Department of Education

STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request

CONTENTS

Page

Appropriations Language ........................................................................................................Y-1

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

Amounts Available for Obligation ............................................................................................Y-6

Obligations by Object Classification ........................................................................................Y-7

Summary of Changes .............................................................................................................Y-8

Authorizing Legislation............................................................................................................Y-9

Appropriations History...........................................................................................................Y-10

Significant Items in FY 2019 Appropriations Reports.............................................................Y-12

Summary of Request ............................................................................................................Y-13

Activity: 

Student Aid Administration ...........................................................................................Y-14
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Y-1

Appropriations Language 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[$1,678,943,000] $1,812,000,000, to remain available 

through September 30,[2020] 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 FSA Next Generation Processing and Servicing Environment as amended by 

the Department of Education on February 20, 2018, 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 such 

servicers described in the previous proviso shall be evaluated based on their ability to meet 

contract requirements, future performance on the contracts, and history of compliance with 

applicable consumer protections laws: 6 Provided further, That to the extent Federal Student Aid 

(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 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Y-2

performance of the prime contractor: 7 Provided further, That FSA shall ensure that the Next 

Generation Processing and Servicing Environment contracts incentivize more support to 

borrowers at risk of being distressed: 8 Provided further, That the Secretary shall provide 

quarterly briefings to the Committees on Appropriations and Education and the Workforce 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].9(Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2019.)

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

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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 2020 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,[2020] 2021

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 allow the Secretary to 

allocate new student loan accounts to 

additional student loan servicers. This 

language is eliminated because the 

Department expects to award contracts 

incorporating these requirements prior to the 

end of fiscal year 2019.

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 the Department does not 

expect to award new loan consolidations in 

fiscal year 2020 through contracts awarded 

prior to October 1, 2017.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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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 FSA Next 

Generation Processing and Servicing 

Environment as amended by the Department 

of Education on February 20, 2018, 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 lifecycle 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 would restrict the Secretary 

from awarding servicing contracts for new 

Federal student loan servicing environment, 

including Next Generation Processing and 

Servicing Environment, unless there are 

specific exceptions. This language is 

eliminated because the Department expects 

to award contracts incorporating these 

requirements prior to the end of fiscal year 

2019.

6

... [Provided further, That such servicers 

described in the previous proviso shall be 

evaluated based on their ability to meet 

contract requirements, future performance on 

the contracts, and history of compliance with 

applicable consumer protections laws:]

This language would allow servicers to be 

evaluated based performance and 

compliance with consumer protection laws.

This language is eliminated because the 

Department expects to award contracts 

incorporating these requirements prior to the 

end of fiscal year 2019.

7

... [Provided further, That to the extent 

Federal Student Aid (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 the Department 

expects to award contracts incorporating 

these requirements prior to the end of fiscal 

year 2019.

8

... [Provided further, That FSA shall ensure 

that the Next Generation Processing and 

Servicing Environment contracts incentivize 

more support to borrowers at risk of being 

distressed:]

This language would require FSA to ensure 

that the Next Gen contract provides for

increased support to distressed borrowers. 

This language is eliminated because the 

Department expects to award contracts 

incorporating these requirements prior to the 

end of fiscal year 2019.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Language Provision Explanation

9

... [Provided further, That the Secretary shall 

provide quarterly briefings to the Committees 

on Appropriations and Education and the 

Workforce 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 to Congress 

related to Federal student loan servicing 

contracts. This language is eliminated

because the Department expects to have 

completed the solicitation process prior to the 

end of fiscal year 2019.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Amounts Available for Obligation

(dollars in thousands)

Appropriation and Adjustments 2018 2019 2020

Discretionary appropriation:

Discretionar y – Appropriation .............................................................. $1,678,943 $1,678,943 $1,812,000

Unobligated balance, start of year................................ 2,814 2,171 0

Recovery of prior-year obligations................................ 12,266 0 0

Unobligated balance expiring....................................... -171 0 0

Unobligated balance, end of year................................ . -2,171 0 0

Subtotal, adjusted discretionary 

appropriation ......................................................... 1,691,681 1,681,114 1,812,000
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Obligations by Object Classification

(dollars in thousands)

Object Class # Object Class

2018

Actual

2019

Appropriation 

2020

Request

Change 

from 2019 

to 2020

11.10 Full-time permanent $163,034 $164,954 $165,616 $662

11.31 Full-time temporary 1,025 0 0 0

11.32 Part-time 947 0 0 0

11.33 Consultants 0 0 0 0

11.51 Overtime 246 76 105 29

11.52 Awards 2,818 2,798 2,798 0

11.80 Other Compensation 117 0 0 0

Subtotal, Personnel Comp. 168,187 167,828 168,519 691

12.00 Benefits

 

53,042 53,601 53,797 196

13.10 Benefits for Former Personnel 176 241 241 0

Subtotal, Per. Comp & Ben. 221,405 221,670 222,557 887

21.00 Travel 1,746 2,294 2,721 427

22.00 Transportation of things 24 0 0 0

23.10 Rental payments to GSA 19,757 20,476 20,375 -101

23.31 Communications 25 0 0 0

23.32 Postage/fees 12 22 22 0

Subtotal, 23 19,794 20,498 20,397 -101

24.00 Printing and reproduction 119 79 64 -15

25.10 Advisory and assistance services 3,095 5,409 7,672 2,263

25.21 Other services 986,851 916,118 780,768 -133,179

25.22 Training/Tuition/Contracts 625 1,290 2,123 833

25.30 Goods/Services from Gov’t 59,086 44,778 42,224 -2,554

25.40 Operations/Maint of Facilities 0 0 0 0

25.71 Operations/Maint of Equipment 7 0 32 32

25.72 IT Services/Contracts 396,028 468,782 733,009 264,227

Subtotal, 25 1,445,692 1,436,377 1,565,828 131,622

26.00 Supplies 328 47 294 247

31.10 IT Equipment/Software 212 149 139 -10

31.30 Other Equipment 134 0 0 0

Subtotal, 31 346 149 139 -10

32.00 Building Alterations 2,226 0 0 0

43.10 Prompt payment interest 1 0 0 0

Total, Obligations 1,691,681 1,681,114 1,812,000 133,057
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Summary of Changes

(dollars in thousands)

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

2020 ................................................................................................. 1,812,000

Net change................................................................ +133,057

Increases:

2019

Appropriation 

Change

from Base

Built-in:

Increase in Personnel Compensation and Benefits for one extra 

paid day in FY 2020 and estimated increased fixed benefits 

rates. $221,670 +$887

Program:

Increase in travel. 2,294 +427

Increase in advisory and assistance services. 5,409 +2,263

Increase in Training/Tuition/Contracts 1,290 +833

Increase in operations and maintenance of equipment 0 32

Increase in contracted IT services primarily for Next Gen 

Legacy Core Processing 468,782 +264,227

Increase in supplies. 47 +247

Subtotal, increases +268,916

Decreases:

Built-in:

Decrease in rental payments to GSA. 20,476 -101

Program:

Decrease primarily due to transitioning to the Next Generation 

Processing and Servicing Environment 913,947 -133,179

Decrease in printing and reproduction 79 -15

Decrease in goods and services from the Government. 447,778 -2,554

Decrease in IT equipment/software 149 -10

Subtotal, decreases -135,859

Net Change 133,057
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Y-9

Authorizing Legislation

(dollars in thousands)

Activity

2019

Authorized

2019

Appropriation

2020

Authorized

2020

Request

Student aid administration (Higher Education Act 

of 1965, I-D 0

1 $1,678,943 To be determined2 $1,812,000

Total appropriation 1,678,943 1,812,000

Portion of request not authorized 1,812,000

1 The program was authorized in 2018 through appropriation language.

2 The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2015; reauthorizing legislation is sought for fiscal year 2019.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Appropriations History

(dollars in thousands)

Year

Budget 

Estimate 

to Congress 

F

o

o

t

n

o

t

e

House 

Allowance Foot

note

Senate 

Allowance Foot

note AppropriationFootnote

2011 1,170,231 994,6001 1,048,0781 992,0121

2012 1,095,418 992,0122 1,045,3632 1,043,387

2013 1,126,363 1,043,3873 1,126,3633 978,9244

2014 1,050,0915 N/A6 1,044,301  1,166,0007

2015 1,446,9248 N/A6 1,446,924 9 1,396,924

2016 1,581,8548 1,446,92410 1,361,70010 1,551,854

2017 1,631,99011 1,551,85412 1,546,85412 1,576,85412

2018 $1,697,71113 $1,697,71113 $1,576,85413 $1,678,94313

 

1

The levels for the House allowance reflects the House-passed full-year continuing resolution; Senate 

allowance reflects Committee action only; the Appropriation reflects the Department of Defense and FullYear Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (P.L. 112-10).

