PHEAA Customer Service Center Opens - Job Fair Scheduled for December 11th

As the Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), I was pleased to announce in June the opening of a new PHEAA Customer Service Center in Green Tree.  Last week the facility, located at 11 Parkway Center officially opened its doors.  When fully staffed, this new facility will employ 150 full-time customer service representatives.  These are sustainable jobs with access to employment benefits.  These jobs are a significant achievement that will have long-term benefits for families and our economy.

The collective message I hear every day from constituents is the need for jobs.  One of our most important roles as elected officials is connecting our constituents with the opportunities for good, family-sustaining jobs and I am proud to have worked with PHEAA in bringing a job creator to Allegheny County.

In order to provide opportunities for employment and to fully staff this new Customer Service Center, PHEAA will continue to hold job recruitment events in the area.  The next PHEAA recruitment event is scheduled for December 11th from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Allegheny County Career Link Center downtown location, located on the 22nd Floor at 425 6th Avenue.  If you’re interested in working at this new facility, I encourage you to attend this recruitment event.  You can also visit www.pheaa.org/jobs to learn more about available positions.

PHEAA’s customer service representatives are among the most highly-trained in the student aid industry.  The first group of Parkway Center-based customer service representatives began training in September.  PHEAA expects to train an average of 42 new employees every eight weeks until it reaches the facility’s 150-person capacity.  Employees receive a paid eight-week training program prior to working directly with student loan borrowers to help them manage their student loan debt successfully.

PHEAA is a self-sufficient state agency – free of administrative support from the Commonwealth, which has saved taxpayers billions of dollars over the years.  PHEAA’s combined student loan servicing operations help more than 12 million borrowers manage their student loan debt in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation.  PHEAA uses its business earnings to support its public service mission and to pay its operating costs, including the operation of this new facility and the administration of the Pennsylvania State Grant Program, and other state-funded student aid programs.  Additionally, PHEAA contributed $75 million of its earnings to supplement the State Grant Program, $10 million to fund additional grants through a Distance Education Pilot Program, and $5 million to fund the Pennsylvania Targeted Industry Program (PA-TIP) in the 2013-14 academic year.

I am appreciative of the long-term investment PHEAA is making in our community and am excited this new Customer Service Center is operating in Green Tree.  This facility is a win for PHEAA, for the residents of Green Tree and Allegheny County, and for the citizens of the Commonwealth.