Executive Board Meeting
October 14, 2003
MEMBERS PRESENT: Katy Kelley,
Pat Downey, Mickey Jacobson, Kate Bligh, Theresa Bosworth, Jim Eddy, Kathy
Goff, Kathy McCutchen, Susan Degen,
Laurie Neil, Tracey Lehman, Laurie Franklin, Tracy Reisinger,
Julie Reisinger
The meeting was called to order by President Jim Eddy.
All
present members introduced themselves to the group and mentioned the strangest
thing that had happened to them since the last meeting.
Members
made the following changes to the minutes of the August 5, 2003 meeting: changed the tense in the first sentence under
Legislative Committee, corrected Kathleen Hynes name under FA101, changed the
tense in the second sentence under Development and added “and
Michelle’s
mom has been sick for a while, she passed away on
September 28, 2003. A memorial service
was held on October 3, 2003. A card for
Michelle was passed around for everyone to sign.
The
balance in the checking account as of October 13, 2003 was $116.83. One bill was outstanding and a deposit of
$5300 still needed to be made. The
deposit was made up mostly of development money.
The
money market account balance was $38,774.53 as of August 4, 2003.
As
of September 30, 2003 the balance of OASFAA’s
investments was $89,000. These funds
were re-invested in August.
At
a previous meeting, Theresa Bosworth mentioned that she would like to see more
checks and balances in regards to the finances of OASFAA. Currently, the bank statements are going to
President-Elect Kathy Goff, but the investment statements are going to Theresa. The Board decided that Theresa would fax the
investment statements to Kathy for her review.
Theresa
wanted some feedback about how to report committee income and expenses in
regards to the change in fiscal year.
The Board decided that the income and expenses incurred during April and
May should be added to the current year’s income and expenses. This will mean that the committees will be
receiving a 14 month report this year.
The
difference between the member fee and the non-member fee is not made clear on
OASFAA registration forms. Some discussion
ensued about ways to make this more clear. The Board decided to have three fee choices
when a person registered online for any OASFAA event. The registration form would look something
like this:
o
$20 OASFAA Member
o
$20 + $20 I am not a member, but would like to join
OASFAA (this option would create a pop-up screen with the membership
application)
o
$40 I am not a
member, and do not want to join OASFAA
Pat
Downey confirmed that Jane Reynolds is getting an email when a person registers
for an event.
Theresa
has some open invoices for membership dues because she has received money, but
does not know who the funds are for. The
Board decided that each committee chair, or their designee, should give Theresa
a list of all event attendees. The Board
also discussed the possibility of holding registration materials for all people
who have not paid for the event or having a bill ready for these people. The possibility of using a laptop and printer
at registration was discussed. Board
members agreed that the registration fees should be sent to the committee chair
or their designee and that a due date should be put on the registration
form. Pat will update the registration
form.
Tracey
Lehman moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report.
Mickey Jacobson seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Membership: Jim Eddy
reported for Jane Reynolds.
Jane
Reynolds has switched positions in
Jim Eddy and Jane will continue to work on the email to all former members. The email will list the benefits of OASFAA membership and encourage these people to join OASFAA.
Annual Conference: Laurie Franklin reported for the
committee. The full conference committee
will meet on October 24, 2003 in
Michelle O’Leary and Laurie Franklin, committee co-chairs, are looking for keynote speaker ideas. They would like to move away from a political speaker. Michelle is working with an inspirational speaker. Other ideas for a keynote speaker were: a sociologist who discussed the culture of work in the U.S. and how work is a move to adulthood, Johnny Lake or other student financial aid recipients, political figure such as Governor Kulongoski or former Governor Kitzhaber, someone who can feel our pain and make us laugh, perhaps LeAnn Jashaway, a psychologist who can talk about constant change and how to handle that, the keynote speaker from WASFAA who climbed Mt. Everest, someone who could give demographic information, or information about the different generations and how to understand them and work with them better.
The theme for the conference will be multicultural, inclusiveness, fun. Michelle and Laurie want this to be fun and re-energizing.
There will be three tracks. One track for advisor, entry level, front desk staff members, one track for middle management, and one track for the director level.
The event insurance issue has gone away. The contract with Salishan has been amended to take this clause out of the contract.
OPB: Patti Brady-Glassman sent her report to President Jim Eddy.
Patti has met with the new producer for the financial aid presentation. The producer would like to add and update some pieces for the show. OPB is asking for an additional $2350 from OASFAA to cover the cost of these updates. It was mentioned that if we approve these extra funds, we would need to go into our reserves, unless development receives extra funds from our vendors. The Board felt that the OPB financial aid night was an essential part of what OASFAA does.
Julia Reisinger moved to give OPB an extra $2350 to cover the costs of updating the financial aid show. Katy Kelley seconded the motion. Tracy Reisinger amended the motion by adding the line “and make room in the OASFAA budget to allow for this additional expense”. The amendment was accepted by Julia. The motion passed unanimously.