2

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

Senate Committee action only.

3

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.

4

Total transfer $9,888 thousand to Program Administration, Office for Civil Rights and Office of Inspector 

General.

5

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.

6

The House allowance is shown as N/A because there was no Subcommittee action.

7

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

Education for the Health Education Assistance Loan program. 

8

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.

9

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

10 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.

11 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.

12 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.

13 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).
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Year

Budget 

Estimate 

to Congress 

F

o

o

t

n

o

t

e

House 

Allowance Foot

note

Senate 

Allowance Foot

note AppropriationFootnote

2019 1,772,000 1,678,9431 1,678,9431 1,678,9431

2020 1,812,000

 

1

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).
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Significant Items in FY 2019 Appropriations Reports

Quarterly Loan Servicing Activity Report 

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 on 

administrative obligations.

Disclosure Requests

Senate The Committee directs the Secretary to respond to “Enforcement Disclosure” 

requests under the Statement of Record Notice for the Direct Loan Program 

(Common Services For Borrowers, 18-11-16) within 10 days of receipt and to 

public and post on a publicly accessible website and a detailed explanation of 

the policy that governs such a disclosure. Further, the Committee encourages 

the Secretary to make available publicly available on its website a detailed list 

of all individual requests made to the Department under the “Enforcement 

Disclosure” provision. 

Response The Department is evaluating how best to respond to the request.

Small Business Credit Subcontracting 

Senate The Department shall coordinate the identification of all prime and 

subcontracts awarded to State and nonprofit entities under Title IV program 

contracts to the Small Business Administration so that subcontract reporting 

may be appropriately monitored. Five years after publication of this report, the 

Small Business Administration, in coordination with the Department of 

Education, shall examine the impact of this provision to small businesses in 

Title IV programs. 

Response The Department is evaluating how best to respond to the request.
Y-13

Y-13

SUMMAR Y OF REQUEST

Click here for accessible version

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FISCAL YEAR 2020 PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

(in thousands of dollars)

Amount Percent

 1. Salaries and expenses D 781,327 852,974 1,281,281 428,307 50.21%

 2. Servicing activities1 D 897,616 825,969 530,719 (295,250) -35.75%

1,678,943 1,678,943 1,812,000 133,057 7.93%

NOTES: D = discretionary program; M = mandatory program

Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. 

Student Aid Administration (HEA I-D)

Total 

1

 The 2018 Appropriation column reflects actual obligations and the 2019 Appropriation column reflects updated servicing reestimates.

Cat 

Code

2018 

Appropriation 

2019 

Appropriation

2020 

President's 

Budget

2020 President's Budget Compared 

to 2019 Appropriation
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Y-14

Activit y

STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

(Higher Education Act of 1965, I-D)

(dollars in thousands)

FY 2020 Authorization: To be determined1

Budget Authority:

Categories

2019 2020 Change 

Personnel Comp. & Ben. Costs $221,670 $222,557 +$887

Non-Personnel Costs,

excluding Loan Servicing Costs 631,304 1,058,724 +427,420

Subtotal, Salaries and 

Expenses

852,974 1,281,281 +428,307

Loan Servicing Costs 825,9692530,719 -295,250

Total, Student Aid 

Administration 1,678,943 1,812,000 +133,057

FTE 1,480 1,480 0

 

1

The GEPA extension expired September 30, 2015; reauthorizing legislation is sought for fiscal year 

2019. 

2

The 2019 appropriation column reflects the July 2018 reestimate of $825,969 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 

student loans; processing approximately 19.7 million student financial aid applications; 

disbursing nearly $147 billion in Direct Loans, including consolidation loans and approximately 

$30 billion in Pell grants a year; administering a loan portfolio of nearly $1.4 trillion; and

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

Y-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.

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 

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.

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 $28.0 billion to 6.6 million low-and 

middle-income undergraduate students during the 2018–2019 award year, with an average 

award of $4,274. The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2019–2020 award year is $6,195.

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 2020, the Department will originate $100.2 billion in new 

Direct Loans, excluding Consolidation Loans. See the Student Loans Overview and Student 

Aid Overview for details on Student Loan programs in the fiscal year 2019 request. The 

Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program is similar to 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. 

Funding levels for the past 5 fiscal years were:

Fiscal Year (dollars in thousands)

footnote

2015................................................................................. 1,396,924

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

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

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

2019................................................................................. 1,678,943
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Y-16

FY 2020 BUDGET REQUEST

The Administration requests $1.8 billion for fiscal year 2020 in the SAA account to administer 

the Federal student aid programs an increase of $133.0 million over fiscal years 2018 and 2019 

appropriations. The requested funds are necessary to manage and service the student loan 

portfolio, including: anticipated increases in loan volume and costs associated with transitioning 

to the Next Generation Financial Services Environment; maintaining operations for student aid 

application processing, origination and disbursement functions, and student aid information 

technology (IT) system hosting; and enhancing IT security.

Highlights of the fiscal year 2020 Request include: 

1) Next Generation Financial Services Environment (Next Gen) totals $502.0 million, an 

increase of $383.0 million over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. 

2) Loan servicing activities totals $531.0 million, $295 million less than below the fiscal 

year 2019 appropriation. These costs are directly tied to the transition to the Next 

Generation Financial Services Environment.

3) Maintaining continual operations for student aid application processing, origination 

and disbursement functions, and IT system hosting total $289.2 million, an increase of 

$1.4 million over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. These costs are necessary for 

maintaining core operations of the student aid life cycle including student aid application 

processing and origination and disbursement functions. 

4) Federal Student Aid IT security totals $49.3 million, an increase of $10.4 million over the 

fiscal year 2019 appropriation. The net increased costs are crucial to protecting 

borrowers’ personal information and to enhance cybersecurity initiatives to protect against 

security breaches. 

Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Costs by Category

SAA groups investments by category. The chart below provides the funding level for each 

budget cost category and the percentage share of the fiscal year 2020 budget request. 

 Seventy-three percent of the proposed SAA budget supports the Core Functions of

Federal Student Aid operational activities. Federal Student Aid’s major operational 

activities include: effectively servicing the growing student loan portfolio and operations 

for student aid application processing, origination and disbursement functions, and IT 

system hosting. 

 Twelve percent of the request includes $222.6 million to cover the Personnel 

Compensation and Benefits (PC&B) costs of 1,480 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) 

Employment; 1,349 FTE in Federal Student Aid and 131 FTE in the non-Federal Student 

Aid offices. The fiscal year 2020 FTE request is the same as fiscal year 2019 

appropriation. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Y-17

 Six percent includes overhead for central support (e.g., rent and background 

investigations), central information technology (e.g., the Department’s EDCAPS financial 

systems and PIVOT IT hosting) and the Other category that includes Web site 

interfaces, contract specialist support, and other activities to carry out FSA’s mission

 Four percent of the request includes other core student aid systems (e.g., National 

Student Loan Data System and FSA’s accounting system), interagency agreements 

(e.g., IRS Data Retrieval), and IT security initiatives, including FSA’s increased 

cybersecurity efforts. 

