OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings affirms the senior student loan notes at 'AAAsf' issued by Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B. The Rating Outlook remains Stable for all notes.

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): CE is provided by overcollateralization (OC; the excess of trust's asset balance over bond balance) and excess spread. As of the July 2015, total parity is 105.99% (5.65%CE). Cash is being released from the trust given that the target CE (5.65% of assets or $1 million) is maintained.

Adequate Liquidity Support: Liquidity support is provided by a reserve fund and a capitalized interest account. The reserve is sized equal to the greater of 0.25% of the pool balance, and $356,267. The capitalized interest account, sized at $1.5 million, will be released on October 2017.

Acceptable Servicing Capabilities: JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. is the master servicer of this trust, with Xerox-ES and Student Assistance Foundation of Montana acting as sub-servicers. 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 build-up of credit enhancement driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.

DUE DILIGENCE USAGE

Fitch was not provided due diligence information from any third parties relating to the Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B.

Fitch has affirmed the following:

Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B
--Class A-1 at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--Class A-2 at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable.