OMBudsman Survey

Federal Student Aid

Ombudsman Customers Satisfaction Survey

[Programming instructions in bold brackets]

You have received this survey as part of an initiative the United States Department of Education (ED) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has undertaken to improve customer satisfaction for customers of the Ombudsman Group.

The survey is conducted by the CFI Group, a Michigan-based consulting company. Your responses will remain confidential to FSA; we hope this will allow you to feel free to be candid in your feedback to us. Thank you in advance for your help!

PRA Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1845-0045. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 10 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection is voluntary. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this survey, please contact Federal Student Aid/Customer Experience Office/Customer Analytics Group at 830 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20202 or customersurveys@ed.gov directly. [Note: Please do not return the completed survey to this address.]

The Ombudsman Group is a neutral, informal, and confidential resource to help resolve disputes about your federal student loans. The FSA Ombudsman Group is expected to:

• research your problem and review any supporting documentation you share;

• work with you and other offices within ED, your lender, your school, your loan guaranty agency, or collection agency;

• assist you in identifying and evaluating your options for resolving specific concerns; and

• when necessary, refer you to the appropriate office or organization.

Please think about your experiences dealing with the Ombudsman Group within the context of these expectations.

Information

Please think about the information provided to you by the Ombudsman Group representative(s). On a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” means “poor” and “10” means “excellent”, how would you rate:

1. The usefulness of the information they provided to you, which may include a referral to the appropriate loan servicer, agency, or department best suited to resolve your concern.

2. The ease of understanding the information they provided to you.

Service

Please think about the Ombudsman Group representative(s) you dealt with. On a scale from 1 to 10 with “1” being “poor” and “10” being “excellent,” how would you rate them on the following:

3. Their courtesy

4. Willingness to help

5. Having the knowledge required to assist with your type of issue or concern, which may include providing you with the information about the appropriate loan servicer, department, or agency who is best suited to assist with your concern(s).

6. Ability to clearly and fully answer your questions

7. Time they took to resolve your issue or concern

8. Making clear to you the next steps you or your loan servicer needed to take (if applicable)

9. Given that the Ombudsman Group is designed to be a neutral party, would you say that the representative(s) approached the resolution of your issue or concern without taking sides?

   1. Yes

   2. No

   3. Not applicable

ACSI Benchmark Questions

Please think about your experiences dealing with the Ombudsman Group, including the information they provided, timeliness of resolution, courtesy, and fairness of resolution.

10. Using a 10-point scale on which “1” means “very dissatisfied” and “10” means “very satisfied,” how satisfied are you with how the Ombudsman Group helped you handle your financial aid issue or dispute?

11. Using a 10-point scale on which “1” means “falls short of your expectations” and “10” means “exceeds your expectations,” to what extent have your experiences with and service from the Ombudsman Group met your expectations?

12. Imagine what you think would be the ideal process and experience for working with an independent group to help resolve your financial aid issue or dispute. How well did the Ombudsman Group’s service compare with that ideal? Please use a 10-point scale on which “1” means “not at all close to the ideal,” and “10” means “very close to the ideal.”

Closing

13. Based on your experience with the Ombudsman Group, how likely would you be to recommend others to seek assistance with helping to resolve federal student aid issues to us?  Please use a 10 point scale in which “1” means “not likely” and “10” means “very likely.”

14. After your final contact with the Ombudsman Group, do you feel that you know more about your federal student aid issues and how to handle your situation without further assistance from the Ombudsman Group?

1 Yes

2 No

3 Not sure

15. Please use the space below to provide us with any additional thoughts you may have about how to improve the service that the Ombudsman Group provides. Please be as detailed as possible. [open end]