Fiscal Year 2020 Federal Student Aid Core Functions: $1,322 million

Next Gen FSA - Building the Future of Financial Aid: $502.0 million, an increase of $383.0 

million over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation

The Department is pursuing an innovative strategy to deliver Federal student aid services and 

information to our customers. Next Gen FSA will create an improved, world-class customer 

experience for FSA's millions of customers, while creating a more agile, flexible model that will 

streamline FSA's existing operations. Next Gen FSA will improve the integrity of the Title IV 

programs and transform how we provide oversight of organizations that support our shared 

mission. Requested funding increases for fiscal year 2020 primarily reflect the anticipated 

retirement of the current loan servicing contracts and the shift of core processing and business 

operations activities to new contracts awarded under Next Gen FSA. 

2020 Core Functions 

(including servicing 

loans and continuing 

operations for core 

FSA systems), $1,322, 

73%

Personnel 

Compensation & 

Benefits, $222.6, 12%

Other Core Student 

Aid Systems, $70.8, 

4%

IT Security Initiatives, 

$49.3, 3%

Overhead , $107.9, 

6%

Other, $39.4, 2%

FY 2020 Costs by Category and as Percent of Request 

 (dollars in millions)
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

Y-18

The key to the Next Gen FSA transformation will be a comprehensive, FSA-branded customer 

engagement layer that will create an environment where the Department’s customers will 

receive clear, consistent information and readily accessible self-service options at every stage 

of the student aid lifecycle. On February 20, 2019, FSA awarded a contract for services 

collectively known as Digital and Customer Care (DCC). This contract, valued at $86.7 million 

in fiscal year 2019, $111.6 million in fiscal year 2020, and up to $577 million over eight years if

all options are exercised, will implement the Next Gen FSA engagement layer, transforming 

FSA into a trusted source of information and greatly simplifying the process of assisting 

customers in applying for and receiving postsecondary financial assistance and choosing the 

best options for managing their student debt. DCC includes more specifically:

Digital: The DCC contract will deliver the enterprise-wide, FSA-branded digital platform 

featuring a mobile-first, mobile-complete, and mobile-continuous customer solution. The 

platform will be FSA’s “digital front door” for all customer interactions, consolidating multiple 

customer-facing websites and expanding the functionality available in the myStudentAid

mobile app.

Customer Care: The DCC contract will consolidate and enhance customer care capabilities 

across phone, chat, chatbot, email, text, and social channels onto a single platform enabling 

an omni-channel experience; the experience will include a single toll-free number for students, 

parents, and borrowers. The capabilities will be managed by a centralized command center 

that will onboard and oversee all FSA contact centers and ensure quality customer care.

Communications: The DCC contract will streamline customer communications and outreach 

so that customers receive consistent and personalized information about their financial aid 

and repayment options through the customers’ preferred communication channel.

The new solutions delivered by the DCC contract, which will begin to come online later in 2019 

will integrate with other Next Gen components and/or legacy systems. FSA will leverage the 

latest in middleware, processing, data storage and security to create a more efficient, costeffective technical infrastructure. While Federal student loans are complex, the Department 

believes that leveraging modern commercial engagement and technical capabilities is likely to 

reduce FSA’s operating costs once the solution is fully implemented. For example, moving 

toward a self-service model common in commercial financial services—which emphasizes 

customer-friendly mobile, digital, and interactive voice response technology over the laborintensive live phone calls and traditional hard-copy mail that dominate current FSA customer 

interactions—could significantly reduce costs while improving customer satisfaction and 

outcomes.

In fiscal year 2020, FSA will continue the transition to the new Next Gen FSA platform and 

implement new business process operations (approximately $400 million) and also fund annual 

and pro-rated O&M costs as the new systems are implemented (approximately $100 million). 

As loan servicer accounts are migrated from legacy systems to the new platform, O&M costs for 

legacy systems and operations will decline, and will end when the transition to the Next Gen 

FSA platform is complete. After conversion to the new systems is completed, legacy O&M 

costs will be entirely replaced with the annual O&M costs for the new systems. 
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The myStudentAid mobile app implemented in August 2016 is a new FSA platform designed to

deliver a world-class customer experience throughout the student financial aid lifecycle. As the 

cornerstone of the Next Generation FSA effort, the mobile app leverages a mobile-first, mobilecomplete, mobile-continuous digital platform to provide customers with an easier and more 

seamless interaction with FSA services; allow customers to receive FSA support through the 

channel that is most appropriate for their needs; enhance FSA omni-channel engagement 

strategy; and leverage experiences created using a human-centered design approach, informed 

by a holistic understanding of customer data and customer feedback, and continuously 

improved through iterative testing. The move to a mobile-phone platform is especially important 

with efforts to reach low-income students across the country. A study conducted by Pew 

Research Center1indicates that low-income students are much more likely to have access to a 

smartphone than they are to a laptop or desktop computer connected to the internet. The 

myStudentAid mobile app features the new and improved FAFSA and other student aid 

resources. Future plans include building capabilities and functionalities for FSA customers to not 

only manage their student aid but also receive proactive engagement and financial literacy 

guidance.

Servicing the student loan portfolio: $531.0 million, $295 million less than the fiscal year 

2019 appropriation

The fiscal year 2020 Request is $531 million for loan servicing costs of $295 million less than

the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. The reductions are directly tied to transitioning to the Next 

Generation Financial Services Environment.

Currently, the Department contracts with nine servicers to provide borrower services for the 

Federal Direct Loan and TEACH Grant programs, as well as for federally held loans originated 

under the Federal Family Education Loan program. Two additional servicers provide services 

for the Perkins Loan program and default management. All servicers are funded entirely with 

discretionary budget authority. In addition, the costs necessary to service the HEAL program 

are included in the total servicing request for fiscal year 2020. 

The servicing costs are driven in part based on the overall loan volume, the combination of 

repayment statuses in the loan portfolio, and the timing of loan delivery. As such, cost 

estimates are very sensitive to changes in the total number of borrowers being serviced and the 

distribution of accounts across loan statuses. Loan servicers are currently paid a unit cost per 

borrower account that they service. Unit costs are structured to incentivize servicers to keep 

borrower accounts in repayment current. Servicers are compensated more for accounts that 

are actively repaying. Conversely, servicers are paid less for accounts that are not actively 

repaying (in-school, deferment, and forbearance status) and incrementally paid even less as 

accounts shift further into non-payment, i.e., delinquency status. As the total number of 

borrower accounts being serviced increases and as more borrowers move into active 

repayment (current status), servicing costs will increase accordingly. FSA closely analyzes 

performance and costs of the servicing contractors to ensure that its estimates are as accurate 

 

1

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-incomeamericans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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as possible and to evaluate whether its servicing contracts are appropriately incentivizing 

servicers to keep borrowers in good standing. 

Maintaining operations for student aid application processing, origination, and 

disbursement functions and IT system hosting: $289.0 million, an increase of $27.4 

million over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation

Included in this request are key FSA operational costs:

 Title IV Origination and Disbursement System (TIVODS) ($118.3 million);

 Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS) ($36.2 million) and Customer 

Contact Center ($36.0 million) including operations and maintenance of the development 

and processing of FAFSA. FSA Customer Contact Recompete efforts ($1.2 million) and the 

Customer Engagement Management System ($4.9 million); and

 IT system costs ($87.2 million) including the operation and maintenance of the Next 

Generation Data Center ($56.6 million), software licenses ($21 million), and the technical 

architecture and system support for FSA applications ($9.6 million).

Title IV Origination and Disbursement System (TIVODS): $118.3 million, a decrease of $3.6 

million

FSA expects to originate and disburse more than $118.3 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 2020. 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 

rates; updates the list of qualifying schools at which TEACH recipients and others looking for 

certain loan forgiveness benefits need to teach at to maintain eligibility. FSA has 

restructured the TIVOD contract activities to reduce overall costs in fiscal year 2020 from 

fiscal year 2019, while operating and maintaining current essential services. 

Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS) and Customer Contact Center: 

$83.6 million, increase of $21.9 million

AEDS includes:

 $36.2 million for FAFSA development and processing operations and maintenance 

(O&M) ($9.6 million more than the 2019 appropriation);
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 $37 million for FSA Customer Contact Center operations with FSA Feedback System

($11.0 million more than the 2019 appropriation); and

 $10.4 million Customer Engagement Management System (CEMS) ($1.3 million less 

than the 2019 appropriation).

