MSU Administrative Professional Association

Do you need help managing your student loan debt? 

By Shannon Alston, MEA UniServ Director 

 If you need assistance managing your student loan debt, you are lucky that you are a member of the APA/MEA/NEA.  As a member, you currently have one year of no cost access to NEA’s Student Loan Debt Navigator powered by Savi.  Savi helps you quickly find options to manage your student loan debt, makes filling out the forms a snap, and checks forms for common errors when it electronically files your documents. Savi also assists with yearly re-certification on re-payment plans, including loan forgiveness plans.  Most members are eligible for student loan forgiveness programs as employees of MSU, but often run into obstacles with the paperwork.  Savi can help with that.  Read the testimonial below from your APA membership chair. 

 “Though I’ve been paying on my student loans for almost 9 years, the annual process for Income Driven Repayment application and certifying/recertifying employers current and past can be frustrating.  After learning about Savi while attending a virtual conference through NEA, I decided to explore my options; of course, hearing we have the benefit with our membership of fees being waived the first year was certainly an additional motivator.  What did I have to lose? 

 Within a matter of days the plan was in motion.  Every two to three days I received an email from a representative with Savi with updates on my case and what the next step would be to proceed.  Savi takes the guess work out of this experience.  If you’ve been through this yourself in preparing for PSLF (public service loan forgiveness) missing one word or one check box could disqualify your application.  I started my plan with Savi on January 8th this year and it was wrapped up by January 21st.

I highly recommend to reach out to Savi to see what they can do for you when managing your student loans.”  -Kandy Slack 

 You can sign up for Savi at:   https://www.neamb.com/products/nea-student-debt-navigator 

 If you need your membership number, please contact your MEA Field Assistant, Heather Traxler at [email protected] or your membership chair, Kandy Slack at [email protected].

This communication serves as notice of the election and candidate nominations.  All nominations must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. February 19, 2021. This year, nominations are required to be submitted via email to both the Nominations and Elections Committee Chair and Assistant to the Chair identified below. With everything that is happening with COVID, etc., we wanted to put a proactive measure in place should one individual become unavailable. 

 The 2021 election will include:  

APA Executive Board   – Five (5) three-year positions on APA Executive Board serving 9/1/2021-8/31/2024 )

MEA and NEA Representative Assembly Delegate/Region Council Delegate – Four (4) three-year positions serving 9/1/2021-8/31/2024  

Individuals must be APA members in good standing to nominate or be nominated for office.   

How to nominate someone: 

1. Email both [email protected] and [email protected] the following: 
2. Candidate’s name. Since there are some individuals on campus with the exact same name, it is suggested to also provide the name of the department where the individual works or their email address to avoid confusion.  
3. Indicate which position(s) the person is being nominated for.  
4. Complete nomination information must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. February 19, 2021. 

After the close of nominations, properly nominated candidates will be contacted by the Nominations and Elections Committee to confirm their willingness to run and to provide some additional candidate information by March 3. 

 Each year, the APA Nominations and Elections Committee works diligently to operate an efficient, accurate and transparent election in compliance with the APA Constitution and Bylaws.  The 2021 election voting will be held online and is scheduled to run from March 16, 2021 – March 25, 2021 5:00p.m.  A paper-based ballot option is available by contacting [email protected] and [email protected]. Paper ballots must be received by the closing time of the election.  

Election results will be tallied on March 25, 2021 at 5:15pm. Due to COVID-19 in-person restrictions, the results will be tallied via Zoom and any member in good standing is welcome to attend.  Information on how to register for the Zoom will be provided at a later date. Election results will be communicated via members msu.edu email.  

 Further announcements around the election will be provided via the official APA ListServ.  Information will also be posted on the APA Website under the 2021 Election tab.  Candidate information will be posted on the website for member viewing before the voting period begins.   

The APA Elections Committee includes: Heather Litts, Chair; Sue Brandt Assistant to the Chair; Tonya Jamison, Gerlind Kiupel and Kasey Wilson.    

If you have any questions, please contact Heather Litts or Sue Brandt. 

By Darius Bradley, Communications Committee Chair 

Dear Members, 

With the recent change in tax laws, those who typically work in East Lansing are  subject to paying East Lansing city tax. Due to the Covid 19 outbreak this past year, a good number of us have not been required to report to campus, or if you have, it has not been 5 days per week. The university has sent out an email to employees with instructions on how to request a refund from the city of East Lansing.  

Please go to the following link to get the instructions and the form that must be filled out by you and your Supervisor. 

http://www.ctlr.msu.edu/copayroll/CityTaxCertification.aspx 

Note: The form must be printed on University Letterhead