How to Become Involved with the Mentor/Protégé Program
From the TASFAA Diversity & Leadership Initiatives Committee

The TASFAA Mentor/Protégé Program was established to help new Financial Aid Professionals become familiar with the Financial Aid profession and TASFAA. The goal of The Diversity & Leadership Initiatives Committee is to encourage members of the TASFAA organization to share information in order to promote leadership and diversity within the association.

One of the ways TASFAA has done this is by connecting new Financial Aid Professionals with more experienced Financial Aid Professionals. TASFAA believes this program is vital to engage the involvement of newer employees. Among other things, mentors encourage their protégés to get involved in one of the many committees. It is important for the success of TASFAA for everyone to become familiar with the committees and their roles in those committees.

Why would you want a Mentor?
Each individual will learn and understand new skills and concepts at a different pace. With the guidance of a mentor, the learning process will be less stressful and the newer employee will not feel alone. Therefore, a mentor could make the difference between success and failure for a new Financial Aid Advisor. A mentor would also be able to keep his/her protégé up to date on the many changes that occur in financial aid throughout a given period of time. This would allow the protégé to learn where to find this information in order to stay up to date in the future. Some positive protégé outcomes are: increased self-motivation, self-discipline and self-esteem, increased interpersonal skills, the acquisition and implementation of new knowledge, and enhanced leadership skills.

Why would you want a Protégé?
Considering the fact, once again, that each individual learns new skills and concepts differently, it is possible that your protégé could teach you a thing or two. New ideas and approaches are often born from new talent. Then there is the obvious—that helping out a fellow financial aid employee will bring you pride in knowing that you were able to help and encourage someone else. Lending a helping hand to others is quite fulfilling. Some benefits of mentoring are: the satisfaction of being useful and helpful to someone else, gaining ideas, becoming more outgoing, reinforcing professional identity, and a feeling of pride in seeing your protégé learn and focus on goals.

How do I sign up?
If you are interested in getting a mentor, or being a mentor, simply send an email to The Diversity and Leadership Initiatives Committee at tasfaadiversity@costep.org and indicate which one you are interested in.