SLA Flash Survey Finds 83% Of Schools Rate Implementation Process for Direct Lending As "Acceptable" Or Better

Here are the complete survey results:  Download DL_Transition_Survey_May2010

Here is a summary of the survey of over 200 financial aid administrators:

• Overall, 83% of respondents rated their level of satisfaction as “acceptable” or higher when it came to their direct lending implementation process to date.
  • 16% indicated they were "very satisfied", 31% were "satisfied" and 36% rated their experience to date as "acceptable"

• Among the most popular financial aid management systems (FAMS), respondents were least satisfied with PowerFAIDS with 67% of respondents rating their satisfaction as “acceptable” or higher while Banner (91%) and DataTel (90%) received the highest ratings.
  • Home-grown systems also showed low levels of satisfaction (69% rated their experience as "acceptable" or better)

• Graduate programs had the lowest level of satisfaction with only 50% rating their implementation experience as “acceptable” or higher.

• Over 1/3 (35%) of participants have requested additional technical resources to assist in their implementation
  • While six out of seven requests have been granted, 30% of requests have not received an answer yet

• In terms of confidence level, survey participants were:
  • Most confident that they would be able to process Direct Loans by July 1st with 89% being very confident (50%) or confident (39%) that they would accomplish it by the deadline
  • Least confident that parents and student borrowers would understand the process changes with only 21% being “very confident” and 58% being “somewhat confident” that they could navigate the shift to Direct Lending

• Over 80% of schools have completed these steps to prepare for Direct Lending, with only 16% hiring a consultant:
  • Participated in DL webinars
  • Reviewed Department of Education’s Direct Lending website
  • Developed communication strategy for parents and student borrowers

• The three most valuable resources for survey participants were peer/mentoring relationships, Dept. of Education (website, webinars and customer service "point of contact") and software vendors