American Student Assistance - 2018 Annual Report

asa.org/about ⋅ 2018 Annual Report 5 $ American Student Assistance® (ASA) reached a major turning point in 2018. Building on our 60-year legacy of helping young people achieve their education goals and continuing our important work as a student loan guarantor, we expanded our mission and began helping students earlier in their education journey. Our decades of work with high school and college students as they financed their education or began loan repayment revealed to us that we were engaging with them too late in their process. Students had made big education and financial decisions without exploring all of their options, and hence found themselves with a disconnect between where they were and where they wanted to be. As a national nonprofit with deep roots in higher education, we saw firsthand that too many students weren’t completing college in four or even six years. And for those who successfully completed, they often did so without a clear direction for their career search. Our own research, as well as that of organizations and school systems in the K-12 space, indicates that the path to discovery should begin as early as middle school so that kids can begin to learn about all the educational and career possibilities ahead of them. We believe that when students begin to explore careers at a young age, they can develop a plan for their future that better aligns with their interests and passions, increasing their chances for successful and meaningful careers. Thus, our organization’s expanded mission is focused on working with students in grades 6 through 12. As we broaden the reach of our organization, we hope to deepen our impact on the lives of students. We remain steeped in the values on which ASA® was founded, with a public purpose spirit and a commitment to the wellbeing of students. Decades ago, we pioneered an entire college access program. Today, we are once again breaking new ground in meeting the current and future needs of young people – because we’ve always believed in putting students first. I’m extremely proud of the progress we made in our first year to realign our entire organization and spearhead numerous initiatives in support of our expanded mission. As you flip through the pages of this annual report, you’ll see the many innovative ways we are impacting students on a broader scale and at a younger age to set them on a path to success. There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. We welcome – and depend on – collaboration with educators, policymakers, businesses and community organizations to increase our impact on our nation’s young people. I invite you to reach out to me directly if you see an opportunity for us to partner in this meaningful work. Sincerely, Jean Eddy [email protected] “We remain steeped in the values on which ASA was founded, with a public purpose spirit and a commitment to the wellbeing of students.” – Jean Eddy LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO, JEAN EDDY