AEDS O&M funds FAFSA filing, online and paper, systems and services, including 

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

annual application. In addition to these contracted services, AEDS O&M funds increased 

hardware and software support during FAFSA peak processing months. Funding also 

supports the AED contract recompete, which will include contact award and transition costs. 

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. 

The fiscal year 2020 budget request also supports O&M costs for Customer Engagemetn 

Management System (CEMS), which registers feedback and complaints by public users. 

After the complaint is registered, the complaint is then sent to the Ombudsman for the 

Ombudsman to reach out to the submitter for resolution. 

Next Generation Data Center (NGDC): Fiscal year 2020 request of $56.6 million, an 

increase of $5 million over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation.

The NGDC is a single computing environment for data and transaction processing, network 

communication services, infrastructure, and tools required to deliver financial aid. NGDC 

hosts 59 system applications and incorporates security best practices using a hybrid cloud 

solution. The fiscal year 2020 request supports NGDC O&M, with an increase to fund data 

center security enhancements, and provides the NGDC telecommunication foundation for

FSA systems and call centers.

Enterprise Software Licenses: Fiscal year 2020 request of $21 million, an increase of $3.0

million over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. 

Enterprise Software Licenses supports maintenance renewal agreements for all FSA and 

NGDC supported software. This program consolidates similar software licenses with 

different renewal dates under one agreement and reduces licensing duplication for FSA. 

Centralizing procurements and renewals of software licenses promotes cost savings through 

quantity discounts and reduction of contracts used for maintenance renewals.
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Enterprise Architecture & Engineering (EAE): Fiscal year 2020 request of $9.6 million, an 

increase of $1.2 million over the 2019 appropriation.

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

FSA with the necessary services and support needed to plan, maintain, and develop its 

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 within the FSA system architecture. 

 EPT provides performance testing analysis services that ensure FSA's applications are 

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

production for each mission critical application within the NGDC. 

 EA provides FSA stakeholders—senior managers, application leads, investment 

decision makers—with essential IT architecture information and tools, for use in 

evaluation and acquisition of new solutions. 

 TAS provides IT engineering expertise to ensure technical solutions meet FSA's 

technical requirements, represent industry best practices, and implement FSA’s IT 

engineering processes that evaluate and improve design standards.

Other Core Student Aid Administration Systems: $70.8 million, an increase of $6.7 million

over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation

Federal Student Aid Administration Interagency Agreements: $17.9 million, $1.9 million less 

than the fiscal year 2019 appropriation.

The Department enters into agreements with other Government agencies for the purpose of 

verifying Federal student aid eligibility and accessibility and providing services to simplify the 

aid process. Currently the Department has agreements with Department of Treasury, Internal 

Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security Administration (SSA), Department of Homeland 

Security, Health Resources and Services Administration, Government Printing Office, and 

Department of Commerce. 

An agreement with the IRS allows FSA and IRS to collaborate on a data retrieval tool, the IRS 

Data Retrieval Tool, which retrieves specific tax return information for authenticated users of 

the Department’s online 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.
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National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS): $13.5 million, $1.5 million less than the fiscal 

year 2019 appropriation

NSLDS maintains detailed administrative data on the provision of Title IV aid, such as the 

number of loans and grants made, and provides for the electronic exchange of data between 

program participants and the system. NSLDS collects and stores data from borrowers, 

schools, lenders, and guaranty agencies and integrates data on student aid applicants and 

recipients. The Department uses this comprehensive data to effectively administer the student 

loan and grant programs by preventing fraud and abuse through pre-screening and postscreening for Title IV aid eligibility, calculating statutory guaranty agency payments, and 

calculating higher education accountability measures. NSLDS data is integrated into the 

Enterprise Data Warehouse and Analytics project, which improves the Department’s portfolio 

management, policy analysis, and budget formulation capabilities. As part of FSA’s 

overarching strategy to maintain modern systems, the fiscal year 2020 request supports the 

operations and maintenance of the system and enhancements. The fiscal year 2020 decrease

is due to reduced costs of continuing operations. 

Enterprise Data Warehouse Analytics (EDWA): $7.8 million, an increase of $925,000 over the 

2019 appropriation

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

data, and the fiscal year 2020 request supports ongoing development and O&M. 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. 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 included the development of a new Machine Learning Model located in 

operations to better target applicants selected for income verification and could prevent 

approximately $100 million in improper payments each year. EDWA has also automated 

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 risk of human error to an 

automated statistically rigorous product and process.

In fiscal year 2020, FSA plans to develop and expand dashboards and products including the 

Annual Risk Assessment; and 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 2020 request supports continual 

operations and maintenance and development work. 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Financial Management System (FMS): $6.5 million, an increase of $102,000 over the fiscal 

year 2019 appropriation

FMS consolidates and manages all financial transactions from FSA's 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 it processes refunds to borrowers for overpaid loans and payments to lenders and 

guaranty agencies. It also performs validations and reasonability checks to minimize 

erroneous payments. The fiscal year 2020 request supports the operations and maintenance 

of the system.

Next Generation Partner Participation and Oversight (Next Gen PPO): $6.4 million

Next Gen PPO is a critical initiative to design and implement a full technology solution to 

support FSA processes, which assure regulatory compliance of both higher education 

institutions and financial institution partners. The new solution will replace the legacy system 

and increase efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, and responsiveness and ease of 

doing business with FSA. The design will include integrated systems and state of the art tools 

to support enhanced business processes. Next Gen PPO is replacing Postsecondary 

Education Participation System (PEPS) and eZAudit and will leverage capabilities being built 

by Next Gen Servicing such as the common integrated database system, single sign-on for 

partners and employees, and robust cyber security protection. However, some of the 

capabilities required to support the program compliance processes are unique. This investment 

will provide the resources to identify, design, pilot, build, test, and implement those capabilities. 

Borrower Defense: $3.4 million, $151,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 appropriation

The Borrower Defense initiative provides operations and maintenance support for Borrower 

Defense to Loan Repayment applications and includes the necessary software, platform, and 

licenses, as well as technology integrations 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 such as Service 

Console, SHIELD product, and Customer and Partner Community Portals. In addition, the 

initiative provides support for customers in the borrower defense to repayment application 

lifecycle including bilingual support via phone, email and physical mail; Quality Assurance 

processes for intake and post-processing discharges; and message templates and knowledge 

to support customer inquiries. Borrower Defense provides on-demand access to NSLDS data, 

which is used to trigger operational tasks and reporting on borrowers with defense applications. 

The ability to automatically update student loan data is crucial to quickly responding to 

borrower inquiries, expediting borrower defense student applications, increasing efficiencies in 

operational tasks, and providing up-to-date reporting.

myStudentAid Mobile Platform: $5.0 million, an increase of $1.7 million over the fiscal year 

2019 appropriation

The myStudentAid mobile app is an entirely new platform for FSA to deliver a world-class 

customer experience throughout the student financial aid lifecycle. The mobile app leverages a 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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mobile-first, mobile-complete, mobile-continuous digital platform to provide customers with an 

easier and more seamless interaction with FSA services; allows customers to receive FSA 

support through the channel that is most appropriate for their needs; enhances FSA omnichannel engagement strategy; and leverages experiences created using a human-centered 

design approach, informed by a holistic understanding of customer data and customer 

feedback, and continuously improved through iterative testing. 

The move to a mobile-phone platform is important with efforts to reach low-income students 

across the country. A study conducted by Pew Research Center1indicates that low-income 

students are much more likely to have access to a smartphone than a laptop or desktop 

computer connected to the internet. The myStudentAid mobile app features the new and 

improved FAFSA and other student aid resources. Future plans include building capabilities 

and functionalities for FSA customers to manage their student aid and proactive engagement

with financial literacy guidance. 

Participation Management (PM): $3.1million, an increase of $542,000 over the 2019 

appropriation

PM is FSA's central system for managing 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 National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), 

TIVODS, Financial Management System (FMS), Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG), Identity 

Management System (AIMS), CPS, FAA Access, Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) 

Discharge, and Debt Management and Collections System (DMCS). Without PM, enrollment 

in FSA data services would be severely impaired as FSA's process for managing that access 

would be fragmented. 

