Thank you for being a member of the NASFAA and financial aid community. To ensure the best possible online experience for all members, we have established some guidelines, criteria, and rules for NASFAA Communities.

NASFAA Communities are online community experiences for NASFAA members to engage in discussion and seek and receive feedback, best practices, and resources from other professional peers in the financial aid profession. 

NASFAA encourages members to come prepared to share successes, challenges, provide constructive feedback, bring questions, and provide perspective. By participating in NASFAA Communities, each community member agrees to the below guidelines, rules, and expectations of behavior.

Criteria for Participation

• Typically employed in the financial aid office of a current NASFAA institutional member (exceptions must be approved by NASFAA)
• Meet specific criteria for private communities (e.g. must be an active FAAC^® to join and remain in the FAAC^® community)
• Use email associated with your membership and institution or organization (generally no gmail or ymail; exceptions must be approved by NASFAA)
• Observe and follow all community guidelines, rules, and regulations
• Agree to notify NASFAA of changes in email address and/or employer 

Promotional Rules

No Job Postings

Anyone interested in searching for a job or promoting a position at their institution should use the NASFAA Career Center.

Promotional Messages

Whether posted directly to another community member or in a community group, promotional messages are not permitted. Promotional opportunities via NASFAA can be found in Corporate Opportunities or complete our Advertising Contract. 

Endorsements

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators does not endorse any specific commercial product mentioned in our online communities.

Expectations and Rules of Behavior

Don't attack others.

The discussions on the community platforms are meant to stimulate conversation not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.

Regulatory questions.

NASFAA's AskRegs Knowledgebase is where members may review an extensive knowledgebase of regulatory questions, and/or ask specific regulatory questions. To prevent the spread of misinformation, we ask that requests for specific regulatory guidance be submitted to AskRegs. Should you choose to use information from a community member about federal regulations, you do so at your own risk.

Respect your colleagues.

Engagement should not target a person or group based on their background, identities, or situations in an obscene, disparaging, or hateful manner.

Post in a responsible manner.

Content should be typically connected to the community's stated purpose and scope. 

Protecting privacy.

Respect personal identifiers, experiences, FERPA-protected data, and private information of others.

No selling, self-promotion or unsolicited links.

NASFAA Communities messages should not contain promotional material, special offers, job offers, product announcements, or solicitation for services unless approved by NASFAA explicitly in writing. NASFAA reserves the right to remove such messages and potentially block offenders.   

Respect group boundaries.

Always keep in mind that members sharing in the community do so in confidence that it is a secure, online space where members feel safe connecting and sharing about challenges they face.

Engage in healthy debate.

When engaging, it's important to focus conversation on the ideas and actions of others rather than attacking the character, motive, or other attributes of the person you are engaging with. 

Policy conversation should remain non-partisan and stay focused on non-partisanship and students.

We encourage you to engage with others around timely policy issues keeping in mind the implications that policy proposals might have on students. As a non-partisan organization, NASFAA works closely with lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, and as such discussions should remain non-partisan and focus on substantive policy considerations. We encourage you to find other channels for conversations that are politically partisan.

Provide context to posts.

Avoid posting articles without providing context for your post (i.e. do not post an article and say "Thoughts?")

Positive conduct

If any posts or comments are deemed potentially harmful, inappropriate, rude, or inflammatory, NASFAA reserves the right to delete comments at our discretion and block offenders. Please report any concerns to a community manager. 

In addition to the rules stated above, members who participate in the NASFAA Communities also agree to adhere to the following:

Terms of Service | Listserv Use Policy