Summary: The Student Loan Insurance Fund is used to finance Federal insurance and reinsurance of loans made under the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program. Previous reports have discussed the inability of the Office of Education's accounting and computer systems to provide accurate information for the Fund's financial statements and program operation. Although efforts are under way to improve the GSL accounting and computer systems, many problems remain unresolved. The Bureau of Student Financial Assistance (BSFA) stated that, because of the change in contractors, no specific timetable of proposed actions could be provided, and GAO was advised that an audit of the Fund at the time would simply disclose that previous deficiencies remain uncorrected. BSFA and the new contractor will have to correct deficiencies discussed in the prior reports before reliable information necessary to administer the program and detailed accounting records needed to support the GSL financial statements can be developed and an audit can be made.
