BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Oct 26, 2011) - The First Marblehead Corporation (NYSE: [ FMD ]) is providing some clarification regarding recent reports by the press surrounding President Obama's special consolidation initiative for students with federal loans in both the Federal Family Education Loan Program ("FFELP") and the Federal Direct Loan Program ("FDLP").

"First Marblehead has always been and continues to be solely focused on private student loans which are designed to supplement, not replace, existing federal student loan products," said Daniel Meyers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As a result, we expect the President's current initiative regarding such federal programs to have absolutely no effect on our business."

About The First Marblehead Corporation -- First Marblehead helps meet the need for education financing by offering national and regional financial institutions and educational institutions the Monogram^® platform, an integrated suite of design, implementation and credit risk management services for private label, customizable private education loan programs. For more information, go to [ www.firstmarblehead.com ]. First Marblehead supports responsible lending and is a strong proponent of the smart borrowing principle, which encourages students to access scholarships, grants and federally-guaranteed loans before considering private education loans; please see [ www.SmartBorrowing.org ]. First Marblehead also offers outsourced tuition planning, billing and payment technology services through its subsidiary Tuition Management Systems LLC. For more information, go to [ www.afford.com ].

Statements in this press release regarding First Marblehead's future business, including the effect of the President's special consolidation initiative, as well as any other statements that are not purely historical, constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based upon our historical performance, the historical performance of the securitization trusts that we have facilitated (the "Trusts") and on our plans and expectations as of October 26, 2011. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future results or expectations expressed or implied by us will be achieved. You are cautioned that matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual financial or operating results, including the performance of the Trusts and resulting cash flows, facilitated loan volumes and resulting cash flows or financing-related revenues, or the timing of events, to be materially different than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include economic, legislative, regulatory, competitive or other factors resulting from the President's special consolidation initiative that affect: the demand for education financing; the default, recovery and prepayment rates on loan portfolios held by the Trusts; our success in designing, implementing and commercializing private education loan programs; capital markets conditions and our ability to structure securitizations or alternative financings; and the other factors set forth under the caption "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in First Marblehead's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 8, 2011. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release, even if our estimates change, and you should not rely on those statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.