Dear MASFAA Members,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to MASFAA for 2009-2010, whether this is your first year as part of the financial aid community or your 40th. If you are not yet a member of MASFAA, I invite you to join us. This year represents MASFAA’s 40th anniversary and one in which we will celebrate 40 years of vision, change and hope. Our Association has been strong for 40 years due to the commitment of long-time members and the youthful energy of our newest members.

Our community, as well as our regional and national counterparts, faces great challenges ahead. We will continue to shepherd new regulations. We will provide input when asked and shape our work for the future. I am excited to work with the many dedicated co-chairs and multitude of volunteers who further the work of MASFAA each year. This year shall prove no different. We will host our 40th Annual Conference in Framingham, MA, from November 4-6, 2009, offering critical training and professional updates. We will have another active year within government relations, an expansive professional development and training program throughout the year, our 6th year of College Goal Sunday, the graduate and professional symposium, the Carnival of Learning for middle school students, and graduate another class of Just the Facts and Emerging Leaders.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown

There is much change on the horizon and MASFAA will be ready to offer the thoughts and champion the needs of its members. As MASFAA members I call you to serve the profession by being active and engaged so that we can continue to facilitate access to higher education and provide needed information about financial aid resources to students of all types and backgrounds. I challenge all members, regardless of length of service, to be the hope for the future of the financial aid profession in Massachusetts.

Join me this year in taking the opportunity to get involved in the next phase of the financial aid profession. Our year ahead will no doubt be filed with change in federal regulations and business practices. Take time to remember that we should not think of our day as stopping what we are doing to work with a student, but rather make working with a student what we are doing. Be part of the hope that students want and need to see in their higher education system. Let’s work as a community to support our colleagues and make the best of the change that lies ahead.