OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings affirms at 'AAAsf' the senior student loan notes issued by Scholar Funding Trust 2012-A. The Rating Outlook for the senior notes, which is tied to the sovereign rating of the U.S. government, is Stable.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

High Collateral Quality: The collateral consists of 100% rehab Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans. The credit quality of the trust collateral is high, in Fitch's opinion, based on the guarantees provided by the transaction's eligible guarantors and reinsurance provided by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for at least 97% of principal and accrued interest. Fitch currently rates the U.S. 'AAA' with a Stable Outlook.

Sufficient Credit Enhancement: CE is provided by overcollateralization (OC; the excess of trust's asset balance over bond balance) and excess spread. As of the March 2015 distribution date, total parity remained steady at 105.99%, which is the release level.

Adequate Liquidity Support: Liquidity support is provided by a Debt Service Reserve Fund currently sized at \$342,538 (0.25% of the bond balance, with a floor of 0.15%). Additionally, there a capitalized interest account currently sized at \$1.3 million, scheduled to release on July 28th, 2017.

Acceptable Servicing Capabilities: JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. is the master servicer and Xerox-ES and Tru Student, Inc. are the sub-servicer of this trust. Fitch believes all servicers to be acceptable servicers of FFELP student loans.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Since FFELP student loan ABS rely on the U.S. government to reimburse defaults, 'AAAsf' FFELP ABS ratings will likely move in tandem with the 'AAA' U.S. sovereign rating. Aside from the U.S. sovereign rating, defaults and basis risk account for the majority of the risk embedded in FFELP student loan transactions. Additional defaults and basis shock beyond Fitch's published stresses could result in future downgrades. Likewise, a buildup of credit enhancement driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.

Fitch has affirmed the following:

Scholar Funding Trust 2012-A:

--Class A at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable.

A comparison of the transaction's RW&Es to those of typical RW&Es for student loans is available by accessing the reports below:

--'Scholar Funding Trust 2012-A, Class A Student Loan Asset-Backed Notes -- Appendix' (June 12, 2012);

--'Representations, Warranties, and Enforcement Mechanisms in Global Structured Finance Transactions -- Amended' (Oct. 31, 2014).