About Us
Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, plays a central and essential role in America's postsecondary education community.
Federal Student Aid's core mission is to ensure that all eligible Americans benefit from federal financial assistance-grants, loans and work-study programs-for education beyond high school. The programs we administer comprise the nation's largest source of student aid: during the 2004-05 school year alone, we provided approximately $74 billion in new aid to nearly 10 million postsecondary students and their families. Our staff of 1,100 is based in 10 cities in addition to our Washington headquarters.
Among our most visible and essential services are the development, distribution, and processing of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the fundamental qualifying form used for all federal and government-guaranteed commercial lenders' programs-as well as for many state, regional and private student aid programs. By filling out the online or paper FAFSA, applicants start the process of qualifying for aid. Each year our staff processes approximately 14 million FAFSAs.
Because we oversee $391 billion of outstanding student loans, it's our job to ensure that all of our partners in the student aid community-schools, lenders, servicers and guaranty agencies-operate fairly, honestly and efficiently. Another key role we perform is to make students and their families aware that financial aid is available and is a necessary first step to further education. As America's premier source of federal student aid information, we distribute numerous publications, host multiple Web sites and run several customer call centers. Most of these services are provided in Spanish as well.
The Federal Student Aid team is passionately committed to making education beyond high school more attainable for all Americans, regardless of socioeconomic status. By championing access to postsecondary education, we uphold its value as a force for greater inclusion in American society and for the continued vitality of America as a nation.