The fiscal year 2020 request supports ongoing operations, maintenance, and customer support 

to manage collecting and integrating service enrollment information, and sharing that 

information in a timely manner across FSA systems. The fiscal year 2020 increase is for a 

recompete effort.

 

1

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-incomeamericans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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eZ-Audit: $2.0 million, an increase of $97,000 over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation

eZ-Audit is a web based applications that provides a single point of submission for over 6,000 

institutions to electronically submit financial statements and compliance audits and facilitates 

the processing to instantly identify problems with incoming reports. If an issue is identified, the 

report is routed to the appropriate teams in the shortest possible time in order 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. Increase costs are for 

development costs.

Office of Inspector General (OIG) Fraud Referral: $1.8 million, an increase of $200,000 over 

the fiscal year 2019 appropriation.

The OIG Fraud Referral Initiative streamlines FSA's receipt process to determine if fraudulent 

activities occurred and whether there was an appropriate resolution. This effort is fully 

responsive to OIG requests for coordination on these referrals. In fiscal year 2019, FSA will 

implement workflow and case management capabilities to perform analysis of all OIG fraud 

referrals within the existing CEMS infrastructure. In fiscal year 2020, FSA will enable a more 

comprehensive data-driven analytics across all OIG fraud referrals and allow for better tracking 

of referrals.

Postsecondary Education Participation System (PEPS): $1.2 million

PEPS is a repository of data 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 within the Department’s policy and procedures and to obtain 

data extracts for updates to other systems. 

Email and Text Services: $1.2 million, an increase of $115,000 over the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation

Email and Text Services allows for improved outreach to student aid applicants, parents, and 

borrowers by consolidating disparate email systems into one system that sends timely, 

personalized, and FSA branded communications. The increase is for operations and 

maintenance.

EDExpress (EDE): $1.0 million, an increase of $132,000 over the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation

EDE Suite is a "school product" software suite provided to schools at no cost for their use in 

originating, disbursing, and packaging direct loans and grants for students. EDE Suite 

significantly eases the school's process of interacting with TIVODS to submit awards by 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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automating most of the tasks involved in building the XML Common Record file that TIVODS 

requires for origination and disbursement of student aid.

The EDE Suite also provides valuable 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 to identify discrepancies that require further 

attention. Without FSA's continued support for this product, schools would be forced to seek 

technical support from private market software products at additional cost, develop their own 

products, or be unable to participate in Title IV programs due to their inability to submit records 

to TIVODS. The increase supports operations and maintenance of the system and contract 

recompete costs.

IT Security Initiatives: $49.3 million

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). In 

addition to verifying that security requirements are being met in individual system and service

contracts, FSA has specific initiatives to mitigate security risks.

Cybersecurity (CS) initiatives: $36.3 million, an increase of $8.8 million over the fiscal year 

2019 appropriation

Cybersecurity (CS) initiatives mitigate critical, high, and moderate vulnerabilities that affect FSA 

on an enterprise-wide scale. Instead of a single point solution or application-specific problems, 

CS initiatives fund remediation activities and enterprise solutions as indicated by industry best 

practices, the Department of Homeland Security, and Office of Inspector General audit 

findings. CS initiatives include implementing foundational security technologies that augment or 

add new capabilities to protect business functions such as loan servicing and delivery of grants 

and loans to students and institutes of higher education. These broad initiatives include 

reducing the types and numbers of insecure Internet connections from student to FSA systems, 

thus protecting the privacy and integrity of student financial and personal information.

The increase in fiscal year 2020 is for ongoing efforts on the Department of Homeland Security 

Continuous Diagnostic Monitoring (DHS CDM Program) compliance and functionality. The 

CDM Program provides FSA (led by the Department) with capabilities and tools that identify 

cybersecurity risks in real-time, prioritize risks based on potential impacts, and enable FSA 

stakeholders to prioritize and mitigate the most significant problems. FSA will also implement 

key data security controls, which will improve data protection to better secure sensitive 

information across a number of major applications and high-value assets. Additionally, FSA 

will support the increased number of system authorizations and ongoing security authorization 

systems. 
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System Security Authorizations (SSA): $8.7 million, an increase of $1.1 million over the fiscal 

year 2019 appropriation

SSA provides the basic security critical to ensure all FSA applications and general support 

systems are secured from malicious exploits and threats. Security authorizations and annual 

testing are mandated by the Federal Information Security Management Act and must be 

performed before new systems are launched or system upgrades are implemented. 

Continuous testing must be completed to maintain system security authorization. In addition, 

an official re-authorization is required every 3 years for 62 FSA systems.

The fiscal year 2020 request will continue to support ongoing operations and external support 

to protect FSA’s infrastructure and applications to ward off new threats and continue to defend 

against previous known threats. The increase is for continuing operation costs. 

Security Operations Center: $4.3 million, an increase of $537,000 over the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation

The Security Operations Center provides independent monitoring and analysis needed to 

protect the NGDC infrastructure, systems, and data from vulnerabilities. The Security 

Operation Center will automate the security sensors on approximately 1,500 servers housed at 

the NGDC and communicate real-time information regarding suspicious events. The real-time 

information enables FSA to react timely to suspicious activity and make timely reports to DHS.

The Office of the Chief Information Officer and FSA are aligning technologies and services 

common to operating environments managed by each respective office. This effort will be 

substantially complete in fiscal year 2019 once a single contract is awarded that incorporates 

the new tiered structure for response. In fiscal year 2020, FSA will continue to link external 

systems into the Security Operation Center to obtain a comprehensive evaluation of threats to 

FSA networks and data. 

Other: $39.4 million

This category includes projects aimed at supporting FSA's mission. Costs include, but are not 

limited to the following projects and investments:

Information Dissemination: $3.5 million, an increase of $863,000 over the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation

Information Dissemination is a cross-organizational outreach initiative to increase 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. 
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Attestation Services: $3.0 million, $884,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 appropriation

The Attestation Services will 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 will enable FSA to properly evaluate a wide range of proposed and 

existing contract actions supporting Title IV activities.

Conference Management: $2.7 million, an increase of $255,000 over the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation

Conference Management supports the annual Federal Student Aid Fall Conference and FSA’s 

participation in national financial aid related conferences (e.g., National Association of Student

Financial Aid Administrators). FSA uses these conferences to train over 6,500 financial aid 

professionals and disseminate information about Title IV programs. This training is part of 

FSA’s school oversight and responsibility and increases the integrity of the Federal student aid 

programs while ensuring appropriate stewardship of taxpayer resources. Some conference 

sessions specifically train against waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of Title IV funds. 

Integrated Student Experience: $2.2 million, $99,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation

Integrated Student Experience supports a simpler and single portal for students, parents, and

borrowers regarding information related to financial aid, applying for federal student aid, 

repaying student loans, and navigating through the college decision-making process. As the 

NextGen Digital and Customer Care (DCC) solution is implemented, this portal and 

accompanying funding will be subsumed in the DCC activity. 

A-123 Requirements: $1.3 million, an increase of $66,000 over the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation.

This project ensures that FSA has sufficient internal controls to achieve its objectives and is in 

compliance with Federal Manager's Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) and OMB Circular A-123. It

supports management's annual assurance on the effectiveness of these controls and includes 

coordination of Improper Payment Act related requirements. 

Experimental Site Initiatives (ESI) Evaluations: $500,000 level funded with the 2019

appropriation

The ESI authority has potential as a vehicle to test 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 is needed 

to determine the effectiveness of the experiments. In fiscal year 2019, the Department will 

evaluate the impact of the ESI on loan counseling practices that can help students make the 
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decisions that are right for them. Funding in fiscal year 2020 will continue to allow the 

Department to evaluate ongoing or upcoming initiatives.

