OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings affirms the ratings of the notes issued by KeyCorp Student Loan Trust 2004-A (Group I) at 'AAAsf' and 'Asf', respectively, for the senior and subordinate notes. The Rating Outlook remains Stable for all notes.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
High Collateral Quality: The trust collateral for the group 1 notes is comprised of 100% of 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 at least 97% reinsurance of principal and accrued interest provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Sufficient Credit Enhancement (CE): CE is provided by overcollateralization (OC; the excess of trust's asset balance over bond balance), excess spread, and for the class A notes, subordination provided by the class B notes. As of December 2014, total and senior parity (excluding the reserve account) are 100% (the release level) and 105.87%. Including the reserve, total parity is 100.42%. The parity ratios are expected to stay at the release level as the step-down date has passed, and cash release is expected to continue.

Adequate Liquidity Support: Liquidity support is provided by a debt service reserve fund currently sized at \$549,105.

Acceptable Servicing Capabilities: KeyBank National Association is the master servicer for the transaction, with Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc. acting as subservicers. Fitch believes all servicers are 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 CE driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.

Fitch has taken the following rating actions:

KeyCorp Student Loan Trust 2004-A (Group I):

--Class A-2 affirmed at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--Class B affirmed at 'Asf'; Outlook Stable.