American Student Assistance^®, the nonprofit federal student loan service provider with proven results in helping students successfully manage college debt, has been honored once again by the Boston Business Journal as one of the region’s best places to work. ASA was one of 60 companies chosen from a total of 387 nominees for the annual list.

“We are so delighted to be honored with this distinction for the second year running,” said Lauren Rolfe, ASA’s vice president of human resources. “Especially in this challenging business environment, this achievement shows that ASA’s ‘people bet’ strategy is a winning one. We believe our people to be our greatest asset, and we work hard to attract and retain terrific employees through a combination of strong customer service to our customers and each other, training and development opportunities for associates, a generous benefit program, and an inclusive and positive company culture.”

The “Best Places to Work” ranking is based on surveys of employees at each company. The surveys ask questions related to work environment, work-life balance, job satisfaction, advancement opportunities, and compensation and benefits.

ASA attributes a large part of its achievement to actively engaging its associates, from soliciting suggestions on organizational improvement, to sharing information through open lines of communication, to giving employees a way to contribute to the community.

Over the last year, resourceful employees created The ASA PennySaver, a forum on the company intranet where everyone shared money-saving ideas that were implemented company-wide. The ASA intranet also added a Q&A space for senior management to answer questions from employees about the state of the company. And in 2009 ASA celebrated Earth Day for the first time, recycling one ton of paper and donating more than 50 boxes of binders and supplies to a local nonprofit that provides teachers with low- or no-cost classroom materials.

As an organization devoted to promoting higher education access and success, ASA is especially proud in these tough economic times to continue not only its tuition reimbursement benefit, but also an innovative student loan repayment program to help employees further themselves through postsecondary education.

About American Student Assistance

American Student Assistance is a private, federally funded, nonprofit organization that helps students and parents manage higher education debt. Its unique Wellness programs give student loan borrowers the support they need to avoid default. Incorporated in 1956, ASA was the nation’s first private student loan guarantee agency and a model for the federal student loan program. As an administrator of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, ASA delivers quality default prevention, guarantee, origination and fund delivery services to students, parents, schools and lenders nationwide. ASA guarantees more than $2 billion in student loans annually and currently manages a student loan portfolio worth more than $45 billion. Based in Boston, American Student Assistance employs more than 700 associates nationwide and has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal and the Boston Globe as one of the region’s best places to work. Visit www.amsa.com or call 617.728.4631 for more information.