National Student Loan Alliance

How to Help NSLA

NSLA is dedicated to the interests of the student borrower. We are the only organization that takes this as its central and sole mission. We seek to educate borrowers so they can use education financing wisely and safely, and we give voice to Americans in all stages of borrowing and repayment. NSLA does not provide student loan funding or financing services, and we are not affiliated with such organizations. We hope you agree that this borrower-focused mission and honest broker role are important and deserve support.

We rely upon financial donations from the millions of you who are involved with student loans. Please consider making a donation right now. If you are financially challenged, there are many other ways in which you can donate with time and energy.

NSLA also relies upon grant funding from government, corporations, and charitable organizations. However, because we focus on the borrower, we do not invite or knowingly accept financial contributions from organizations whose revenue is generated by transacting student financing. We believe this limitation is essential to retain the integrity of our role.

NSLA is applying for designation as an IRS 501(c) (3) charity. Without this designation, gifts to NSLA cannot be a charitable donation or tax deduction. Upon 501(c)(3) designation, it is possible the IRS could grant charitable donation status to some gifts retroactively. Questions about these issues should be directed to a qualified tax expert. NSLA does not provide tax advice or other financial advice.

Making A Donation

Online Donations with PayPal/Credit Card

NSLA has established an account with PayPal, in order to provide a secure and easy way to send donations. You do not need to have a PayPal account; they accept major credit cards. Clicking the button below will take you to the PayPal web site where you will be able to enter your chosen donation amount. In the Comments field of the payment page, include your name, address, and email address, so that we can contact you if the IRS requires. If you want your gift to be ANONYMOUS, please add that information in LARGE CAPS.

After you complete your transaction, you automatically will be returned to the NSLA website. PayPal will send you an e-mail receipt of your donation. PayPal will charge NSLA 2.9% of your donation amount plus 30 cents.

Check/Money Order

You can send either a regular check from your checking account or a convenience check against a credit card. Please make donation checks payable to "NSLA" or to the "National Student Loan Alliance" and send it to us at: 4407 4th Road North, Suite 5, Arlington, VA 22203-2319. Include your name, address, and company name (if appropriate) so that we can so that we can contact you if the IRS requires.

Please do not send cash. It occasionally happens that an enterprising citizen takes mail from the U.S. Post Office and whatever cash it contains. Please also do not send a check that might bounce; this will cost both you and us at least $35 each. If you're unsure, use PayPal.

Donate Time And Energy

OK, honestly, we are hoping you will make a financial donation. It does cost money to create and host a content-rich website, to create our unique calculators, do research, pay the lawyer, the accountant, the webmaster, the rent. You get the idea. But even if you can't donate, maybe your parents or grandparents would make a donation on your behalf?

Even if you haven't got a penny, you can help us to get the word out. We don't have a Madison Avenue advertising campaign budget, so here are a dozen money-optional ways you can support NSLA to help all student loan borrowers.

Become a NSLA Ally
Get on the computer
Use your computer
Do some research
Talk to your employer
Talk to your professor, lawyer, etc.
Make student loans visible on campus
Write and call your politician
Write your college
Contact the newspaper and alumni magazine
Talk, talk, talk about student loans

Opt in to the NSLA Ally database: The single most important thing you can do for yourself and for NSLA is opt in to our database.

It is the only mechanism available through which you can express yourself and have your view impact the way we do student loans in America. The database lets you share what you see and what you have learned and have it reach other borrowers and the public at large. If you look our online Library, it's easy to see that even the most reports are outdated. This is the information age. We need data now. By becoming a NSLA Ally, you make essential data available to the policymakers -- fast. Click here for an example of what our database will make possible when it is launched (link to the here's an example section of Database tab).

Opt in now. We will email you when the database launches and we are gathering data. In the meantime, there are other ways you can be helping too. Read on.

Get On The Computer: Visit this website over and over and over. Look at all the pages. Set your browser to default to the NSLA home page. Create website links to NSLA from your site, your college's site, your bank's site, whatever. The more sites linking to NSLA and the more hits we get, the more visible we become to google. That makes it easier for people to find us and participate. Email a link to lots of people. Include us in your blog.

Do some research for us: There's lots of data scattered out there and lot of correlations we'd like to explore in statistics, economics, sociology, history, law. This could be a great independent study opportunity.

