In 1998, Congress amended the Higher Education Act (HEA) and established the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) as a performance-based organization. The Act called for the FSA to develop 5-year plans annually, issue annual reports, and consult with stakeholders regarding the program delivery system. The General Accounting Office (GAO) initiated a review to assess FSA's default management efforts and results. FSA had 39 default management goals for fiscal years 2000 through 2002, but the goals changed significantly during this period, and the GAO found that the FSA did not prepare the 5-year performance plans annually. FSA met or exceeded most of its goals, but did not prepare timely performance reports. The GAO analysis shows that FSA met or exceeded 36 of its 39 management goals. Suggestions from the 23 school officials who responded to a GAO survey that was part of this evaluation did not indicate the need for additional default management goals. Most responding officials were generally pleased with FSA assistance. The GAO recommends that FSA prepare a 5-year performance plan as required by the HEA and also prepare and issue reports on performance that are timely and clearly identify whether performance goals were met. Five appendixes contain supplemental information, including a discussion of the study methodology. (SLD)