About Us  >  History of ECSI

Company History

Since our inception in 1972, Educational Computer Systems, Inc. (ECSI) has been considered by many to be the Industry Leader in Student Loan Management.

Our core Student Loan Management Software product, SAL (an acronym for Stand-A-Loan), was the first comprehensive Personal Computer (PC) Software Solution for processing Student Loans. As such, it will operate on almost every make and model of IBM compatible PC and any network that supports MS-DOS 3.11 compatible file and record locking. The importance of this information is that there are no specialized hardware or software solutions. Standard off-the-shelf equipment will perform well with SAL.

In 1985 ECSI released the first PC version of SAL. It was intended to run on MS-DOS based PC which includes Windows 3.1x. The software was designed with a Character-mode User Interface (CUI). The original product was designed to run in 640k of base memory.

As more features were added to the software, a version of the product that supported extended-memory was released for MS-DOS, Windows 3.1x and Windows 95. This enabled ECSI to greatly expand the capabilities of our software without the 640k limitations traditionally placed on MS-DOS style applications. The software could operate with up to 16 megabytes of memory, but only required 4 megabytes.

A second major revision to the software was made when more institutions began to acquire and deploy Windows NT. To avoid potential legacy compatibility problems, ECSI created a version of SAL that was a true 32-bit native console-mode application. This version enabled our clients to run SAL as a true windows application but still retain the familiar user interface.

In 1997, ECSI began development on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) version of SAL for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. SAL for Windows software is an entirely new product and replaced the old SAL product. In addition to redesigning the interface, the product was re-engineered internally to provide facilities for future enhancements or additional technologies. Also, the product was expanded to completely support four-digit years, ensuring full Year 2000 compliance.

To make the transition from the CUI product to the GUI product, many of the screen organizations were retained. This limited the amount of retraining an end-user would require. The major deviation from this philosophy was in the area of the Document Writer that now supports a Microsoft Word interface as opposed to the proprietary interface previously provided.

After a (9) month Beta and Evaluation program, SAL for Windows was installed in production at the first client site in June 1999. All service clients have since been migrated to our new, Windows product.

ECSI Today and Into The Future

Today, we strive to provide each of our clients with a Superior Level of Customer Service, which is the cornerstone of our business philosophy and we continue to offer the most comprehensive range of intuitive, user-friendly solutions that help over 700 Colleges & Universities across the country manage their complex Student Loan Portfolios, Tuition Payment Plans, Delinquent Receivables, and Collection Efforts.

The full suite of products and services we provide to our clients are all performed internally by ECSI. None of our core business is outsourced. Despite the outward appearance of size, ECSI is completely self-sufficient. Based on the fact that we only service campus-based programs, our ratio of employees to schools is superior to our competition.

The overwhelming majority of our staff is dedicated to serving our clients and their borrowers. Through the intelligent use of technology, we are able to keep staff size below that of other comparable organizations. The majority of tasks that are performed are automated to eliminate potential human error and to increase productivity.

As an organization, ECSI has an extremely low turnover rate with the average tenure of an ECSI Employee at approximately 9+ years. This industry experience enables our Account Representatives to provide the highest level of Customer Service and Support.