SASFAA Visits Capitol Hill

Happy Monday SASFAA,

The end of last week Board members from the SASFAA, EASFAA, and Tri-States regions converged on Capitol Hill for meetings with Congressional members to discuss some hot topics in financial aid and build relationships.  This was the first attempt at coordinating an event like this for the three boards (EASFAA/Tri-State did this for the first time last year), and I truly appreciate EASFAA and Tri-States for allowing us to be a part of this with them.  I also appreciate all of the hard work their legislative affairs folks put into scheduling our appointments and taking the lead in creating the debriefing materials we provided the legislators.  It should also be noted that NASFAA provided support services to our associations in putting this event together.  It was truly a joint effort. 

Our group had 24 different appointments scheduled with legislators and/or their staff.  We dropped off packets of information for 35 other members of the House Education/Labor Subcommittee and Senate HELP Committee with whom we could not get appointments.  We also had the opportunity to sit in on part of the Senate HELP Committee’s Hearing on Innovations in College Affordability.  All in all, the visit was very productive and we’ll start following up with them now that we are back in our offices.

We divided our larger group into 8 subgroups for the individual meetings.  My particular subgroup met with the Legislative Director and Legal Counsel for Congressman Bobby Scott (VA), Congressman Joe Wilson (SC) and his Deputy Chief of Staff/Legislative Director, and Education Counselor for Senator Bernie Sanders (VT).

Overall, I believe our meetings were very productive.  The subgroup I was a part of discussed topics such as the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, College Scorecard, Pell and the EFC Formula, the cost of borrowing, private loans, changes to the subsidized loan interest rate going into effect in July, loan debt, financial education, employability of our graduates as it relates to their loan debt, and the manner in which some of the current laws and regulations create barriers towards what we can do for our students. 

One of the hot topics right now is the College Scorecard.  You can find the scorecard at http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/scorecard.  The administration is seeking feedback, so if you can carve out a few minutes to provide some on-line feedback that would be great. 

The individuals I saw were all very willing to meet with us, and some even applauded our timing in meeting with them now since Reauthorization will be coming up in the not too distant future.  My hope is that these meetings are part of a bigger process of developing relationships with these offices so we can serve as a resource for them as they move forward on their higher education initiatives.

Amy Berrier, SASFAA Legislative Relations Chair, was instrumental in organizing SASFAA’s involvement in this event.  You will hear from more her about this event as she prepares her comments to post.

Have a great day!

Brad Barnett

SASFAA President