CFSI Collegiate Funding Services (MM)

FREDERICKSBURG, Va., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In response to the devastation and disruption brought on by Hurricane Katrina, Collegiate Funding Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFSI) is granting three-month loan forbearance to customers in the disaster areas and is providing a 100 percent match to employee contributions and fundraising efforts on behalf of the American Red Cross. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050714/DCTH039LOGO ) CFS is implementing the Department of Education's three-month loan forbearance provisions on federally guaranteed student loan programs to students and families of students who have been impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The company also is extending the same three-month forbearance period to private education loan customers impacted by the disaster. "For many of us, this disaster is incomprehensible," said J. Barry Morrow, president and chief executive officer of Collegiate Funding Services, Inc. "As a company, we are in the business of helping people obtain their dreams of going to college and making their mark on the world, and today we need to provide extra assistance to customers who are displaced from their homes, schools, families and loved ones. I am extremely proud of the heart felt efforts made by the associates of CFS. They have risen to the occasion and implemented fund-raising events to help those families in need. I especially applaud our associates at CFS-SunTech in Jackson, Miss., who brought our servicing center back into operation while also dealing with the impact of the storm on their personal lives." CFS-SunTech has volunteered to assist colleges in southern Mississippi with clean up and other miscellaneous tasks as needed. CFS is working with the American Red Cross and has already implemented a number of internal fundraising efforts in its offices in Fredericksburg, Va., Boston, Mass., Tampa, Fla. and Jackson, Miss. These efforts will continue throughout the month, with the company matching 100 percent of the funds raised or collected throughout the month of September. About Collegiate Funding Services Collegiate Funding Services is a leading education finance company dedicated to providing students and their families with the practical advice and loan solutions they need to help manage and pay for the cost of higher education. Collegiate Funding Services also offers a comprehensive portfolio of education loan products and services -- including loan origination, loan servicing and campus-based scholarship and affinity marketing tools -- to the higher education community. As of June 30, 2005, Collegiate Funding Services had facilitated the origination of more than $20 billion in education loans; the company currently manages almost $12 billion in student loans for more than 460,000 borrowers. For additional information, visit http://www.cfsloans.com/ or call 1-888-423-7562. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050714/DCTH039LOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Collegiate Funding Services, Inc. CONTACT: Ann Collier, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications of Collegiate Funding Services, +1-540-368-5970, Fax: +1-540-368-5963, or Web site: http://www.cfsloans.com/

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