From: OSFAP CSB (OSFAP_CSB@ed.gov)
Date: Mon Jan 31 2000 - 16:20:32 EST
Dear Partners:
The following announcement was posted to the NEW IFAP website today.
It describes the new IFAP Home Page (http://ifap.ed.gov). It is being
cross-posted to FINAID-L, FINNET-L, MEDAID-L and BURSAR-L for your
information.
SFA Customer Support Branch
Schools Channel
U.S. Department of Education
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January 2000
Dear Partners:
SFA is pleased to announce the unveiling of a new Home Page for the
Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website
(http://ifap.ed.gov). This slimmer and trimmer Home Page was developed in
response to many of your recommendations. We believe it will be easier to
navigate the IFAP site through this new page.
In addition to making the IFAP Home Page less busy, we have included
several features requested by you, our partners. IFAP now presents a
"What's New" area from the Home page. This feature currently reflects the
same information that is sent to you via the IFAP subscription option, a
comprehensive listing of all of the previous weeks' postings to IFAP. We
plan to further enhance this area to have it reflect daily updates as well.
We have added an "About CSB" area to the IFAP website. We've found
that many of our partners aren't aware that the SFA Customer Support Branch
(CSB) maintains and manages the IFAP website. We also provide assistance to
our partners through a toll-free (1-800-433-7327) telephone number you may
call with questions concerning SFA policies and procedures.
We have also created a "Customer Feedback" area on IFAP. Our
partners may send comments and suggestions related to the IFAP website
and/or our services, to the SFA Customer Support Branch. Your comments can
be sent to us anonymously. The Customer Support Branch will consider all
comments and suggestions as we continue to enhance the services we provide.
We are continuing work on some additional enhancements we are
planning for the IFAP website. These improvements include an enhanced
search engine with more useful "returns" and better on-line help; topical
indexing of the publications offered on IFAP; and developing a distinction
(for browsing and searching) between current publications and historical
publications (older than three years).
Ultimately, the information available to you via the IFAP website,
will be incorporated into the future web portal for Schools. The web
portals, as described by SFA's CIO Stephen Hawald at last fall's EAC
conferences, will provide a common look and feel for the SFA web pages.
Look for more exciting enhancements as SFA moves forward with our
modernization efforts.
This new Home Page is a direct result of SFA responding to your
suggestions about the IFAP website. We encourage you to continue to let us
know how we can improve this service for your benefit.
Sincerely,
Kay
Jacks
General Manager, Schools Channel
Student Financial Assistance
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