About

Mission

The Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators empowers its members to be educated, engaged, and effective professionals.

Vision

To be recognized as a model for leadership in financial aid.

Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan seeks to address the needs of the Association so that MASFAA can empower its members to be educated, engaged, and effective professionals and be recognized as a model for leadership and innovation in financial aid.

The 2017-2020 MASFAA Strategic Plan states that the direction for the next three years should focus on identifying how the organization can increase membership, and improve diversity and engagement, while using technology to enhance communication with its members and provide more frequent training opportunities that meet a variety of needs.  The Plan also affirms that MASFAA should continue its state and federal legislative advocacy on behalf of its members and use its healthy financial reserves to support innovative capital investments in the organization’s future.

President’s Welcome

Hello MASFAA

I am both honored and excited to be your President. Throughout my 20 years in financial aid, MASFAA has always been a valuable source of training, information and engagement for me, and the friends and colleagues I’ve found through this organization are as varied and diverse as the students we all work to serve.

Your elected MASFAA officials and your committee co-chairs attended our annual two-day retreat in August and are off to a great start planning a year packed with professional development and networking events. In addition, we are working on renewing and revising MASFAA’s Strategic Goals (to guide the association through 2023), strengthening the roles of your elected Executive Council Officers, and growing our association’s presence within financial aid and higher education. We hope to present a draft of the new Strategic Plan in early spring and I welcome all MASFAA member’s input and suggestions.

As we move into the new academic year, I want to sincerely thank the MASFAA members who are actively engaged, be it working on a committee, volunteering for events, presenting at conference, workshops, or trainings, acting as valuable resources for your peers, etc. – your time and expertise are valuable, noticed and greatly appreciated.

I invite all MASFAA members to become involved, whether you choose to work on a committee or help at one of the many MASFAA events throughout the year; I assure you that your participation will be welcomed with enthusiasm.

I hope you are planning to attend MASFAA’s  50th Anniversary Conference being held November 14th and 15th, in Springfield, Ma. This year’s theme: “Honoring the Past, Treasuring the Present, Shaping the Future”  is what is guiding the work of your Executive Council this year and we hope you will join us for what is shaping up to be a phenomenal 50th conference.

Lastly, thank-you to the members of the Executive Council for their ongoing support and unwavering willingness to work collaboratively to keep MASFAA a leader among state associations and for believing in the vision of “shaping the future” of our great association and it’s members.

All my best,

Kevin DeRuosi

MASFAA President 2019-2020

Statement of Ethical Principles

The primary goal of the financial aid professional is to help students achieve their educational goals through financial support and resources. To this end, this Statement provides the Financial Aid Professional with a set of principles that serves as a common foundation for accepted standards of conduct.

The Financial Aid Professional shall:
Advocate for students
  • Remain aware of issues affecting students and continually advocate for their interests at the institutional, state and federal levels.
  • Support federal, state and institutional efforts to encourage students, as early as the elementary grades, to aspire to and plan for education beyond high school.
Manifest the highest level of integrity
  • Commit to the highest level of ethical behavior and refrain from conflict of interest or the perception thereof.
  • Deal with others honestly and fairly, abiding by our commitments and always acting in a manner that merits the trust and confidence others have placed in us.
  • Protect the privacy of individual student financial records.
  • Promote the free expression of ideas and opinions, and foster respect for diverse viewpoints within the profession.
Support student access and success
  • Commit to removing financial barriers for those who want to pursue postsecondary learning and support each student admitted to our institution.
  • Without charge, assist students in applying for financial aid funds.
  • Provide services and apply principles that do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, or economic status.
  • Understand the need for financial education and commit to educate students and families on how to responsibly manage expenses and debt.
Comply with federal and state laws
  • Adhere to all applicable laws and regulations governing federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs.
  • Actively participate in ongoing professional development and continuing education programs to ensure ample understanding of statutes, regulations, and best practices governing the financial aid programs.
  • Encourage colleagues to participate in the financial aid professional associations available to them at the state, regional, or national level and offer assistance to other aid professionals as needed.
Strive for transparency and clarity
  • Provide our students and parents with the information they need to make good decisions about attending and paying for college.
  • Educate students and families through quality information that is consumer-tested when possible. This includes (but is not limited to) transparency and full disclosure on award notices.
  • Ensure equity by applying all need-analysis formulas consistently across the institution’s full population of student financial aid applicants.
  • Inform institutions, students, and parents of any changes in financial aid programs that could affect their student aid eligibility.
  • Strive to ensure that cost of attendance components are developed using resources that represent realistic expenses.
Protect the privacy of financial aid applicants
  • Ensure that student and parent private information provided to the financial aid office by financial aid applicants is protected in accordance with all state and federal statutes and regulations, including FERPA and the Higher Education Act, Section 483(a)(3)(E) (20 U.S.C. 1090).
  • Protect the information on the FAFSA from inappropriate use by ensuring that this information is only used for the application, award, and administration of aid awarded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, state aid, or aid awarded by eligible institutions.

These guidelines last updated by NASFAA‘s Board of Directors 11/21/2017. Used by Permission.