Every five years, the office of Federal Student Aid (FSA)—the unit within the U.S. Department of Education that oversees the federal loan program—creates a strategic plan. In September, FSA released a draft of its Fiscal Year 2020-24 Strategic Plan and invited public comments.
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ project on student borrower success submitted the attached feedback on the sections of the plan focused on federal student loans. These comments include information about enrollment in and recertification for income-driven repayment plans (those that calculate monthly payments based on borrowers’ incomes and family sizes), financial literacy, new technology, standards and consideration for servicers and servicer-borrower communication, and metrics for measuring FSA’s success in achieving its goals.