Through its education division, the Louisiana Education Loan Authority (Lela), the LPFA expanded its programs and services to support college-bound students. Lela continued to provide students and families with responsible borrowing and refinancing options in addition to enhancing its outreach assistance by hiring a full-time Marketing, Outreach and Program Manager. Lela also continued to help reduce the cost of higher education through its scholarship programs: Choose Louisiana Scholarship and FAFSA Completion Scholarship.
Making higher education more affordable and accessible continued to drive Lela’s efforts to provide responsible borrowing options for the Louisiana families. Through its LelaCHOICE supplemental education loan programs, Lela continued to provide three responsible choices to pay for education costs for undergraduate, parents and family, and graduate students. In 2023, Lela expanded its LelaCHOICE program for graduate students to offer a no-cosigner option for qualified applicants.
In response to the numerous changes to simplify the FAFSA, Lela expanded its FAFSA outreach assistance to Louisiana students and parents. Lela utilized creative digital and remote channels to provide its programs and services to students and families more efficiently and effectively. Lela assisted thousands of families to prepare and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)—the key application needed to apply for all federal student aid programs and some statewide scholarships like TOPS—through Lela’s digital outreach campaigns and one-on-one FAFSA completion sessions.
Refinancing higher-cost student loans also remained available through Lela’s RefiHELP program. The Lela RefiHELP program became more critical as interest rates remained high.
In 2023, Lela assisted more than 19,000 families through its college access and success programs. More than 470,000 students has received financing or outreach assistance since Lela’s inception.
For the tenth consecutive year, Lela also provided its FAFSA completion guide and Parent’s Guide: Planning and Paying for College to every high school in Louisiana.
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