THIS REPORT SUMMARIZES A 1979 COMPTROLLER GENERAL'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON CASH MANAGEMENT OF THE NDSL. IT CONCLUDES THAT BETTER MANAGEMENT CAN REDUCE PROGRAM COSTS AND SAVE THE GOVERNMENT INTEREST PAYMENTS OF AS MUCH AS $4 MILLION ANNUALLY. THE REASONS THAT OE HAS PERMITTED PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS TO ACCUMULATE EXCESS CASH INCLUDE (1) ALLOCATING MORE FUNDS THAN NEEDED, (2) ENCOURAGING SCHOOLS TO REQUEST ALL ALLOCATED FUNDS EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT NEEDED DURING THE CURRENT SCHOOL YEAR, (3) LACK OF REGULAR MONITORING OF CASH BALANCES AT PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS, AND (4) NO PROCEDURES FOR DETERMINING AND RETURNING EXCESS. IN ORDER TO ENSURE ADEQUATE FUNDS TO SCHOOLS THAT UNDERESTIMATE NEEDS, THE REPORT RECOMMENDS LEGISLATION THAT WOULD GIVE THE COMMISSIONER AT OE 1-YEAR AUTHORITY TO REUSE RETURNED EXCESS FUNDS. PRESENTLY, OE CANNOT DO THIS. THE COMMISSIONER SHOULD ALSO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF EXCESS FUNDS, DIRECT SCHOOLS TO DEPOSIT THESE FUNDS TEMPORARILY IN INTEREST-BEARING ACCOUNTS, AND DEVELOP PROCEDURES TO RETURN FUNDS TO THE TREASURY. IN ADDITION, THE HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM AND COMMENTS BY OE ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE INCLUDED.