2018 School Partners Survey

Federal Student Aid

Federal Student Aid

Schools Partners Survey

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid seeks to continuously improve its interactions with its valued business partners in the schools community in the administration of Title IV programs. To that end we are conducting a brief survey to assess our performance and provide you with an opportunity to share any ideas or feedback you may have to help us better serve you. This survey should take you approximately 5 minutes to complete.

The survey is conducted by the CFI Group, a Michigan-based consulting company, and is hosted on their secure servers. Your responses will remain confidential to FSA; we hope this will allow you to feel free to be candid in your feedback to us.

Please click the “Next” button below to begin the survey.

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 5 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.]

Rating Questions

Please think about your experiences interacting with FSA in the Title IV administration process in the past three months, and rate the following items using a scale of 1-10 with 1 being “poor” and 10 being “excellent.” If a question does not apply to your recent experiences with FSA, please click “Not Applicable/Did not use”:

EDEXP The ease of using EDExpress

FAAAC The ease of using FAA Access

COD The ease of using Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) systems

NSLDS The ease of using National Student Loan Data systems

ASSIST The assistance you received from FSA or one of its vendors when you last called or contacted us for help regarding a system or process

WHOLAST [if answered ASSIST] Who did you last call or contact for assistance? [randomize choice list]

1. REACH FSA phone line (855-FSA-4FAA)

2. COD School Relations Center

3. Loan Servicing

4. NSLDS Customer Care Center

5. CPS/SAIG Technical Support

6. FSA Research and Customer Care

7. FSA staff member (email or phone calls directly to an individual staff member)

8. Other (specify)

TRAIN The knowledge you acquired from attending your last training session presented by an FSA trainer

CONF The helpfulness of the 2017 FSA Training Conference (if attended; please choose “N/A” if you did not attend)

OVRASST The quality of assistance you received from FSA to address your last eligibility or oversight issue

OVRFAIR [If answered OVRASST] Extent to which you believe your eligibility or oversight issue was resolved in a transparent and fair manner (i.e, consistent with Title IV Regulations)

IFAPCOM The usefulness of FSA provided communications on IFAP

CALLWHO Extent to which you are clear about who to call if you are having a problem

EASEBUS The overall ease of doing business with Federal Student Aid

POLICY On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “not at all impactful” and 10 being “very impactful”, to what extent has your ease of doing business with FSA been impacted by policy

or regulatory changes?

POLAFF [If answered POLICY 5-10] In what way have policy changes affected your interactions with FSA?

(enter verbatim response)

Verification

VERIF What percentage of your financial aid applicants’ FAFSAs does your school verify?

1. 25% or less

2. More than 25% but less than 50%

3. 50% or more, but not all

4. 100% of FAFSAs are verified

VERWHY [if VERIF=4] Why does your school verify all of your financial aid applicants? [capture open end]

Please think about the process of verifying FAFSAs for applicants selected for V1 verification tracking group. Using the 1 to 10 scale, where 1 is “minimal effort” and 10 is “a great deal of effort,” how much effort is required for you to complete this process in each of the following scenarios:

1. Independent applicants where only the student’s number in college and student’s number in family must be verified by the school

2. Independent applicants requiring verification of all student financial fields as well as the student’s number in college and student’s number in family

3. Dependent applicants where only the parent’s number in college and parent’s number in family must be verified by the school

4. Dependent applicants where only the parent IRS DRT Request Flag is ‘02’ and the student financial fields must still be verified along with the parent’s number in college and parent’s number in family

5. Dependent applicants requiring verification of all student and parent financial fields as well as the parent’s number in college and parent’s number in family

Closing

C_FREQ How often do you typically contact FSA (e.g. FSA contractor, FSA Call Center, or program participant) for assistance with a system or process related to Title IV administration? [choose one]

1. Never

2. Less than 5 times per year

3. 5-10 times per year

4. More than 10 times per year

EXP How long have your work duties included activities related to Title IV loan administration?

1. Less than 6 months

2. 6 months to less than 2 years

3. 2 years to less than 5 years

4. 5 years or more

CLOSE1. Finally, what is the most urgent improvement (that is not statutory, nor regulatory) that you would like FSA to make in the Title IV administration process?
(enter verbatim response)

Thank you again for your time. To complete the survey and submit the results, please hit the “Finish” button below. Have a good day!

2018