ASA Blogs

Welcome to ASA’s blogs—the conversation starter on higher education debt management. Here you’ll find Industry Insider, a news-you-can-use blog for financial aid professionals; Wellness Working, which explores the “R&D” approach to finding best practices for impacting student loan repayment; and Policy Perspectives, a discussion on our nation’s public policies for financing higher education.

Wellness Working

Mike Ryan

Guiding Borrowers Through Split Servicing Using Multiple Channels of Communication

For borrowers, the ramifications of split servicing will be waiting farther down the road—and they’ll need our help. Fortunately, ASA, with its many avenues of borrower communication, is well-positioned to provide this guidance. …Read Blog Post

Posted by Michael Ryan on 07/17/2008 at 03:21:06 PM

Policy Perspectives

Shelley Saunders

The Role of the Guarantor: Proactively Supporting Borrowers During the Credit Crunch

During the credit crunch, ASA believes, as always, that the primary role of the guarantor is to proactively support borrowers and help them successfully repay their student loans.…Read Blog Post

Posted by Shelley Saunders on 07/09/2008 at 01:46:50 PM

Industry Insider

Sue Nathan

Calm in the Chaos—ASA Can Help You and Your Students Ride Out the Credit Crunch

ASA is proactively helping you and your students ride out the credit crunch.…Read Blog Post

Posted by Susan Nathan on 07/01/2008 at 10:39:45 AM

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Mike Ryan

Blog Author

Mike Ryan
Vice President of Borrower Services

Biography

Michael T. Ryan is Vice President of Borrower Services for American Student Assistance, a position he has held since joining ASA in February, 2003. Mr. Ryan heads ASA’s Borrower Services Division, which is responsible for all aspects of the management and delivery of service to borrowers in ASA’s education loan portfolio, including all default prevention and recovery efforts.

In his 20-plus year career in higher education financing, Mr. Ryan has held key management positions at the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA), and Key Education Resources (formerly Knight Tuition Payment Plans). As MEFA’s Associate Director for Programs and Operations, Mr. Ryan facilitated MEFA’s entry as a Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) provider. He also played an instrumental role in the introduction of the U. Fund, (MEFA’s Section 529 College Investing Plan), managed MEFA’s U. Plan (Prepaid Tuition Program), and was responsible for the operation of MEFA’s loan programs.

While at Knight and Key, Mr. Ryan held progressively responsible management positions, from Account Manager to Senior Vice President.

Mr. Ryan is a graduate of Merrimack College.

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Susan Nathan

Blog Author

Susan Nathan
Vice President, Lender and School Services

Biography

Susan Nathan is Vice President of Lender and School Services at American Student Assistance (ASA)®. She has held this position since October of 2002. Ms. Nathan joined ASA in February 1987 as supervisor of the external program review unit. She has held roles of increasing responsibility in product development, operations, client management and customer service, and marketing. She has been a member of the design teams for a number of ASA’s signature products, including FASTFUND, ASA’s disbursement product, and ASA Direct, ASA’s web processing tool. She was the manager of the business plan for ASA’s major system conversion in 1998.

She is credited with the development of ASA’s nationally recognized client management team. Ms. Nathan oversees the ASA Advisory Council, and is the staff liaison to the Marketing Planning Committee of ASA’s Board of Directors.

Prior to joining ASA, Ms. Nathan was a Financial Aid Officer for Lesley College. She is a graduate of Brown University and a fellow of the Institute for Educational Leadership. She is a member of state, regional and national financial aid associations and is routinely sought by the financial aid community as a professional development trainer.

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Shelley Saunders

Blog Author

Shelley Saunders
Vice President, Strategic Services

Biography

In her current role as American Student Assistance’s vice president of Strategic Services, Shelley Saunders serves as the organization’s primary contact for Congress, as well as for national organizations such as the American Council on Education, the American Association for State Colleges and Universities, the National Association of Student Loan Administrators (NASLA), and others. Her main focus is to educate the public policy making community on the positive results American Student Assistance has realized through its focus on student loan borrower financial Wellness.

In her 12-year career at American Student Assistance, Saunders has played an integral role in several of the organization’s global projects, including designing a new client-server based life-of-the-loan processing system and developing corporate strategy and tactics. She most recently held the position of vice president of Borrower Services.

Saunders has appeared on numerous Clear Channel radio broadcasts in the Washington, D.C. area. Her areas of expertise include the public purpose role of federal student loan administrators, as well as general facts about student loan origination and repayment.

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