College student loan consolidation id

Business Editors/Education Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2003

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Students and their families can make higher education and career dreams a reality by utilizing online information and resources on the Mapping Your Future web site. Sponsored by U.S. Bank and other lenders, student loan guaranty agencies and student loan servicers, Mapping Your Future is a non-profit, public service web site that provides free college, career and financial aid information and services.

The site is located at www.mapping-your-future.org.

"The Mapping Your Future web site meets Southeast Missouri State University's (SEMO) entrance and exit counseling requirements quite well," said Sharon Scherer, student loan coordinator at SEMO. "Students enjoy the convenience of online counseling since they choose when and where to complete the counseling. I often point out to students and their parents other services the web site has to offer for career planning, debt management and job searches. Our office is also very pleased with the ExitExpress feature for reporting exit information to guaranty agencies."

Features of the Mapping Your Future web site include:

-- Early Career Awareness - career planning information and the interactive feature CareerShip to help middle school students explore career options;

-- College Preparation and Selection - information about academic preparation needed for college and what to expect from admission procedures and standardized tests, and tips on selecting a school;

-- Financial Wellness - "Ten Steps to Financial Fitness," an interactive financial trainer dedicated to helping high school and college students build financial muscle; includes calculators to help students and families with budgeting and financial aid planning;

-- College Financial Aid - information about how to apply for student financial aid, and information on scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study programs, and a calendar of important dates in the financial aid process;

-- Online Student Loan Counseling - interactive and college-customized Stafford and Perkins entrance and exit counseling and testing sessions;

-- Finding a Job - JobGusher(TM), a job search site for students and recent graduates that provides occupation and job descriptions, tips on resume preparation, job hunting,and job interviewing; and

-- Supervised Special Chat Night - events that enable visitors to ask counselors about college, career, and financial aid and receive answers immediately.

"One particular outstanding feature of mapping-your-future.org is the on-line student loan counseling function, that provides unbiased loan information directly to borrowers at their convenience and reports the completion of the counseling session directly to their schools," said Russ Kruse, manager of the U.S. Bank student loan division. "Today, more than 1,200 colleges are actively directing their student borrowers to this on-line counseling resource."

U.S. Bank is one of the top student banking institutions in the nation, providing a comprehensive line of student banking products including student loans, campus ID card programs, Internet banking, U.S. Bank student checking and savings, and Visa Buxx(R) prepaid spending cards. U.S. Bank Student Loans offers quality toll-free customer service, state-of-the-art loan processing, online application accessibility, and a variety of repayment options that offer savings to borrowers. Student loan products include Federal Stafford, PLUS, Consolidation, and Supplemental education loans. The U.S. Bank web site www.usbank.com offers the full array of student banking products, services and paying for college information as well as an Internet scholarship program and scholarship search engine.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with assets in excess of $180 billion, is the 8th largest financial services holding company in the United States. The company operates 2,142 banking offices and 4,604 ATMs, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. U.S. Bancorp is home of the Five Star Service Guarantee which assures customers of certain key banking benefits and services or customers will be paid for their inconvenience. U.S. Bancorp is the parent company of U.S. Bank.