Sallie Mae and USA Funds to Unveil 2Futuro

Sallie Mae® and USA Funds® will unveil 2Futuro, a new college-financing and outreach program for Hispanic students and their parents, during the 2006 National Association for Student Financial Aid Administrators conference July 5-8 in Seattle. Sallie Mae is the nation’s leading provider of education funding, and USA Funds is the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor.

2Futuro is the only fully bilingual college-financing and outreach program that enables Hispanic parents and students to apply for college loans in Spanish, and also offers dedicated Spanish-language customer service support to students, parents, and financial-aid administrators. The 2Futuro program also helps schools reach out to Hispanics by offering access to scholarships, grants and valuable financial-aid information through the Spanish-first, fully bilingual Web site http://www.2futuro.com/.

“2Futuro was created to help Hispanic students achieve their dreams of postsecondary education,” said Sergio Sanchez, director of Hispanic brand initiatives, Sallie Mae. “More importantly, 2Futuro helps to integrate parents of Hispanic students into the process and helps them make the best possible college-financing decisions.”

2Futuro also offers campus administrators major benefits. “2Futuro helps schools increase enrollment, retention, and graduation rates by reaching out to Hispanics, who represent the fastest-growing student segment in higher education today,” Sanchez said. “With 2Futuro, colleges and universities can now provide the much-needed Spanish-language outreach support and loan- application access to their growing community of Hispanic students and parents. The 2Futuro credo is first to help students and parents find free money to pay for college. Then, if they need additional money for college, 2Futuro is there to help them with affordable college-financing options.”

According to the non-profit Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Hispanics are the nation’s largest ethnic-minority group and the fastest-growing segment of our population, yet they have some of the lowest college graduation rates of any group — just over 10 percent. Figures from the National Center for Education Statistics found that in 2000 Hispanic students accounted for 7 percent of students enrolled at four-year institutions.

“Providing better information to this community about the value of a college education and the steps families need to take to prepare for college is a key to increasing the college-going and graduation rates of Hispanics,” said Henry Fernandez, executive director of scholarships, outreach and philanthropy, USA Funds. “2Futuro’s bilingual, Spanish-first Web site helps Hispanic students and their families navigate the college-financing process, from planning for college, to attending school and managing debt, to repaying college loans.”

Institutions of higher education also benefit by working with the 2Futuro loan process. By offering online loan applications in Spanish and English, 2Futuro is an effective tool for schools to communicate with their bilingual borrowers and can help schools improve enrollment rates by raising their visibility in the Hispanic community. In addition, 2Futuro offers schools choice by providing access to loan benefits through Sallie Mae’s family of lenders. All 2Futuro loans are exclusively guaranteed by USA Funds.

2Futuro’s PLUS loan application process for parents of dependent undergraduates is currently being offered in Spanish and English at select colleges and universities in four states. While 2Futuro’s Spanish-language Stafford loan application process will be available nationwide beginning this fall, students can apply immediately using the English-language process. Colleges and universities wishing to offer the 2Futuro program are encouraged to add it to their lender lists during the 2Futuro enrollment period, beginning today, July 3, through Dec. 31, 2006.

The launch of 2Futuro underscores Sallie Mae’s commitment to the Hispanic community. In addition, Sallie Mae’s philanthropic arm, The Sallie Mae Fund, recently concluded its second nationwide Paying for College Bus Tour. This year’s bus tour provided college outreach and counseling services to an estimated 45,000 Hispanic students at 77 locations across the country, and granted $164,000 in scholarships.