NASFAA shares our members' growing concern about the elevated level of negative attention brought on our community regarding preferred lender lists. Recent evidence of this attention is the March 15 press release by NY Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

NASFAA is reaching out to the national press, policymakers, and others to help correct false and exaggerated impressions of our profession by condemning any unethical behavior between lenders and schools, placing those few instances of unethical behavior in proper perspective, and promoting the ethical standards to which virtually all aid administrators adhere.

You can help in this effort on a local level. If someone from the local media contacts you about this or a related story, you should (if you are authorized to by your institution) coordinate with your institution’s public relations staff to take advantage of the opportunity to discuss the whole student loan process with the media and get our positive messages out to the public.

To help you prepare for contact with the press, NASFAA has developed some quick talking points on this subject, that were sent out yesterday through the NASFAA News Listserv, to help you conduct a better interview should your local media contact you directly to provide a local angle on the story.

Posted 03/20/07 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.