South Texas Higher Education Authority (STHEA) is a non-profit corporation incorporated in 1973 under the City of Edinburg, Texas. The primary purpose of STHEA is to provide funds for the acquisition and servicing of guaranteed student loans. The Authority issues tax exempt bonds in the public funds market and uses those proceeds to acquire guaranteed student loans from lending institutions. STHEA contracts with the Council for South Texas Economic Progress (COSTEP) to provide administrative and loan servicing.

Under the guidance and vision of the late Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Senator, South Texas Higher Education Authority, Inc. (STHEA) was conceived with a vision to serve the South Texas community with the belief that equal access to education is the key to economic progress for all. Over 30years later, the board of directors of STHEA remains as committed to this vision as when it was first established.

With the support of our Board of Directors and our student loan servicer, the Council for South Texas Economic Progress (COSTEP), STHEA is devoted to providing solutions for overcoming financial obstacles to obtaining a post-secondary education.

The key to continued success lies with our aggressive approach to reach as many students as possible, and to communicate the message that there are financial resources available through industry partners providing for a better future.

Since inception and before recent legislative changes were introduced with the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the South Texas Higher Education Authority, in association with its business partners, invested in its community by providing over $4.5 million in scholarships, various interest rate reduction and loan forgiveness programs that saved borrowers in excess of $8.35 million.

We are proud of our association with our industry partners and the programs that are
now provided. Some of these programs include:

Outreach Services

High School, College and University Outreach on a Different Level
Outreach programs in South Texas have been taken to a new level in terms of meeting the needs of students, parents, high school guidance counselors, college financial aid professionals and borrowers.Tools that are category specific enable more students to be exposed to the financial aid process. These include user-friendly collateral materials designed for teaching, training, and information delivery to industry partners. The cornerstone of outreach services is a dynamic website built to answer even the most comprehensive questions, provide instant access to information for students and parents and to guide the user through the process of obtaining a DOE PIN or filling out a FAFSA application. In addition, this site offers loans via the internet, details available student loans, explains repayment options and incentives, provides a loan calculator and tables and much more. Our student loan servicer is now able to track web usage to determine the most requested information so that we can focus on student’s needs.

The Personal Touch

Our partners continue to strive to provide one-on-one personal services at anytime during the process.With the support of bilingual Student Relation Consultants, students are assisted with grant and scholarship searches, student and parent loans, graduate and professional loans, consolidations, and every aspect of the financial aid process.

Three components make up the one-on-one outreach program: The Edinburg Resource Center, the San Antonio Resource Center and the Mobile Education Resource Vehicle (MERV).

Each Resource Center has bilingual personnel to guide students and parents through the loan process. High school guidance counselors are provided tools to prepare students for college, using materials that address student’s needs from the 9th through 12th grades.

The goal of the Resource Centers is to reach as many college-bound students as possible and help them achieve their goals and dreams. MERV continues to be an excellent outreach vehicle, approximately 150,000 people have received personal instruction and assistance with free scholarships searches, assistance with the FAFSA and guidance in the loan process. The Resource Centers help over 6,000 students annually.

Special Events

With the support of our lending partners, as well as our school partners, special events are held frequently, which allows our lending partners to reach out to the community and help students prepare for college. Events are held in malls, schools, at colleges and our lending partners participate in events such as financial aid nights, college fairs, educational talent searches and FAFSA Fever events.

Planning Tools

Free bilingual workbooks, brochures and planning tools that are designed to meet the needs of the students and make them feel comfortable with the financial aid process are provided by our partners. They also publish materials for use by guidance counselors, financial aid professionals and industry partners. Most of the tools are now available online in a format that can be downloaded and used to meet the needs of students, schools, colleges and industry partners.This gives them immediate access to information which is just a mouse click away.

Language

In South Texas our lending partners take the needs of the end-user into consideration in their communication strategy. Target market communication is provided in English and Spanish, and takes into account whether a person is a student, parent, graduate/professional or borrower. They use language that is easy to understand.

Proactive Default Prevention Incentives

Historically, the South Texas Region suffers from default rate averages higher than national and state averages. Over the years we have seen this rate fall.We attribute this to educational programs that discuss rates and responsibilities associated with student loans from the very beginning of the process. In addition, through free of charge default prevention programs, South Texas colleges and universities are experiencing, in some cases, less than 2% default rates.