Education will put student loan services online

The Education Department’s Office of Student Financial Assistance Programs next year will offer services such as student loan payment and payment deferment online at .Users will be able to go over their student loan bills and conduct other transactions on the site, said Ken Dineen, a partner with Accenture of Chicago, the prime contractor in Education’s modernization effort.The department, which awarded the share-in-savings modernization contract in September 1999, expects the initiative to streamline administrative processes and save $79 million over the next five years, Dineen said.Users will be able to get correspondence on their student loans via e-mail and defer payment on the Web or by phone, he said.