[The following letter was sent to Rep. McKeon along with the Association's recommendations for the "Fed.Up" initiative of the House 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee.]
July 17, 2001
The Honorable Howard P. "Buck" McKeon
U.S. House of Representatives
2242 Rayburn HOB
Washington D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On behalf of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) representing financial aid professionals at nearly 3,300 postsecondary institutions, I am pleased to submit to the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness our first set of Fed.Up recommendations. In your remarks announcing the Fed.Up initiative to the Washington Secretariat, you said, on your behalf and for Representative Mink, "Federal education money does little good if it is spent on complying with federal regulation….It is time for a change. It is time to put cooperation in place of confrontation. It is time to let you do your jobs and educate our students." I couldn’t agree more.
We took heed of this invitation and, using numerous venues, urged our membership to send to the subcommittee their regulatory concerns. We have prepared this first submission to be NASFAA’s response to your call for recommendations to reduce the regulatory burden on student financial offices, students, and schools. These recommendations represent necessary changes in federal regulations or in the Higher Education Act that, we believe, will assist student financial aid administrators and postsecondary institutions, as you so appropriately stated, "…to let you do your jobs and educate our students."
As you know our annual meeting is being held next week and we expect that your Keynote speech, as well as other conference interest sessions, will stimulate further Fed.Up recommendations that we will submit to the subcommittee in a timely manner. Also, I want you to know that NASFAA supports the recommendations submitted to you by the American Council on Education on June 21, 2001.
I compliment you, Mr. Chairman, and Ranking Minority Member Mrs. Mink for your joint leadership in this critical area as well as your sensitivity to the needs of both students and financial aid administrators to reduce regulatory burden. NASFAA and I stand ready to be of assistance to you. Any further questions about this document may be referred to Marty Guthrie and Larry Zaglaniczny on my staff. Again, we thank you for your willingness to listen to the concerns of our members and for your leadership on Fed.Up.
Sincerely,
Dallas Martin
President
Posted July 17, 2001, on the NASFAA Web Site www.nasfaa.org
Copyright 2001, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
Redistribution to nonmember institutions is prohibited
Please submit questions or comments to ask@nasfaa.org