Non-Federal Student Aid Support Activities

The SAA account supports activities in addition to the funds directly allocated to Federal 

Student Aid to manage student aid programs. The fiscal year 2020 request for non-FSA 

activities is $134.2 million, $107.9 million in Overhead and $26.3 million in non-FSA personnel 

compensation and benefits, $500,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. This request 

supports departmental support activities, such as central computer services and financial 

management systems operations, rent, legal and policy expertise, and other overhead. 

Rent payments to the General Services Administration for FSA-occupied space will total 

$20.4 million for fiscal year 2020, $101,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 appropriation.

Combined funding for central computer services and telecommunications will total $33.1 million 

in fiscal year 2020, $3.9 million less than the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. The 

Departmentwide financial management systems, which is supported by this account is 

$19.9 million, an increase of $2.4 million over the fiscal year 2019 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, an increase of $60,000 over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation.

Non-Federal Student Aid Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employment

The Administration requests for SAA in fiscal year 2020 a total of 1,480 FTE, the same as the

fiscal year 2019 appropriation. In addition to 1,349 FSA full-time staff, the fiscal year 2020 

request also provides $23.9 million for the salaries and benefits of 131 FTE outside FSA who 

perform student-aid related activities and 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 2020 request is $3.2 million, an increase of $869,000 over the fiscal 

year 2019 appropriation. The Student Loan Modeling investment provides support for 

developing cost estimates and budgetary impacts of student loan policies affecting the $1.4 

trillion current 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 

Department of Treasury to develop a borrower-based (i.e., microsimulation) cash flow 

model. The Servicer Emulator piece of the model replicates the events and actions that 

occur during the life of a loan. The fiscal year 2020 request of $470,000, an increase of 

$15,000 over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation, will be utilized to continue to fund this 

agreement. During fiscal year 2019, the focus is on continual testing of the Servicer 

Emulator, processing borrower and loan events in parallel with the inputs of the current 

cash flow model. Differences between the current model and the Servicer Emulator will 

be reconciled, explained, and validated. Functionality will also be added to address 

rehabilitated loans. In fiscal year 2020, the focus will be to finalize testing, with a goal of 

operationalizing the Servicer Emulator for the fiscal year 2021 President’s Budget cycle.

 Event Generator: In fiscal year 2019, the Department is issuing a Request for 

Information (RFI) in order to: 1) identify potential vendors; 2) identify potential 

frameworks for model development; and 3) help craft a request for procurement, model 

design, and model development strategy. The RFI will be used to inform a planned 

award in fiscal year 2019 for initial Event Generator model design. The model design 

will produce a framework for the ultimate development of the Event Generator. In fiscal 

year 2020, the Department expects to begin model development; the fiscal year 2020 

request of $1,450,000 will be utilized to fund the first phase of this development. 

Credit and Modeling Analysis and Support

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 plans to address several audit recommendations such as 

developing a comprehensive catalog of data elements used in its cost estimation models. In 

both fiscal years 2019 and 2020, vendor support will also be provided to maintain the current 

cash flow model as well as assist in preparation and support of the Agency Financial Report. In 

addition, the request includes funds needed for SAS licenses and server maintenance. The 

fiscal year 2020 request for these activities is $522,000 $51,000 less than the fiscal year 2019 

appropriation.
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Validation Support for Credit Models

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. The fiscal year 2020 request, 

$758,000, is an increase of $305,000 over the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. In fiscal year 

2018, models validated included the Student Loan Model and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) 

cash flow model. In fiscal year 2019, planned validation activities include 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.

System Application Matrix

The two system matrixes, shown in the charts below, illustrate the interdependencies between 

the major student aid system applications for the core business functions and the end user. The 

first chart shows each system application, its projected costs for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, 

and core business functions supported by each system application. The second chart shows 

the interdependencies between all system applications and the four end users: schools, 

students, financial partners, and the Department of Education.

System Application 2019 

Appropriation 

(dollars in 

millions)

fo

ot

no

te 2020 Request 

(dollars in 

millions)

footnote

Student Aid 

Application 

Processing

Origination 

and 

Disbursement

Student 

Loan 

Servicing

Loan Servicing $826.0 $531.0 No X X

NextGen $109.0 477.0 X X

Title IV Origination and Disbursement 

System 121.5 118.3 X X X

Application and Eligibility 

Determination System; FSA Customer 

Contact Center; and Customer 

Engagement Management System 83.8183.7 1 X X

Next Generation Data Center 43.2 46.5 X X X

Enterprise Software Licenses 18.5 21.0 X X X

National Student Loan Data System 15.01 13.5 X X X

Financial Management System 6.4 6.5 No X

Total Discretionary Costs 1,223.4 1,297.5 No No No

 

1

Amount includes reengineering and recompete efforts.
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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Systems Applications and End Users

System Application School Student Financial 

Partners

Department of 

Education

Loan Servicing X X X X

NextGen X X X

Title IV Origination and Disbursement System X X No X

Application and Eligibility Determination 

System X X No X

Next Generation Data Center No No No X

Enterprise Software Licenses No No xo X

National Student Loan Data System X X X X

Financial Management System No X X

Integrated Partner Management X No X X

Note: Financial Partners include lenders and guaranty agencies.

Major SAA Contracts

The following tables provide a list of Student Aid Administration contracts in fiscal years 2019 

and 2020.

Contracts: Loan Servicing

Description: Servicing and consolidation of direct student loans, Perkins 

loans, TEACH grants, servicing FFEL loans, and defaulted 

loans

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 826.0 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 531.0 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

PHEAA Harrisburg, PA*

Chester, PA

Mechanicsburg, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

State College, PA

Great Lakes Education Loan Services 

Inc.

Madison, WI*

Eagan, MN

Aberdeen, SD

Plano, TX
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Vendor Vendor Locations

Boscobel, WI

Eau Claire, WI

Stevens, Point, WI

Rocky Hill, CT

Nelnet Servicing LLC Lincoln, NE*

Aurora, CO

Highlands Ranch, CO

Omaha, NE

Houston, TX

Boise, ID

Navient Wilmington, DE*

Reston, VA

Fishers, IN

Muncie, IN

Newark, DE

Wilkes-Barre, PA

Missouri Higher Education Loan 

Authority

Chesterfield, MO*

Columbia, MO

Washington, DC

HESC/EdFinancial Knoxville, TN*

North Charleston, SC

Mansfield, OH

Mechanicsburg, PA

Rose Hill, KS

Cornerstone Salt Lake City, UT*

New Hampshire Higher Education 

Corporation (Granite State)

Concord, NH*

Oklahoma Student Loan Authority Oklahoma City, OK*

Maximus Federal Services, Inc. Reston, VA*

Frederick, MD

Falls Church, VA

Greenville, TX

Utica, NY

Washington, DC

Educational Computer Systems Warrendale, PA*

Coraopolis, PA

Pittsburg, PA
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Contract: Title IV Origination and Disbursement System (TIVODS)

Description: Disbursement of Pell Grants and Direct Loans

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 121.5 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 118.3 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

Accenture LLP Arlington, VA* 

Columbus, GA 

Monticello, KY

Niagara Falls, NY 

Piscataway, NJ

San Antonio, TX

Washington, DC

Contracts: Application and Eligibility Determination System (AEDS); 

FSA Customer Contact Center; and the Customer 

Engagement Management System

Description: Integration of application processing, aid awareness, and 

eligibility determination; call center services; and Customer 

Engagement Management System operations

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 27.0 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 36.2 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

General Dynamics One Source Fairfax, VA*

Coralville, IA

Lawrence, KS

Washington, DC

Montgomery, AL

Herndon, VA

Broomfield, CO

Rockville, MD

Hattiesburg, MS

Westminster, CO

Senture London, KY*

Monticello, KY

Enterprise Services, LLC Montgomery, AL

El Paso, TX

London, KY

Monticello, KY

Hattiesburg, MS
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Contract: Next Generation Data Center

Description: Data center for student financial aid systems

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 43.2 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 46.5 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

DXC Enterprise Services Herndon, VA*

Boise, ID

Clarksville, VA

Colorado Springs, CO

Washington, DC

Contract: Enterprise Software Licensing

Description: Maintenance for software licenses for Financial 

Management System and database operations

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 18.0 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 21.0 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

Various Various

Contract: National Student Loan Data System

Description: Loan-level database to verify student eligibility, calculate 

institutional default rates, pay guaranty agency fees, track 

enrollment for loan servicing, and support credit reform 

accounting

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 15.1 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 13.0 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

Briefcase Systems Development, Inc. Arlington, VA*

Coralville, IA

Venice, FL

Lawrence, KS
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Contract: Financial Management System

Description: Accounting system for transactions

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 6.4 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 6.5 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

Avineon, Inc. McLean, VA*

Washington, DC

Contract: System Security Authorization

Description: Basic security for all FSA applications and general support 

systems

FY 2019 Appropriation: $ 7.6 million

FY 2020 Request: $ 8.7 million

Vendors: *denotes vendor headquarters for loan servicers

Vendor Vendor Locations

Blue Canopy Reston, VA*
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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. At the beginning of fiscal year 2016, Federal 

Student Aid (FSA) released its current strategic plan, Federal Student Aid: Strategic Plan, Fiscal 

Years 2015–19 which described the organization’s current goals and objectives. FSA’s 

performance indicators were updated this year to account for improvements in data collection 

and analysis that allowed for more accurate and better-aligned metrics. 

