United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2004-03-29 monographic deposited born digital 67 p. GA 1.13:GAO-04-567R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R P0b002ee180386d93 f:d04567r DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R GAO-04-567R Cost analysis Direct loans Financial statements Loan interest rates Projections Student loans Subsidies Aid for education Cost estimates Dept. of Education Federal Direct Loan Program Correspondence A09611 Under the Department of Education's Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP), students or their parents borrow money directly from the federal government through the vocational, undergraduate, or graduate schools that students attend. FDLP offers four loan types, including consolidation loans, which allow borrowers to combine multiple loans, possibly from different federal student loan programs, into a single loan with one monthly payment and a fixed borrower interest rate. The other three FDLP loan types provide variable borrower interest rates. The reported outstanding gross balance of FDLP loans to borrowers was $84.5 billion as of September 30, 2003, and the related allowance for subsidy--or the cost Education expected to incur on the outstanding loans--was $657 million. The key driver of the FDLP cost to the government is the difference between the borrower interest rate and Education's financing cost or borrowing rate from Treasury. Because of concerns about Education's reliance on estimates to project FDLP costs and a lack of historical information on which to base those estimates, the House Committee on the Budget previously asked us to review key aspects of Education's cost estimates for FDLP. Our January 2001 report identified the need for Education to improve its cost estimation process to provide more meaningful information. Recently, at the request of the Committee's Chairman, we assessed Education's progress in addressing our January 2001 recommendations and we updated certain cash flow information related to FDLP. This letter summarizes the information provided during our briefing on February 18, 2004. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R.pdf GAO-04-567R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-567R Correspondence GAO-04-567R; Department of Education's Federal Direct Loan Program: Status of Recommendations to Improve Cost Estimates and Presentation of Updated Cash Flow Information; Cost analysis Direct loans Financial statements Loan interest rates Projections Student loans Subsidies Aid for education Cost estimates Dept. of Education Federal Direct Loan Program