Our Services
Student Loan Program Design & Strategy
The elimination of Grad Plus, lower federal undergrad loan caps, changing student populations and non-traditional degree programs are shifting demand to the private loan sector. With the new demand comes an unprecedented level of complexity in market evaluations, loan terms and conditions, and credit risk scenarios. Add an increasingly competitive for-profit private loan market and a broader atmosphere of financial unease, and one thing is for sure. This is no place for the uninitiated. Or even for those not 100% focused on an esoteric, highly regulated asset class markedly sensitive to evolving labor markets and economic environments.
Successful loan programs must be grounded in sound financial strategies that align with evolving market needs while satisfying clear and reasonable investor expectations. It starts with a clear-eyed understanding of the issuer’s market.
Of course, any new loan program must also support the mission and obligations of the issuer. SLCS works closely, and candidly, with each client to determine the right way forward.
Market opportunity assessment
Lending platform and loan product design
Credit risk guidelines development
Pro-forma economics and analysis
Loan coupon build-up and net interest margin analysis
Capital Markets & Financing Advisory
Since its inception in 2007, SLCS has served as financial advisor for 136 distinct student loan financings on behalf of a national client list of market participants. We have designed, modeled, structured and led transactions totaling nearly $18.8 billion in par amount of publicly sold or privately placed bonds and notes across the municipal tax-exempt, municipal taxable, taxable asset-backed securities and variable rate demand obligation securities.
Given our decades of experience and number of transactions completed, we know and have worked across the spectrum of investment banks, law firms, trustees, accounting firms, loan originators, loan servicers, rating agencies and other key financing transaction team members operating in the student loan space.
As a result, our reputation with these partners is well established. But perhaps the greatest testimony to our expertise and proficiency is the fact that many of our client issuers are long-term, repeat customers.
SLCS brings to bear high level analytical tools for its clients, including many of the same models used by Wall Street firms to develop structured finance transactions. We have decades of experience with these models and bring to clients the unique combination of serving as their fiduciary while also building and structuring transactions side by side with them to achieve the optimal result. We do not use “canned” structures, or a one size fits all approach, instead we deliver to our clients highly customized financing structures that deliver on efficiency and achieving goals. We do this thanks to our deep experience in the space and a constant flow of financing activity which keeps us sharp and current.
Plan of finance design and analytics
Bond structuring, cash flow modeling and ratings execution
Warehouse and bridge line advisory
Securities issuance advisory
Financing transaction management
Strategic Advisory Services
SLCS offers a broad range of advisory and valuation services that facilitate our client’s strategic objectives. Whether we’re advising the buyer or seller or assisting on a strategic project we bring three imperatives to the assignment: 1. Deep, reliable data and market comps; 2. Strong market relationships and intelligence, and, above all, 3. Our independence.
Since inception, we have advised on over $50 billion in loan asset sale/purchase transactions. Just since 2021, SLCS has represented 17 loan asset sellers aggregating over $4.5 billion. In addition, we have represented sellers and buyers of student loan entities.
We continue to invest heavily in proprietary data management technologies designed specifically for analyzing the unique attributes and risks of student loan portfolios and companies. Our cashflow modeling is built to handle the more complex data sets of loan level data vs summary data used by others. This is critically important to achieving accurate, defensible portfolio, security and company valuations, and pricing.
Some of our relationships on both the buy and sell-side of transactions go back decades. Not only those with our clients, but also the investment banks, major accounting firms and broker-dealers. The latter brings us to the importance of our independence.
Market opportunity assessment and advisory
Enterprise, whole loans, residuals, securities, servicing strips, valuations
Portfolio valuations
Mark-to-market valuations
Fair Market Value Reports and Opinions
LOI and term sheet negotiation advisory
Pro forma economics and analytics
Transaction and sale process management
Asset & Financing Trust Management
At SLCS, we place as much emphasis on what happens in between transactions as during them. Ongoing portfolio monitoring, analytics and reporting allow issuers and investors alike to keep a keen eye on its performance while using the intelligence to inform strategies and decisions pertaining to the asset class.
We also provide financing trust management services. This includes monitoring servicer activity, administrative accounting tasks such as P&L analyses, issuing quarterly investor reports, and ensuring the trust remains in good standing.
To the best of our knowledge, we are the only student loan financial advisory firm that offers this service.
