Most student-aid officials remain worried about the availability of student loans, and less than half believe recent federal legislation does enough to ensure that students will have access to the aid, according to a membership survey released this week by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

More than half of the respondents said that at least one lender they used through the Federal Family Education Loan program indicated it would no longer provide loans to their students, though it would continue to lend to students at other institutions. About 60 percent of respondents said Congress should prohibit lenders from discriminating against certain types of institutions. Several banks stopped lending last spring to colleges with high default rates, low loan volumes, or both.

Even so, more than half of the respondents said they lacked a back-up plan — or believed that one was necessary — in case the federal loan program faced disruptions.

Respondents were split over the issue of private loans. About half said it would be harder this year for their students to take out private loans, which are not backed by the federal government. But when asked if the private-loan market was getting worse, more than half said it had stabilized.

The survey also found that nearly 75 percent of respondents offer students a preferred-lender list, despite new regulations that have made such lists more complicated to maintain. —Beckie Supiano