American Student Assistance Programs and Resources: Empowering Students for Success
American Student Assistance® (ASA) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to revolutionizing the way students approach, finance, and repay their higher education. ASA was founded in 1956 under the name Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation (MHEAC). ASA aims to open the gateway to opportunity by providing student loan education and enabling the development of financial competencies through innovative web-based tools and trusted, neutral advice-all free of charge to students and alumni.
ASA's Mission and Impact
For more than 60 years, American Student Assistance (ASA) has been working to pioneer solutions to help students. ASA helps middle and high school students to know themselves-their strengths and their interests- and understand their education and career options so that they can make informed decisions. ASA fosters a generation of confident, crisis-proof young people who are ready for whatever path comes next after high school.
Target Audience
ASA primarily serves college students with ASA-guaranteed federal student loans. Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) is an authorized agent for ASA who can assist with managing ASA-guaranteed federal loans.
COVID-19 Impact
The programs offered by ASA have not been suspended due to COVID-19.
ASA's Evolution
MHEAC went on to become the nation's first student loan guarantor. In 1990, the United States Department of Education designated MHEAC as the guarantor for Washington, D.C. In 2001, ASA became one of four guarantors to enter into a Voluntary Flexible Agreement (VFA) with the US federal government, changing its focus from back-end default collections to an emphasis on delinquency and default prevention. The Voluntary Flexible Agreement enabled Federal Family Education Loan Program guarantors to develop programs and techniques to help borrowers avoid student-loan default and all of its negative consequences. Results of these Wellness activities proved that the proactive approach to giving student loan borrowers the right information at exactly the right time were effective in preventing repayment problems.
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In 2010, federal legislation ended privately financed, federally guaranteed education loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program, in favor of Direct Loans originated directly by the federal government. Therefore, ASA has guaranteed no new education loans since July 1, 2010. Additionally, in 2012 ASA launched “SALT,” a financial education membership program that teaches students how to borrow less and more wisely for higher education; how to repay student loans successfully; and how to build better overall financial skills in life.
Transforming Career Readiness for K-12 Students
Since 2018, ASA has been building a new digital ecosystem of platforms and partners to transform the school-to-work journey for K-12 children in America, starting in middle school.
The Importance of Early Career Exploration
ASA research shows that middle school is the ideal time to begin engaging young people in career readiness learning before high school when student stressors, peer pressures, and time crunches increase. Middle schoolers are also just learning how to explore their individual identities, which makes this time critical to begin thinking about potential education-to-career pathways. This includes equitable access to work-based learning experiences like internships, apprenticeships, and job shadowing.
Work-Based Learning for Middle School Students
ASA promotes work-based learning experiences for middle school students that focus on building community for each young person. Introducing kids earlier on to caring adults who can guide them on their paths will eventually lead to a sense of “empowered autonomy,” in which they feel confident in making their own decisions because of the support and validation they’ve received from the adults around them.
ASA also works to dispel the notion that middle school is too early to introduce work-based learning. The importance of students being able to get out of the school building and explore a hands-on environment can benefit their overall engagement in the work they’re doing. Middle grade students, particularly in public schools in underserved communities, have become disenfranchised and disengaged; work-based learning experiences provide these kids with a sense of purpose and belonging that tells them they are worthy of trying to succeed.
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The Future of Work-Based Learning
The future of work-based learning for middle school students requires a hybrid approach of in-person learning and technology solutions, driven by new platforms and structural innovations.
EvolveMe®: A Digital Experience for Career Exploration
American Student Assistance® (ASA) announced 20 new career exploration, skill-building, and career experimentation tasks for its award-winning EvolveMe® digital experience. The new activities are powered by existing partner organizations ESAI, NAF, Cirkled In, Tallo, REACH Pathways/Chicago Scholars, and Wicked Saints.
Partnerships and Innovation
ASA partners with more than 50 innovative organizations, including some with AI-driven technologies that share its goal of helping prepare middle and high school students for postsecondary education and career readiness.
Key Features of EvolveMe®
EvolveMe enables teens to discover and engage in activities including virtual internships, AI-powered career coaching, mock job interviews, coding courses, and virtual career mentorships, and more; and develop transferable skills they can apply to any job. These tasks involve many different engaging formats, such as watching videos and taking quizzes, playing games, and completing mini-lessons or quests. For tasks completed, teens earn points they can redeem for gift cards to their favorite retail, restaurant, and entertainment brands. They can also track their progress and accomplishments through fun and dynamic visuals.
Partner Contributions to EvolveMe®
ESAI: Launched three new tasks on EvolveMe: Get Matched with Extracurriculars, Get Matched with Scholarships, and Tell Your Story with Numbers, all designed to drive career navigation with accessible business acumen, social capital, and guidance on finding funding.
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NAF: Launching on EvolveMe in 2024, NAF continues to be excited about our partnership and collaboration with ASA's EvolveMe platform and KnoPro. As the new school year begins, we look forward to reaching even more students and offering new Skillbuilders that will challenge them, as well as give them a chance to win a $100 cash prize daily to support their future goals! In just 10 minutes or less, students can also sharpen essential "Future Ready Skills" such as problem solving, initiative and self-direction, social awareness, and more, while boosting their resumes. New tasks from NAF include: Dream Your Meme, The Future of AI Rests on Your Face, and Green Innovations: Building a Sustainable Future in Hospitality.
