USA Funds® Web Site Has New Features
By Jack Falks and Mae Dunn-St. Julien, USA Funds Services

USA Funds® has enhanced its Web site, www.usafunds.org, to help customers and constituents more easily find the information and resources that they need. The Web-site enhancements include the following items:

• Each of USA Funds’ key customer groups – financial-aid professionals, education lenders and borrowers – now has its own home page. In addition, content for each group of customers is color-coded.
• To help visitors to the site more easily find the information they seek, Express Links on the home page of the site and on each customer group’s home page offer “one-click” access to the most-popular content. Key categories of information are listed in tabs across the tops of pages in each customer group’s section. In addition, content pages feature key links in the left margin, as well as a “bread-crumb trail” across the top of the page to help users navigate back through the site. A site map and site search also help visitors link to key information.
• College-planning information for prospective students and parents now is highlighted in a new section that is separate from borrower information.

Because the Web addresses of many of the pages on the site have changed, visitors who have previously bookmarked pages will want to update their bookmarks.

New Reauthorization Resources
The Web site also now offers resources to help financial-aid professionals and education lenders stay abreast of the deliberations surrounding the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Links to updates about legislation, hearings and recommendations, as well as background information, are available through the “2004 Reauthorization” link in the “Financial-Aid Professionals” and “Education Lenders” sections of the site.

Help for Those with Repayment Problems
Additionally, USA Funds has posted on its Web site new features to help education-loan borrowers resolve payment problems.

The latest enhancements to the “Loan-Payment Problems” section of the site help borrowers with past-due accounts select from among three possible options: make a promise to pay, temporarily postpone their loan payments or reduce their monthly payment amounts. These resources help borrowers learn the status of their accounts, understand their options and assist them in taking prompt action to avoid additional costs and the consequences of loan default.