Talk to your employer and profession: It works great if you are a young professional working at one of those giant corporations: mega law firms, consulting firms, investment houses, hospital corporations, etc. You know who you are. Many companies have strong corporate donation programs. Suggest they make a donation to NSLA. There's a reason jobs with the big guys pay well - -they know you took a lot of debt to get the degree, and they hired you for the degree. Showing support for their employees helps them recruit the best talent. Also, talk to your human resources / personnel department, and ask them if they have plans to offer student loan repayment assistance as part of your compensation package. You might be entitled to other benefits you do not use right now: child care stipend, tuition assistance (oops, too late on that one), retirement donations. Sometimes smaller companies can take a more personal interest in their employees and are more willing to make case-by-case decisions.

If you're in a profession, reach out to your governing body for us. Call them up, tell them you care about student loan debt, suggest they make a donation, link to our website, and place an announcement in their journal/newsletter. We are working on a press kit to make this easier.

Talk to your professors and professionals: Statistically, about 1 in 5 Americans has or had a student loan. Tell them about NSLA. People are afraid to get PhD's and become professors because they know salaries are low and debts high. This is especially true in the social sciences and humanities. There is a good chance that some of your professors are still paying their loans. Also talk to your doctor, lawyer, chiropractor, dentist, pharmacist, massage therapist, even (get this) the head of your church. Student loan debt is a big issue in the professions and they know it. They don't know NSLA we can bring them all together.

Make student loans visible on campus: Hang up and hand out flyers around school, tell people about our awesome calculators, tell them you found a great website. Arrange for a discussion group; submit an article to the school paper about it. Drop us an e-mail, we'd like to know what you are up to.

Write and call politicians: Local, state, Congress, the White House switchboard -- contact them all. Seriously! They log and tabulate the calls, esp. Congress and the White House. Ask what their position is on the tax deductibility of student loan interest; on increasing grant funding for education; on being able to re-consolidate your loans to take advantage of lower interest rates. Tell them you're young, you care about federal student loan policy, and you VOTE. People in the 18-30 demographic have the lowest voter turnout rate, and politicians think their opinions won't swing an election. Yet most national elections are won by very slim margins. Make sure you're registered to vote and show up.

Write a letter to your college: Send it to the biggest honcho you can find and cc: it to the heads of the financial aid department, the alumni department, and the "development" (i.e., fundraising) office. Go crazy and write a letter to each one separately. Write about your debt and whether you think you got your money's worth. Let them know what they did well for you and what they could do better. Tell them you're an alum now, and let them know how your debts affect your ability to make alumni donations. If you wanted to attend or wanted to major in something else, but didn't because of the debt level, write a letter about that too. And along the way, mention NSLA.

Suggest that the college's official website (esp. the Financial Aid Office's page) have a link to NSLA. Suggest that the college make a donation to NSLA; it'll demonstrate that they are concerned about their students' and alumni's needs.

Yes, they'll say they are a non-profit school, but here's a secret... non-profits make money, they just don't distribute it to stockholders. So the question becomes how they choose to spend it.

Schools are built on tuition and most tuition assistance is a student loan. Students pay the bills and are the whole point of the institution. When people decide they cannot afford the debts, they will not come to the school. Before you decide your college is unable to make a donation to NSLA, go look at the house your college President lives in, the sports teams, and the student center. On the small scale of annual budgets and enrollment targets, schools have an incentive to let students borrow excessively. On the big scale, student debt is directly linked to school survival and competitiveness. We all get caught up in things that are urgent and focus less on more important long term issues. Keep reminding your school's leadership of the big picture.

Contact the newspaper and alumni magazine: Call and talk to an editor. Suggest they write an article about NSLA. Call the local paper too, or the TV station, or National Public Radio. Follow up with a letter. They might not do a story the first time someone calls, but if several people express interest, they'll respond.

Talk, Talk, TALK about student loans: People are ashamed of debt, they behave as it it's a dark secret. It isn't. You're working hard and mortgaging your future to better yourself and contribute to society. That's admirable! What's more, because they don't talk about it, people feel alone. When you talk to another person who has student loans, you share a bond. So tell people you have loans. Tell them how much. Tell them how long it'll take to pay it off. Tell them why school is important enough to you to take out the loans. Then get them talking.

Do your relatives really understand how much debt you have? Start with them.

OK, you get the idea Without sending a dime you can help us raise public awareness, generate hits on the website, and just as important, generate hits on the political radar. You can also set the wheels in motion to get other people and organizations to make donations. You can help us add content to the site. And you can help us reach more people who will do all of the above, too. You can create a geometric progression. Isn't this great? It's freedom of speech, it's civil society in action. It's also really good practice for networking and job-hunting.