Pleasant but persistent

I took Professor Spaulding's advice. I was "pleasant but persistent."

I called the Janet L. Hoffman Loan Assistance Repayment Program about five times. I left various messages with Christopher Falkenhagen, the media contact and Liz Urbanski, the Director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance for the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC). I also sent an e-mail to the general office of MHEC.

Each day I would call and hear a recorded voice. Each day I would leave the same pleasant message. I was lucky this morning. I heard a real, live voice on the other end of the telephone line, "Hello, Liz."

I started my rehearsed introduction which was followed by an apologetic voice explaining how busy she has been and how she meant to call me back. She had about thirty minutes before her next meeting which I took full advantage of (with her permission, of course).

Liz was extremely helpful in the background information of the program itself and the statistics I needed to understand the program better. She was enthusiastic and willing to provide me with more then enough information.

It didn't feel like a formal interview at all. I said I had some questions and the conversation took off from there. She asked for my e-mail address to provide me with further details. I asked her for contact information of a couple people that have been through the program and benefited. She said she needed to talk to her supervisor and go through the proper procedure before she gave out personal information. She also thought it would be a good idea for her to contact them first and then get back to me.

I left the conversation with a lot of great information and a foot in the door. She said we would keep in touch and I asked if I could contact her if I had any further questions. The answer was, "Of course. Please let me know if you need anything else and do not hesitate to call me. Here's my direct number..."

I thought the interview went great. There was a lot of information and a lot of statistical details. I would like some advice on how to know what to write down without taking too long and slowing the interview down. Is it rude to ask them to repeat the information if you were completely lost in "information overload?"

Liz also asked when the story would be published. I believe she was under the impression that I was writing for the university newspaper as I did introduce myself as a "student journalist" who was writing a story. I didn't include the part that this was for a class grade. I didn't know the correct way to respond to that. Help?