Albert Einstein said it best."We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."I'm sure most student loan executives are already developing new business strategy in response to the debilitating regulations on student loans and the promise of more painful change. The only major differences between successful and not-so-successful student loan companies are strategy,...

Almost everyone has been burned by a software project that was late, over budget, or never delivered a business benefit. Avoiding these pitfalls is no easy task. There are many ways to implement new information processing systems. Choosing the "best" approach to implement new technologies requires that executives understand the risks and rewards associated with each option.Risks are unavoidable but...

Sallie Mae deserves a lot of respect. If you can successfully compete against the 900-pound gorilla then you will flourish as others struggle. Sallie Mae is the most successful, largest and (many think) the best managed student loan company. So, the only question everyone else in the industry needs to answer is:How to beat Sallie Mae?The FFEL program is going through more changes in the next year t...

Yes, it appears Preferred Lender Lists (PLLs) are gone forever. Thanks to Kennedy, Cuomo and friends, PLLs have gone the way of the dodo—or at least as we knew them last year.This is incredibly good news for industry innovators and horrible news for lending institutions that are laggards in adopting new technologies.We recently conducted a survey of over 200 lending institutions as part of our on...

We find outrageous servicer errors for almost every client. Here are some of the big errors we found this year: Borrower benefits are not enforced at a cost of over $300,000 per year to the lender. Incorrectly calculated Special Allowance Payments of more than $50,000 per quarter. Multiple billings for the same borrower costing the lender more than $100,000 per year.With mistakes like these, one mu...