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 1997-02-01 monographic deposited born digital 62 p. GA 1.13:HR-97-11 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11 P0b002ee1803806b2 f:hr97011 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11 HR-97-11 Government guaranteed loans Student loans Delinquent loans Higher education Loan defaults Student financial aid Internal controls Risk management Financial management systems Pell Grant Federal Family Education Loan Program William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Dept. of Education National Student Loan Data System High Risk Series 1997 Letter Report GAO reviewed the Department of Education's management and oversight of postsecondary student financial aid programs, focusing on the: (1) Federal Family Education Loan (FFELP) Program; (2) Ford Direct Loan Program (FDLP); and (3) Federal Pell Grant Program.<p/>GAO found that: (1) in fiscal year 1995, the federal government paid over $2.5 billion to make good its guarantee on defaulted student loans; (2) in addition, inadequate Department oversight has contributed to abuses on the part of some schools participating in federal student aid programs; (3) Congress addressed many of these problems through amendments in 1992 and 1993 to title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965; (4) the Department has acted to address these problems and their causes; however, these actions have not completely resolved the underlying problems; (5) partly to help strengthen the Department's internal controls, the 1992 and 1993 amendments: (a) required that financial and compliance audits of guaranty agencies be conducted annually rather than every 2 years; and (b) required that lenders and guaranty agencies share more of the risk of defaults in FFELP by reducing the maximum insurance and reimbursement rates on a defaulted loan from 100 to 98 percent; (6) the Department has generally tried to address problems in its student aid programs, and some of these efforts appear to be achieving some results; (7) in July 1996, the Department had completed actions or had actions in progress or planned to address 186 of 205 recommendations, most made over a 4-year period by the Department's Office of Inspector General and GAO, to improve its management of federal student financial aid; (8) although the Department has shown a commitment to improving its oversight and management of the student aid programs, the financial risk to U.S. taxpayers remains substantial; (9) the procedural and structural program elements that are the root causes of the problems remain; (10) some of these problems arose from the statutory design of the programs and will persist unless changed through congressional action; (11) although the Department can mitigate some of these problems through more effective oversight and management, many of the Department's initiatives have not been fully implemented; (12) progress toward their full implementation has been mixed; (13) the student aid programs employ complex and cumbersome processes with many participants; (14) each major program has its own procedures and set of participants; (15) management shortcomings are a major problem, although in some areas, the Department has improved some its practices; and (16) the Department has begun planning a major reeng* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11/html/GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11.pdf GAO/HR-97-11 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HR-97-11 Letter Report GAO/HR-97-11; High-Risk Series: Student Financial Aid; Government guaranteed loans Student loans Delinquent loans Higher education Loan defaults Student financial aid Internal controls Risk management Financial management systems Pell Grant Federal Family Education Loan Program William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Dept. of Education National Student Loan Data System High Risk Series 1997