Federal Student Loan Repayment Program: OPM Could Build on Its Efforts to Help Agencies Administer the Program and Measure Results
GAO-05-762
Published: Jul 22, 2005. Publicly Released: Jul 22, 2005.
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Highlights
As federal workers retire in greater numbers, agencies will need to recruit and retain a new wave of talented individuals. Agencies need to determine if the federal student loan repayment (SLR) program is one of the best ways to make maximum use of available funds to attract and keep this key talent. GAO was asked to identify (1) why agencies use or are not using the program; (2) how agencies are implementing the SLR program; and (3) what results and suggestions agency officials could provide about the program and how they view the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) role in facilitating its use. Ten agencies were selected to provide illustrative examples of why and how agencies decided to use or chose not to use the program.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Personnel Management | Consistent with OPM's ongoing efforts in this regard, to help improve the SLR program's efficiency and ease of administration, and to assess results, the Director of OPM, in conjunction with the CHCO Council, should work with the agencies, determine where program streamlining and consolidation of agencies' administrative tasks are most feasible and appropriate, and design ways ways to implement these program improvements, especially those that could be implemented governmentwide and the most cost-effective ways to implement them. Examples of program improvements that could provide valuable help to agencies and ease the administrative burden include creating a central database of student loan lender information and establishing a shared service center arrangement for student loan repayments. |
Closed – Implemented
In the spring and fall of 2006, OPM hosted meetings of a student loan repayment program interagency working group where improvements for more efficiently operating the program were discussed and demonstrated. For example, in April 2006, OPM distributed a consolidated set of contact information for various student loan lenders and services to agency program managers. In addition, under OPM's Human Resources Line of Business initiative, OPM has selected five shared service centers to provide technology and services to federal agencies in a number of core human resources areas, including a requirement to manage the student loan repayment program.
|
| Office of Personnel Management | Consistent with OPM's ongoing efforts in this regard, to help improve the SLR program's efficiency and ease of administration, and to assess results, the Director of OPM, in conjunction with the CHCO Council, should continue and expand on its efforts to provide agencies assistance and to help facilitate coordination and sharing of leading practices by, for example, conducting additional forums, sponsoring training sessions, or using other methods. |
Closed – Implemented
Beginning in August 2005, OPM hosted two interagency forums on student loan repayments where participants shared comments and concerns and exchanged ideas on how to help agencies use student loan repayment benefits more effectively. At the second forum, representatives from three agencies shared best practices and lessons learned regarding their programs. OPM also joined with agency program managers to establish an interagency working group, which also provides an opportunity for program managers to share best practices and lessons learned with each other and provide feedback to OPM on ways it can better assist agencies in using the program as a recruitment or retention incentive. OPM has an additional interagency working group meeting planned where Department of Education representatives will make a presentation on student loan lending practices and the loan payment process. In addition, to assist in sharing information with the student loan repayment program community, OPM established an e-mail list server in August 2005.
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| Office of Personnel Management | Consistent with OPM's ongoing efforts in this regard, to help improve the SLR program's efficiency and ease of administration, and to assess results, the Director of OPM, in conjunction with the CHCO Council, should help agencies determine ways in which they can monitor long-term program effects on their recruitment and retention needs, such as determining data to collect and use as indicators of effects. This, in turn, could provide a consistent set of governmentwide indicators that would allow OPM to assess, and report to Congress on, the program's overall results achieved. |
Closed – Implemented
On July 27, 2006, OPM hosted a meeting of the interagency working group on the student loan repayment program to discuss methods of measuring the effectiveness of the program. A metrics expert was in attendance to provide feedback and insight to agency program managers on measurement issues. In addition, in September 2006, OPM distributed to agency program managers a set of ideas for measuring the effectiveness of the student loan repayment program. OPM has also added a question about the program to the 2006 Federal Benefits Survey to try to measure the program's importance in decisions to accept federal government employment or remain in the federal government.
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| Department of State | The Secretary of State should build on current efforts to measure the impact of the Department of State's (DOS) SLR program by determining now what indicators DOS will use to track program success, what baseline DOS will use to measure resulting program changes over time, what data DOS needs to begin to collect, and whether DOS could use periodic surveys to track employee attitudes about the program as additional indicators of success. |
Closed – Implemented
By the end of September 2006, the Department of State had expanded on earlier performance measurements to more closely monitor the success of the student loan repayment program in three areas. The Department of State is also comparing attrition and hiring rates in targeted occupational series with voluntary separation and transfer rates of employees subject to a student loan repayment service commitment and also those employees who separated after fulfilling their required program service commitments. In addition, the Department of State has determined that it will continue to track employee attitudes about the program through annual surveys.
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| Department of Justice | The United States Attorney General should build on current efforts to measure the impact of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Attorney Student Loan Repayment Program by determining now what indicators the department will use to track program success, what baseline DOJ will use to measure resulting program changes over time, what data DOJ needs to begin to collect, and whether DOJ could use periodic surveys to track employee attitudes about the program as additional indicators of success. |
Closed – Implemented
By September 2005, the Department of Justice had determined several indicators it will use to track the success of its attorney student loan repayment program and consulted with statistical experts to determine the usefulness and validity of possible measurements of the program. The department has also coordinated with the National Finance Center to collect data for a longitudinal baseline it will use to measure resulting program changes. In addition, the department has implemented two actions to track employee attitudes about the program as additional indicators of success, including augmenting its exit survey and Attorney General's Honors Program application with questions about the student loan repayment program.
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| United States Securities and Exchange Commission | The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should build on current efforts to measure the impact of SEC's SLR program by determining now what indicators SEC will use to track program success, what baseline SEC will use to measure resulting program changes over time, what data SEC needs to begin to collect, and whether SEC could use periodic surveys to track employee attitudes about the program as additional indicators of success. |
Closed – Implemented
By September 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission had determined several indicators it will use to track the success of its student loan repayment program and consulted with statistical and metrics experts to determine the usefulness and validity of these measurements of the program. In addition, the agency tracks program participants who leave the agency before completing the service agreement to determine any trends regarding the occupations of those employees who leave early and the length of time between receiving benefits and leaving the agency. The agency also tracks employee attitudes about the program through exit surveys and its Annual Employee Survey as additional indicators of success.
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Federal aid programsFederal employeesFederal lawHuman capitalHuman capital managementHuman capital planningInteragency relationsLoan repaymentsPersonnel recruitingProgram evaluationProgram managementStrategic planningStudent financial aidStudent loans