Dallas Martin, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, will retire in December, after months of criticism for his handling of the scandals in the student-loan industry. The chair of the group’s board, Janet Dodson, announced his departure in a letter to members on Friday.

Mr. Martin will be leaving after 32 years as president of the association, which is known as Nasfaa. Ms. Dodson said that he had made his retirement plans known last year. That was before New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, began an investigation that has highlighted a series instances in which college administrators have accepted benefits — including airfare and stock options — from lenders they recommended to their students. Nasfaa represents more than 12,000 financial-aid administrators at about 3,000 colleges. Yet the group also grants a form of membership to lenders, helping to create relationships of the type that Mr. Cuomo has criticized.

Mr. Martin sent a March 19 letter to Mr. Cuomo accusing him of engaging in an “unwarranted character assassination” of college financial-aid officials. Mr. Martin later apologized, saying he hadn’t realized the extent of the activities that Mr. Cuomo was uncovering.

“This year has not been without its share of road bumps,” Ms. Dodson said in her letter to Nasfaa members. “I have appreciated each of you and your words of support and encouragement for Dr. Martin and me.”

At its annual conference, scheduled for this weekend in Washington, Nasfaa is expected to unveil new voluntary ethics guidelines prompted by Mr. Cuomo’s investigation that will include limits on corporate sponsorship activities at the group’s meetings. On a Web site describing this year’s conference, Nasfaa credits a series of lenders, including Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo, for their financial support. —Paul Basken