Marian Dill is pictured here at the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Marian Dill, director of Financial Aid at Lee University, recently served as a negotiator in a United States Department of Education committee establishing regulations to improve federal student loan programs.
The committee met three times over the course of the spring 2015 semester at the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C.
According to Ms. Dill, the committee’s goal was to negotiate and develop regulatory language for establishing a new income-driven loan repayment plan and procedures to assist armed service members with loan repayment, among other issues.
“Student success is about the entire college experience, which for many Americans and Lee students alike includes the repayment of student loans,” said Ms.
Dill. “Having sound public policy which protects the interest of all citizens is critical for the sustainability of federal student aid and access to higher education for generations to come.”
Ms. Dill was nominated to serve on the committee by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) to represent private, nonprofit institutions. The Department of Education was responsible for selecting committee members and determining primary and secondary negotiators.
“I am thankful for the opportunity to serve alongside various professionals from across the country who are committed to serving students with excellence,” said Ms. Dill. “It was refreshing to see such a diverse group of individuals with varying interests who were able to stay focused on the overarching goals of developing regulations that would simplify the repayment process, ensuring sustainability of the federal student loan programs, and providing the greatest possible access for student borrowers. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this process which has the potential to impact not only Lee students but all students across the country.”
Prior to Ms. Dill’s arrival at Lee in 1998, she was the assistant director of Financial Aid at Cleveland State Community College and a financial aid counselor at Tennessee Wesleyan College. In March 2014, she testified before the U.S. Senate HELP Committee on student loan reform.
Dill currently serves as vice president for SASFAA, the Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, where she oversees training for the organization. Beginning July 1, 2015, she will assume the role of President-Elect. She has also served as a New Aid Officers Workshop (NAOW) Trainer, Budget /Finance Chair, and Membership Chair. She is a member of TASFAA, the Tennessee Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, where she has held the positions of President, Treasurer, District Chair and Chair of the Financial Aid Awareness Committee. She has served on various committees and boards, including the boards of Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC), Southern Association of Financial Aid Administrators (SASFAA) and Tennessee Student Assistance Alliance.
She earned her master’s of education in community counseling at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, her bachelor’s in human services at Tennessee Wesleyan College, and an associate’s degree in computer science from Tomlinson College.
According to Dill, the committee was able to reach consensus by the end of their third meeting, which has not been accomplished in several years. Regulatory language developed by the committee will be released this July for public comments and published by November 2015, with the first of the program changes going into effect December of this year and everything else in effect by July 2016.