

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of $9.55. 
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FSA continues to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiencies within the Federal student 

aid process. During fiscal year 2019, the aid delivery cost per application was approximately 26 

percent lower than the fiscal year 2019 target, but 8 percent above the fiscal year 2018 result. 

Significant savings are expected to be realized after the implementation of the Next Generation 

Data Center to host application processing systems.

Measure: Outstanding Direct Loan Portfolio in Current Repayment Status.

Year Target Actual

2016 85.3% 85.4%

2017 84.9–85.9 85.7

2018 85.0–86.0 86.5

2019 85.0–86.0 86.7

2020 85.5–86.6

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 86.7 percent.

The migration of borrowers from traditional repayment plans to those more aligned with their 

financial situation under IDR, have demonstrated a positive impact on the percentage of the 

Direct Loan Portfolio in current repayment status. FSA and its partners have conducted 

extensive outreach to borrowers to facilitate these transitions where appropriate. Borrowers in 

Current Repayment are also less costly to service than borrowers in more-adverse repayment 

categories like delinquency.

The metric is calculated using the Direct Loan Portfolio by Delinquency Status Report published 

by the FSA Data Center using data provided by NSLDS. It is the outstanding principal and 

interest balance of “current” Direct Loans in the active repayment status divided by the total 

principal and interest balance of Direct Loans in an active repayment status at the non-default 

servicers. The metric result is calculated as a four-quarter moving average as of September 30 

of the current fiscal year. This allows FSA to account for changes relating to seasonality and 

indirect factors that could be false indicators of change.

Strategic Goal D: Foster trust and collaboration among stakeholders.

Measure: Ease of Doing Business with FSA (1–100 Scale).

Year Target Actual

2016 74.3–77.3 72.3.

2017 71.3–73.3 73.4.4

2018 71.9–74.9 74.5

2019 73.4–75.4 74.0

2020 74.4-76.4

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 74.0. 
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The fiscal year 2019 score for the “Ease of Doing Business” question item on the Schools 

Partners survey was 74.0. The School Partners Survey reaches out to Financial Aid 

Administrators across the nation who work and interact with FSA. This score comes from the 

May 2019 survey of Financial Aid Administrators and was the sole measurement for fiscal year

2019. FSA feels that the score reflects the value and strong reputation for FSA’s training.

A survey of 15-20 questions, regarding the ease of doing business with FSA, is sent to financial 

aid administrators annually. The questions focus on the ease of use of FSA’s major delivery and 

information systems. The ease of doing business score question is based on 1,201 responses 

(with a 20.6 item response rate). There were 5,819 survey invitations sent with 1,226 surveys 

completed (a 21.1 percent overall survey response rate), a high response rate for a customer 

satisfaction on-line survey.

Measure: Percentage of contract dollars competed by FSA.

Year Target Actual

2016 89.3–91.3 92.9

2017 89.3–91.3 95 95.2

2018 89.3–91.3 96.8

2019 95.8–97.8 97.6

2020 TBD*

2021 TBD

*Note: New Next Gen Federal Student Aid performance measures will be available in the Spring of 2020.

Additional information: FSA met this metric with a final score of 97.6 percent. 

FSA met the target for this performance metric in fiscal year 2019 as the result of FSA’s 

commitment to competitively award a high percentage of contract dollars each year, driving 

value for taxpayers through a competitive acquisition process. The metric is a five-year rolling 

average. The numerator is the total amount of dollars competed over a five-year period ending 

in the most recently completed fiscal year; the denominator is the total amount of dollars 

expended on contracts over the same period. The data are extracted from the Federal 

Procurement Data System-Next Generation using the standard “Competition Report” for 

contracting office “Federal Student Aid Procurement Activity.”
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Measure: Collection Rate (non-default and default).

Year Target Actual

2016 $51.79 $53.07

2017 51.68 59.69

2018 59.24 62.15

2019 53.30 58.56

2020 50.97

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of $58.56. 

FSA’s collection rate measures the amount of dollars collected from borrowers in the fiscal year 

per dollar spent to collect. Measuring this rate helps FSA gauge the efficiency of its back-end 

systems and processes. To this end, there are four main components that led to the fiscal year 

2019 Collection Rate Metric being met. Actual Loan Servicing costs are lower than projected in 

part because the anticipated servicer recompete has not yet occurred. The PCA costs are lower 

than projected as the ‘flat rate’ pricing paid to the PCAs has been fully implemented. Actual 

collections increased 2.1 percent over the projected rate which led to an increase in actual vs. 

forecasted Default collection costs. 

Collections are defined as the total amount of principal collected on both current and defaulted 

debt during the 12-month period ending June 30 of each year. Costs include the total direct 

costs calculated for loan servicing plus debt collections for the same period using FSA’s ActivityBased Costing process. The cost data are derived from FSA’s Activity-Based Costing model 

(Default Collections and Loan Servicing) and PCA spending. A program from the general ledger 

captured the amount of collections and repayment.

Strategic Goal E: Strengthen Federal Student Aid’s performance culture and become 

one of the best places to work in the Federal Government.

Measure: FSA Employee Engagement Index (Subset of Questions from Governmentwide 

Employee Viewpoint Survey)—Percentage of positive responses to survey.

Year Target Actual

2016 66.9–68.9 67.4

2017 65.4–69.4 69.7

2018 67.7–72.7 62.0

2019 61.0–63.0 61.0

2020 62.0–63.0

2021 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target with a result of 61.0 percent. 

FSA experienced significant shifts in management; restructuring of its workflow and business 

units; along with significant policy changes to employee’ work/life balance in fiscal year 2019. 

FSA believes that these changes caused a decrease to its scores. The Leaders Lead and the 

Supervisors subsection of the EEI both decreased by one percentage point. The focus of these 
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questions reflects the employees’ perceptions of the integrity of leadership; leadership 

behaviors such as communication; and the internal relationship between worker and supervisor, 

including trust, respect, and support. The Intrinsic Work Experience subsection increased by 

one percentage point. These questions reflect the employees’ feelings of motivation and 

competency relating to their role in the organization. 

Despite the significant changes in leadership, FSA’s Employee Engagement team delivered 

meaningful programs (under the FSA First Class initiative). These programs were designed to 

(a)increase employees’ awareness of FSA’s mission and priorities; (b) help employees map 

their own work to the organization’s mission; and (c) increase employees’ knowledge about 

other areas within FSA outside of their own business unit. Implementing strategic initiatives was 

instrumental in sustaining the scores within the 60th percentile in positive responses associated 

with the EEI questions.

The EEI is calculated as the average of positive response percentages to a predetermined set 

of questions in the annual FEVS. These questions can be found as part of the fiscal year 2019 

FEVS results located at fedview.opm.gov.