FA101: Crisanne Werner sent her report to President Jim Eddy. The fall FA101 session was held on October 7, 2003. Twenty-one people pre-registered, three people did not show up and one was sick. Seventeen people actually attended. The comments from participants were favorable. Seventeen was a smaller number than usual. The average number of attendees is between 30 and 35. This was the first time an FA101 has been held in the fall.
Some discussion ensued about whether or not the
third FA101 session should continue to be held in McMinnville at Linfield, or if it should be moved around the state. In 1996 or 1997 OASFAA tried to hold an FA101
in
The Board also discussed whether it would make sense to have an outside vendor present the FA101 session. It was decided that if the OASFAA presenters can continue to present, they should. The Board also felt that OASFAA members should be reminded that other entities also offer this type of training.
Support Staff Workshop: Jim Eddy reported for Heidi Elder and Judy Gjesdal.
The workshop will be held at
Development: Kathy McCutchen reported that the new development sign has been created. It uses the logo the vendors most recently gave to OASFAA.
The projected income from the vendors for 2004-2005 is $41,775. This is $36,150 in pledges, $1125 for tables for Gold Members, and $4500 for tables for Silver Members and others.
The website will soon be updated to include a sponsor page, including the specs for ads. This page will cost OASFAA $75
The Board discussed the need to update the Annual Conference registration information to include a note that vendors must register for a table separately from their registration for the conference.
Committee chairs who would like goodies from vendors for their event should send the request to Kathy McCutchen and Randy Jones. They will forward the request to the vendors.
Vendor Liaison: Kate Bligh asked for more specific information on goodies for OASFAA events. Some discussion took place about whether OASFAA wanted to be more specific about what kinds of goods they wanted for events. Perhaps if OASFAA had a list for the year then vendors could choose which goody they wanted to supply. The question was asked if goodies were even expected by OASFAA members at events. It was suggested that perhaps OASFAA could purchase OASFAA pens, pads, pencils or plastic bags. Kate Bligh will look into this option.
Another option for goodies for events was to collect the vendor’s extra supplies at the end of the Annual Conference. These could be kept with the vendor liaison. Committee chairs could request a certain number of supplies for each event. Kate will talk to the vendors about this option.
Technology: Pat Downey has been very busy. He has updated the Support Staff Workshop and Vendor pages on the web site. Each of these pages will cost $75. The President’s essay was posted to the web site.
ATAC has web statistics available if anyone is interested in reviewing this information.
OASFAA has paid $2165 to ATAC since January 1, 2003.
The .PDF form of the membership directory costs OASFAA $450. This directory has the vendor ads in the back. The Board decided that as long as the “real time” directory was still available and able to be printed, the .PDF version did not need to be created again this year.
The Board discussed the training calendar. The calendar on our web site could have links to other calendars, i.e., WASFAA, NASFAA. The web site could also include a training resource page with information on who does what trainings.
OASFAA can post newsletters to the web site. The cost would be $200 per newsletter.
Pat will change the destination for workshop payments from Theresa Bosworth to the chair of the event committee or their designate. Jim Eddy will update the committee chairs. Pat will also add a registration cut-off date to the registration form.
Pat has sent the Awards History page to ATAC. They usually take about 3 days to post the page to the web site.
Pat asked if the OASFAA Payments Online product needed to be enhanced to include the ability to post registration payments in addition to dues payments. He will look into the cost of doing this.
The scrolling band on the right hand side of the website is not regularly updated. Pat will check on the cost of updating this band. He will also discuss with ATAC the cost of using a pop up screen to advertise new events to web site visitors.
Legislative: Susan Degen reported that the committee had not been able to meet face-to-face yet, but hoped to be able to do that by Thanksgiving.
The committee’s biggest project this year will be Reauthorization. They have decided to assign pieces of Reauthorization to committee members. Members will then create a one-page information sheet with the pros and cons of the recommendation. They will also create information sheets on how to respond to issues. The committee needs to decide how to best distribute this information to OASFAA members.
The House will create 5-6 bills for Reauthorization. The first is being written now. The Senate will create one bill in the spring. Final votes will line up with next year’s elections.
The Congress has not been very busy. The Higher Education bill for the 2004 budget is in committee. There has been no information on the amount for the Pell Grant. If the Pell Grant amount changes, the change will not take effect until the 2004-2005 academic year. The deals are being made behind closed doors, so no one is sure what the outcome will be.
The Teacher Forgiveness increase passed the House in July, but then disappeared.
The HERO bill is designed to make life easier for people who have been called to active military duty. This bill allows flexibility for financial aid offices when dealing with these families.
Most of the Immigration and Naturalization bills have stalled in Congress. These bills would provide amnesty for illegal students who have worked in the United States for a certain number of years. It would allow them to receive financial aid.
OSAC Liaison: Kat Kordon was unable to attend this meeting. Pat Downey and Susan Degen reported for Kat.
The OSAC Opportunity Grant Advisory Committee has been meeting. They are preparing models for the Opportunity Grant for next year. The Legislature has added $10 million to the Oregon Opportunity Grant budget line item. OSAC and the advisory group has decided to save those funds for next year rather than adjust Grants for this year. The legislature is looking at some controversial ways to adjust the Opportunity Grant program. Some of those ideas are a flat grant regardless of which school a student attends, front loading the program so that the funds are only available to first and second year students, or changing the program to a campus based program.