Cirkled In: Expanding its offerings on EvolveMe by integrating its No-Sweat Scholarship, along with national scholarship database and newly launched resource library. Like the jobs and internships portal, the scholarship database is updated daily, giving instant access to tens of millions of dollars in funding. The Gen Z-friendly resource library spans nine core pillars, addressing real student questions from resumes and applications to job interviews and mental health. Through three new tasks on EvolveMe - Scholarships that Fit You, Discover College Options That Fit You, and Find Your Way Through College & Careers-students can take real, actionable steps to secure funding, chart their college journey, and launch their future with confidence-all in one place.
Tallo: Connecting with teens through their passions, transforming creative exploration into career readiness. By meeting young people where they are-through art, building, and creative expression-Tallo helps them discover how their skills and interests can translate into meaningful career pathways. With access to more than 1,800 careers to explore, over 300,000 courses and certifications, and over 500,000 entry-level jobs and internships, Tallo provides the bridge from creative curiosity to career confidence.
REACH Pathways and Chicago Scholars: Expanding their partnership with EvolveMe to deliver seven new youth-designed tasks, continuing their mission to provide under-resourced students with access to the skills needed for college and career success. The new tasks include two college access experiences focused on demystifying the college selection process and five interactive AI Quests: Navigating the AI Revolution and Your Career, AI vs. Human Intelligence, How to Impress your Boss, Ethical AI, and Building AI Agents for Work.
Wicked Saints: Adds the world's first adventure-activism game called World Reborn to EvolveMe. It is an interactive story game that tackles mental health, fosters healthy relationships, and activates young people to positively impact people and the planet with real-world quests that make real-life impact. World Reborn is the first story game that will reveal players' real-life "character strengths" and help players use them to better their reality. The game is backed by behavioral science, positive psychology, and is designed to boost self-belief.
Vero Learning: Has launched its second integration on EvolveMe. Building on strong traction with more than 30,000 learners engaged and an industry-leading 95 percent completion rate on pre-employment assessments, the new Future Builder task gives learners a personalized, predictive view of how to grow from their first job into long-term career pathways across industries such as retail, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, IT, and green tech.
Addressing the Skills Gap: Bridging Education and Industry
Businesses today are struggling to fill open positions with skilled workers, often faulting our nation’s K-12 and higher education systems for not aligning learning curriculums with the skills needed for the modern workforce. Educators and school administrators point out that industry needs to do its part to bridge the gap between education and industry, by reaching back earlier into the workforce pipeline to help expose young people to the world of work, and ensure they are learning the skills needed before candidates interview for open jobs.
The reality is education and employers must better work together to give middle- and high school-age youth the hands-on, workplace experiences they need to acquire durable professional skills for work and life, develop confidence, and build social capital. But in order to ensure all students, including those from under-resourced schools and communities, and regardless of their socioeconomic background, gender, race, religion, disability status, sexual orientation or gender identity, have access to high-quality work-based learning, many more businesses will have to take steps to make career-connected learning opportunities available.
And for that to happen, the return on investment for employers - the tangible benefits beyond the feel-good reason of giving back to the community - as well as proven solutions to overcome real barriers, must be better defined, documented and shared among business leaders, HR professionals and employees of all ranks.
Business Engagement in Work-Based Learning
American Student Assistance® (ASA) recently surveyed businesses on how (or if) they are putting in place work-based learning programs for youth younger than 18. We also explored the benefits they’re realizing as a result, and the challenges they face along the way.
High School Internships
High school internships are slightly on the rise. Building upon prior ASA research, our most recent survey found a small increase in the number of businesses offering these opportunities, from 30% in 2018 to 38% five years later. However, the number of available opportunities for this work remains low. That same 2018 survey found that only 2% of high students had actually completed a high school internship.
Motivations for Hosting Interns
Altruism plays a major role in business decisions to host high school interns. The majority of survey respondents (92%) cited giving back to the community as a somewhat or very important reason for providing an internship.
Benefits for Businesses
Businesses with high school interns see benefits to their talent development and DEI strategies. While corporate social responsibility factors heavily into employers’ reasoning for instituting a high school internship program, businesses also anticipate real, tangible benefits to either their own organizations or their industry.
Challenges and Solutions
High school internship programs can pose challenges, but businesses are finding solutions. Survey respondents cited the top three barriers in managing a high school internship program as: determining work best suited for them (43%); attracting qualified interns (42%); and scheduling around interns’ availability (39%). Employers also face challenges around interns’ lack of transportation to the workplace, having enough staff resources to manage interns, and securing funding for an internship program.
Future Prospects
While one third of businesses say they are very or somewhat likely to start a high school internship program, more than a quarter (27%) say it is very unlikely. Small businesses are less likely than mid to large-sized businesses to show interest in beginning a program. An increase in funding for intern pay, the ability to identify a more suitable workload, and an opportunity to give back to the community are the top three things that might motivate an organization to start a high school program.
ASA's Investments and Partnerships
In February 2020, a $1.5 million grant from American Students Assistance was awarded to Skills for Rhode Island's Future for its PrepareRI internship program. American Student Assistance Announces Intention to Invest $25 Million in Funds, Early-Stage Firms, and Companies with Diverse Management Focused on Increasing Equitable Access to Impactful Career Readiness and Future of Work Opportunities for Young People from All Backgrounds. American Student Assistance and Jobs for the Future Partner to Create New Center to Help Gen Z Navigate High-Quality Postsecondary Education and Career Options.
ASA's Commitment to Equitable Access
ASA fulfills its mission-in schools and beyond the classroom-by providing free digital experiences, including Futurescape® and EvolveMe®, directly to millions of students, and through advocacy, impact investing, research, thought leadership, and philanthropic support for educators, intermediaries, and others.
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