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

2015 59.1–61.1 60.5

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

2020 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 met its target for this metric with a result of 67.4 percent.

FSA provides a weekly update of total FAFSAs filed for every high school in the United States 

with five or more FAFSAs completed. Schools use this data to increase their FAFSA completion 

rates. FSA believes that these data when combined with awareness and outreach efforts 

resulted in an increase in the number of high school seniors who file a FAFSA. In fiscal year 

2018, FSA efforts were supplemented by a nationwide FAFSA Completion Contest sponsored 

by the National College Access Network and the Kresge Foundation and significant FAFSA 

completion efforts in populous states such as Florida and Texas.

In fiscal year 2018, FSA discovered that its previous definition of high school senior was 

outdated, causing the calculation of this metric to be flawed. FSA changed its methodology used 

to calculate this metric; however, for comparative purposes only, FSA simulated target would be 

60.2 percent and its simulated result, 60.8 percent using the previous methodology.

The denominator is the number of graduating high school seniors according to the most recent 

projection by National Center for Education Statistics. The numerator is based on the number 

of applications for first-time filers during the first nine (twelve beginning fiscal year 2017) months 

of the application cycle that are, as of September 30 of the first year of the application cycle, 
STUDENT AID ADMINISTRATION

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complete (not rejected). First-time filers are defined as incoming freshmen, with or without

previous college attendance; reporting high school diploma attainment, and who attended a high 

school in the 50 states and Washington D.C. For fiscal years up to and including 2017, 

applicants also had to be age 18 or less as of June 30 of the first year of the application cycle; 

for subsequent fiscal years beginning 2018, applicants had to be age 19 or less as of October 

15 of the first year of the application cycle. Data are based on last transaction on file as of 

September 30, 2018. Data include all applications submitted listing high schools in the 50 US 

states and DC. Applications from seniors at Department of Defense Education Activity schools 

in other geographic areas are excluded.

Measure: Persistence among first-time filing aid recipients.

Year Target Actual

2015 78.6–80.6 79.5

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

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 82.5 percent. 

Moving the FAFSA start date back three months (from January 1st to October 1st) provided 

more time for federal student aid recipients to file a renewal FAFSA. The increased time—

provided by the expanded FAFSA calendar—has resulted in more first-time filers returning to 

file a FAFSA for their next school year beginning in fiscal year 2017.

Measure: Customer visits to StudentAid.gov.

Year Target Actual

2015 >=32.7 43.3

2016 >=43.4 47.2

2017 >=43.3 44.3

2018 >=43.3 44.5

2019 >=150.0

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA continued to exceed its target for this metric again in fiscal year

2018 with a result of 44.5 million customer visits. 

FSA’s performance on this metric is a testament to the success of its effort to consolidate 

disparate sites and systems into a single, integrated 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.
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Measure: Social media channel subscribership.

Year Target Actual

2015 >=368,000 454,066

2016 >= 454,000 528,251

2017 >= 500,000 584,241

2018 >= 590,000 607,241

2019 >= 615,000

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA exceeded its target with more than 607,241 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

Measure: Customer service level of American Customer Satisfaction Index for entire aid 

lifecycle (1–100 Scale).

Year Target Actual

2015 Prior to revised metric 77.2

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

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA meet its target for this metric with a result of 70.6. 

The fiscal year 2018 score of 70.6 is higher than the fiscal year 2017 score of 69.9 and indicates 

small improvements across three groups of borrowers that span the student aid lifecycle. The 

most heavily weighted of these measures is borrowers who are currently having their loans 

serviced – this is the largest segment of the population served by FSA (FSA has over 42 million 

borrowers) and therefore accounts for 70 percent of the measure. Nearly 25 percent of this 

metric is made up of scores collected by FAFSA applicants (roughly 18 million FAFSAs are filed 

each year) and the smallest component of the metric is the 5 percent of the measure that 

accounts for students still in school who are receiving Title IV funds. Together, the three 

measures span the three major parts of the student aid lifecycle.
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Strategic Goal B: Proactively manage the student aid portfolio to mitigate risk.

Measure: Improper Payment Rate.

Year Target Actual

2015 1.65% 2.38%

2016 N/A 4.85

2017 4.85 4.97

2018 4.97 4.95

2019 4.95

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a blended improper rate for the 

Direct Loan and Pell Grant programs of 4.95 percent. 

The Improper Payment Rate metric is a single ‘blended’ rate that divides aggregated estimated 

improper payments for all programs identified as risk-susceptible for that year by aggregated 

estimated program outlays. In fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2016, FSA identified the Pell 

Grant and Direct loan programs as risk-susceptible. FSA convened a working group in 2016 

with OIG and OMB participating in an advisory capacity to identify, evaluate, and implement 

improvements to the baseline estimation methodology to address improper payment risks not 

previously incorporated. 

The underlying improper payment estimates were calculated using an alternative methodology. 

Although FSA strives for zero improper payments, there continue to be improper payments. In 

designing controls, FSA must strike the right balance between providing timely and accurate 

payments to grant recipients and students, while at the same time ensuring that controls are not 

too costly and burdensome to students and schools. Additionally, FSA must rely on controls 

established by intermediaries, such as schools, who make payments to students on behalf of 

FSA. In 2017, over 96 percent of the estimated improper payments were a result of 

administrative or process errors made by other parties. FSA continues to assess risks 

associated with improper payments and establish effective internal controls designed to prevent, 

detect, reduce, and recover improper payments. 

The fiscal year 2020 request includes proposals to further reduce the risk of improper payments, 

particularly in the Pell Grant program. Additionally, FSA is improving its own processes to 

address and identify improper payments. 

 Except Education from Section 6103 for Certain Student Aid Programs. One of the 

primary causes of improper payments in the Pell Grant program is failure to verify 

financial data accurately. The budget proposes to except the Department from 

restrictions of Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code to allow the Department to 

more easily receive income tax data from the IRS, thereby simplifying and improving 

the accuracy of FAFSA filing by prepopulating certain fields. This exception will also 

allow borrowers to more easily recertify their income to stay enrolled in Income 

Driven Repayment IDR plans. This proposal would reduce discretionary program 

costs by $782 million and mandatory outlays by $177 million over 10 years.

 Improve Pell Fraud Prevention. The Budget proposes to bar someone from receiving 
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another Pell Grant if they have been awarded three consecutive Pell Grants without 

earning any credits. This will prevent the fraudulent practice of people going from 

school to school, enrolling long enough to receive a reimbursement but not pursuing 

any credits. This proposal would reduce discretionary program costs by $163 million 

and mandatory outlays by $38 million over 10 years. 

 Improve Selection for Verification. The Department is in the process of strengthening 

its use of administrative data to create a smarter system for selecting students for 

verification. By selecting for verification reviews those applicants with greater 

likelihood of incorrect information, this proposal will improve schools' ability to detect 

and prevent improper payments. In addition, it will help ensure students and schools 

bear the burden of verification only when necessary, balancing the need to protect 

taxpayers and access to student aid for those who need it most. 