High School Counselor Training/Video: Jim Eddy reported for Elizabeth Bickford.
Elizabeth has been working independently with counselors and OSAC and has been participating in the OUS conferences for high school counselors around the state. She sees a real need for training for counselors. She estimates that 50% of the counselors in the Portland area are new. Elizabeth feels we also need to consider an advanced track as a refresher course for continuing counselors.
Elizabeth would need to submit a request for a new budget line item if she would like to proceed with this project.
The Board felt there was a need to survey high school counselors and see if they would even attend this type of training. Perhaps counselors would prefer a resource listing and not necessarily training.
Susan Degen reminded the Board that the ASPIRE program is available to help high schools in Oregon. Fifty high schools are currently in the program and another 10 to 15 are in the process of signing up.
History/Archives: Tracy Reisinger reported that the awards history is finalized and will soon be posted to the web site. Tracy is hoping that the Executive Board history will soon be on the web site also.
Tracy will be asking for nominations for the 2004 awards. She would like responses by the end of November.
OLD BUSINESS
Ideas from Jennifer Satalino: Jennifer Satalino was able to gather a group of financial aid professionals to meet with Michael Parker of the Oregon Savings Plan. They will be meeting on October 26, 2003.
Revised OASFAA Bi-Laws: Jim Eddy reported that the revised OASFAA bi-laws had not been posted to the web site yet. He is looking for the exact date that the OASFAA membership approved the changes. Once he has that information he will have the bi-laws posted.
NEW BUSINESS
OASFAA Scholarships to the Annual Conference: Jim Eddy will work with the Segmental Vice-Presidents to solicit applications for scholarships to the OASFAA Annual Conference. This work will happen in November, 2003
Nominations for Executive Board Positions: Jim Eddy asked the Board to brainstorm ideas for who would be good candidates for Executive Board positions. This will assist President-Elect Kathy Goff prepare a slate of candidates for the 2004-2005 year. The list of nominees will need to be approved by the Executive Board. This will happen at the next Board meeting on December 9, 2003. The open positions are President-Elect and Secretary. The Vice-President candidates will be decided in the Segmental meetings at the Annual Conference.
The names given as potential candidates for President-Elect are Mickey Jacobson, Rob Clark, Kathy Campbell, Glendi Gaddis, and Leonard Walker.
The names given as potential candidates for Secretary are Katy Kelley and Glendi Gaddis.
Some potential names for Segmental Vice-President are Anna Manley, 2 year; Brooke Mitts, Independent; Glendi Gaddis, Independent; Scott Money, Proprietary; and Tracey Marquit, 4-year public.
CREATIVE EXERCISE, PART II
In an effort to determine what type of one-day intensive training OASFAA might be able to offer, the Board took a look at what training sessions were already available.
OASFAA: Annual Conference, FA101, Support Staff Workshop, Summer Drive-In, High School Counselor Training, and Training of the Trainers
WASFAA: Annual Conference, Summer Institute, Management Leadership Institute, WASFAA/NASFAA fall training, and WASFAA/NASFAA spring training
NASFAA: Annual Conference, Leadership Institute, Best Practices, Symposiums, CORE materials, fall training, spring training, and publications
Department of Education: Electronic Access Conference, Cash Management, New Title IV (for CEO’s, pre-certification), auditor training, default management, video conferences, and EdExpress training
Guarantor, Lenders, Other Vendors/Partners:
How To Trainings: P.J., loan processing, FA101, high school counselor training, day in the life of a loan, clock hours, mid-level administration training, basic financial aid training, loan administrators training, default prevention, enrollment management, understanding credit, regulatory updates, verification, Return to Title IV training, FERPA, and ad hoc trainings
Professional Development: FISH!, Who Moved My Cheese, customer service, team building, organization/strategic planning, and ad hoc trainings
Technology/Systems: Software Vendors Annual Conferences, ELM training, agency training specific to IT, and ad hoc trainings
The end goal is to put all of this information onto a master calendar and have a resource list for people interested in training.
Topics for additional OASFAA training: The Board brainstormed ideas for OASFAA’s one-day intensive training. A reminder from President Jim Eddy that this training may not take place during the 2003-2004 year, but it would lay the foundation for future Executive Boards to proceed with this type of training.
Ideas mentioned for the session included: Accountability (how we justify what we do), the economics of Higher Education, the reality of Higher Education financing, FERPA, Patriot Act, Best Practices, self-evaluation, Media and how to respond to them, understanding NSLDS and consolidation loans on NSLDS, enrollment management and leveraging aid, understanding tax returns (potential presenter could be Jim Briggs), effective modes of communication with students, differences in the different generations (including learning styles, and styles of communication), SAP, college savings plans (including 529 plans and pre-paid tuition plans), managing teams in higher education in a union environment, customer service with difficult people, how to deal with outside agencies, i.e., Vocational Rehab, employer billing, and Veteran’s Affairs, and FISAP and other federal reports.
ADJOURNMENT
Tracy Lehman-Marquit moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Tracy Reisinger. The motion passed unanimously.