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If you're a student looking for help with rising college costs, then you've probably been told by the financial aid department to make sure you apply for an ACS Student Loan. Let's take a closer look at ACS, as well as the student loans they have to offer.
ACS Student Loan Background
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc or ACS is a company that specializes in business process outsourcing (BPO) and technology outsourcing solutions. According to an ACS press release:
"The Education Services business of ACS provides outsourcing solutions to more than 1,000 colleges and universities, many of the largest lenders and secondary markets in the country, and over 8.7 million borrowers with outstanding loans totaling more than $101.4 billion. ACS is the primary contractor for the Department of Education's Direct Loan Program."
When it comes to processing student loans, ACS provides what is called business process outsourcing services. That is, because they are efficient in storing and processing college loan information, the U.S. government has awarded ACS with a contract to administer a portion of their federal student loan program.
ACS Loan Process
The ACS website also indicates that they are a Fortune 500 company with 40,000 employees in 100 countries around the world. Many legislators are attempting to pass into law certain protections against BPO, in an attempt to keep those jobs here in the United States. But until that happens, ACS will continue to process and award student loans.
ACS can help students apply for both Stafford and PLUS loans online. To apply for these student loans, you must first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is typically available from a high school or a college's financial aid office. About four weeks after that form is submitted, you should receive a Student Aid Report or SAR. That report will contain the FAFSA information, along with calculations of the Expected Family Contribution.
This information will also be sent to the colleges and universities listed in your FAFSA form. Using this information, those financial aid offices will develop an Award Letter outlining the loan and direct aid information they are willing to offer the student.
Once you have those three items of information: a completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Student Aid Report (SAR), and the Award Letter, you can begin the ACS Student Loan process.
ACS Student Loan Offerings
ACS is responsible for three different loan types of offerings dealing with college and / student loans. Each of these programs is targeted to a different type of end user including:
- Student / Parent Borrowers
- Universities and Colleges
- Financial Institutions
The above three items are discussed in more detail below.
ACS Loans for Student / Parent Borrowers
ACS provides both information access and servicing of student loans. All of these are easily accessible through online / website access. To use their website tools, a user has to register and create an account. Once completed, the student or parent borrower has access to the following services:
ACS College / University Offerings
Not only does ACS provide outsourcing services to the U.S. government for their student loan programs, but ACS also provides colleges and universities the same benefits. After all, colleges should be in the business of providing its students with a quality education. That's one of their core strengths.
By outsourcing their non-strategic services to ACS, colleges and universities can dedicate more resources to providing their students with the education they deserve.
ACS and Financial Institutions
Finally, ACS considers itself a partner, not a competitor, when it comes to financial institutions such as banks and other lending establishments. That's because ACS does not lend money directly to students, rather its focus is on partnering with lending institutions and providing loan servicing solutions.
ACS Technology for Lenders
As mentioned earlier, ACS offers a web-based self service approach to students, financial aid offices, and they also provide the same services to lenders. For example, ACS offers lenders a start-to-finish approach to parent and student borrowers including:
- Online student loan payments
- Online forbearance and deferment requests
- Scheduling and actual loan payment processing
- Account information updates such as address changes
- Real time access to up-to-date information
About the Author - ACS Student Loan
Bill Sharlow is the Editor of Money-Zine.com. Copyright © 2004 - 2011 Money-Zine.com
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