 Better Target Program Reviews. The Department will strengthen its use of 

administrative data to target FSA's program compliance reviews on schools with 

higher risk of improper payments. This proposal should increase both the number of 

improper payments FSA identifies and the amounts it recovers. 

 Take Enforcement Actions against Noncompliant Schools. The Department has the 

authority to issue fines or take other enforcement actions to penalize schools for 

noncompliance. Enforcement actions currently are determined based on the type 

and level of severity, as well as the Department's ability to execute successfully 

based on available resources. The Department will consider how it may use this 

authority to incentivize schools to put the necessary controls into place to reduce 

improper payments, particularly for those schools that neglect their responsibilities.

Other information: 

The fiscal year 2015 improper payment target and actual rates reported in the table over reflect 

the corrected improper payment rates for fiscal year 2015 as determined by the Improper 

Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) Compliance Audit Report published by the 

Office of Inspector General (OIG) May 10, 2016. The corrected improper payment rates are 

prepared in accordance with the alternative sampling and estimation methodology approved by 

OMB as of October 20, 2015. The rate reported in FSA’s Fiscal Year 2015 Annual Report was 

1.44 percent.

At the time fiscal year 2016 targets were set, it was known that the estimation methodology 

would change to address improper payment risks not previously incorporated, but not the 

impact. Accordingly, no target was set for this measure for fiscal year 2016.

In 2018, FSA developed a statistically valid methodology that is being implemented in fiscal year 

2019 to estimate the Pell Grant and Direct Loan program improper payment rates. The 

statistically valid methodology is based on a random sample from the over 5,000 annual 

compliance audits from the universe of schools rather than a sample from 100-300 annual 

program reviews from a limited number of schools. The primary advantages of the new 

methodology are a larger random sample and reduced volatility of estimates. The new 

methodology is expected to provide a more accurate estimate of the Pell Grant and Direct Loan 

program improper payment rates.
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Measure: Percent of borrowers >90 days delinquent.

Year Target Actual

2015 10.4% 9.8%

2016 9.9 8.8

2017 7.4 8.33

2018 8.18 7.4

2019 8.02

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA meet its target with a result of 7.4 percent. 

During fiscal year 2018, FSA launched the Next Gen FSA. The vision of Next Gen FSA is to 

transform FSA to provide a world-class student aid customer experience, using industry best-inclass financial services technologies, to provide better outcomes for student and greater value 

to taxpayers. Borrowers, in particular, will benefit from fully designed, single contact center 

platform allowing them to easily contact FSA by phone, chat, and other channels, in order to 

receive accurate and consistent information that addresses their needs. Through direct 

engagement, seamless customer connections, single contact capability, and uniform data 

management, it is anticipated that fewer borrowers will experience periods of delinquency.

Borrower-based data are collected from Title IV Additional Services (TIVAS) and Not-for Profit 

(NFP) invoices. FSA calculates the average number of borrowers serviced by TIVAS and NFPs 

who are between 91 and 270 days delinquent in the year ending June 30 each year and divides 

this number by the average number of borrowers in active repayment for the year. This 

calculation was adjusted in fiscal year 2015 to better measure all pre-default accounts more 

than 90 days delinquent relative to all accounts where payments are anticipated.

Strategic Goal C: Improve operational efficiency and flexibility.

Measure: Aid Delivery Cost per Application.

Year Target Actual

2015 12.28 10.73

2016 13.11 11.53

2017 11.46 10.68

2018 12.16 8.83

2019 11.99

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of $8.83. 

FSA continues to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiencies within the federal student 

aid process. During fiscal year 2018, aid delivery cost per application was approximately 27 

percent lower than the fiscal year 2018 target, and approximately 17 percent below the fiscal 

year 2017 result.
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The cost data for this metric are derived from general ledger data uploaded to FSA’s ActivityBased Costing model, which is updated on a quarterly basis and reconciled to FSA’s Statement 

of Net Cost, ensuring all costs assigned to FSA are included in the cost model. The FAFSA 

volumes are derived from the CPS, FSA’s system for processing student aid applications.

Measure: Outstanding Direct Loan Portfolio in Current Repayment Status.

Year Target Actual

2015 Prior to revised metric

2016 85.3% 85.4%

2017 84.9–85.9 85.7

2018 85.0–86.0 86.5

2019 85.0–86.0

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 86.5 percent.

FSA has taken a number of steps over the past few years to create incentives for federal loan 

servicers to help borrowers understand their repayment options and other benefits in order to 

successfully manage their student loan debt more effectively. It has conducted outreach to 

borrowers to increase awareness of income-based repayment plans. FSA believes the results 

related to this metric reflect the success of these efforts. 

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

2015 75.9–77.9 75.8

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

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of 74.5. 

The fiscal year 2018 score for the “Ease of Doing Business” item on the Schools Partners 

survey was 74.5, the upper end of the target range (71.9–74.9) for this score. The School 

Partners Survey reaches out to Financial Aid Administrators across the nation who work and 
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interact with FSA. This score comes from the August 2018 survey of Financial Aid 

Administrators and was the sole measurement for fiscal year 2018. A survey of 10 to 12 

questions, regarding the ease of doing business with FSA, is sent to schools quarterly. The 

questions focus on the ease of use of FSA’s major delivery and information systems. The score 

is based on 1,548 responses, which resulted from 5,468 invitations sent (a 28.3 percent 

response rate). FSA feels that the increased score is indicative of improvements that it 

continues to make at its call centers, improvements and greater awareness of the Financial Aid 

Toolkit, which allows a growing number of Financial Aid Administrators to “self-serve” through 

accessing the many resources available in the toolkit, and use of our updated websites, 

including StudentAid.gov.

Measure: Percentage of contract dollars competed by FSA.

Year Target Actual

2015 87.7–89.7% 90.3%

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

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA exceeded this metric with a final score of 96.8 percent. 

FSA exceeding the target for this performance metric in fiscal year 2018 is 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.

Measure: Collection Rate (non-default and default).

Year Target Actual

2015 36.56 51.58

2016 51.79 53.07

2017 51.68 59.69

2018 59.24 62.15

2019 53.30

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA met its target for this metric with a result of $62.15. 

Four main components led to the increase in the fiscal year 2018 Collection Rate Metric. Actual 

Loan Servicing costs are lower in part because the estimated $15.7 million in servicer 

recompete costs have not yet been realized. The Actual Default Collection costs are higher 

because a 3.5 percent decrease was realized instead of the estimated decrease of 9.2 percent. 

The Private Collection Agency (PCA) costs are lower than projected due to the new 'flat rate' 

pricing paid to PCAs being fully implemented in fiscal year 2018 and Actual Collections were 6 

percent lower than projected.
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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

2015 66.7–68.7 67.9

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

2020 TBD

Additional information: FSA did not met its target with a result of 62.0 percent. 

FSA experienced significant shifts in management; restructuring of its workflow and business 

units; and significant policy changes to employees’ work/life balance in fiscal year 2018. FSA 

believes that these changes caused a dramatic decrease to its scores particularly under the 

Leaders Lead subsection of the Employee Engagement Index (EEI). The Leaders Lead 

subsection decreased from 59 percent in fiscal year 2017 to 44 percent with a change 

differential of fifteen percentage points in fiscal year 2018. These questions focused on 

employees’ perception of senior leaders’ integrity, honesty, and commitment to the workforce. 

Even with the significant changes in leadership, FSA’s employee engagement team coordinated 

with business units to deliver meaningful programs (under the FSA First Class initiative). These 

programs were designed to (1) increase employees’ awareness of FSA’s mission and priorities; 

(2) help employees map their own work to the organization’s mission; and (3) increase 

employees knowledge about other areas within FSA outside of their own business unit. 

Implementing strategic initiatives directly assisted to sustain the scores within the 60 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: questions numbered 3, 4, 6, 11, 12, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 

56, 60, and 61. These questions can be found as part of the FY 2018 FEVS results located at 

fedview.opm.gov.