SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2004
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY
Present: Sue Aldrich, Maria Barlaam, Anne Barton, Kerrie Cooper, Carolyn Corcoran, Gail Drapala, Claire Jacobi, Mike McGraw, Judi Miladin, Carrie Newman (for Kevin Ryan), Mike Pede, John Smith, Earl Tretheway, Samantha Veeder, Mike Williams
Guests: Karen Price-Scott, Patti Ronan, Lisa
Simpson, Joan Warren
Motion: Approval of June 2004 meeting minutes
Drapala/McGraw
Approved
Treasurer’s Report – Mike
McGraw
Mike passed out report for
period ending June 2004. There’s a
revised version of the Travel Reimbursement form enclosed (for new mileage
rate) and it’s on the website. The year
closed out in good shape. The
historical treasury records are being moved to HESC storage room. Sam Veeder will get last three years of
records.
Mike reminded all that
corporate sponsor information needs to be shared with members to comply with
tax laws (especially important for Statewide CAAN person and VP for
Training). Mike said that the corporate
sponsor list will be put on the Website.
He reminded that vendors that aren’t a statewide sponsor should not be
presenting at training events nor wearing vendor logos or giving out supplies
at such events.
Mike suggested forming a
corporate development team made up of vendors who would solicit and monitor
support to NYSFAAA from vendors (similar to what EASFAA/PHEA do).
Mike is scheduling a meeting
at annual Conference with regional treasurers and Sam Veeder invited all Exec
Council reps. Here he also reminded
reps. be sure their regional treasurers
are forwarding quarterly reports to the Treasurer.
There was a suggestion and
discussion ensued on having all funds (regional and statewide) in one bank with
a lender that has representation/offices in all regions. This could cut down on Patriot Act-related
paperwork and regional banking fees.
Anne advised this could be put out to bid.
VP for Professional Development
Report – Mike Pede
Discussion continued on regional conference fee waiver (continued
from June 2004 meeting), now being referred to as “Conference Assistance
Grant”. Mike passed out a draft of the
CAG process, including draft of application.
An additional discussion ensued on the possibility of creating a
regional professional development fund as Region 3 has done (this could help to
supplement CAG and help pay hotel/transportation for conference)
Training Information
Clarification was explained at this point:
1. a
region has up to $800 available automatically
2. there’s
up to $1000 available for a support staff workshop
3. a
region can request additional funding beyond the $1800 but has to go through
Exec Council (available regional treasury funds should be used prior to going
to Council)
EASFAA Training is on the
EASFAA website and one can register on-line.
This fall’s topic is “Student Loans”.
Agenda on website; cost is $25 for member/$75 non-member. A session will
be held in the morning at annual Conference and then other sites are NYC, Long
Island, and Albany
VP for Membership Report –
Kerrie Cooper
As of today we have 387
members
Kerrie praised Paula at ATAC
for her efforts
Kerrie cautioned members when
registering their regional affiliation(s) on the website; if the member doesn’t
check a region when prompted for “primary regional affiliation”, it’ll default
to Region 1
Motion: That new Membership V.P. and Communications
Director go to ATAC and meet with Paula for training.
Cooper/McGraw
Friendly Rider to Motion: That Judi Miladin attend ATAC training also.
Motion passed unanimously
Mike McGraw recommended
bringing ATAC staff to Exec Council for training and Anne suggested website
training be part of program at 2005 Conference
A lengthy discussion followed,
on the issue of changing the membership year; this was raised by some members
who did not have access to the website.
Point made that if membership year is changed, must also change the
fiscal year, which impacts other things, like insurance. The idea of separating membership
registration from conference registration was also raised. Discussion followed.
Kerrie also raised issue of
how to distribute pins/member cards if we’re now sending membership
confirmation via email. Mike McGraw
suggested getting those items to Regional Chairpersons or EC rep’s and at
Novice and other events.
HESC Update – Mike Williams
(see attached)
Mike Williams began by
indicating that HESC will have the Financial Aid Wall Chart ready by State Fair
time and he acknowledged John Smith for coordinating all the CAAN-related
items. The Wall Chart is the
most-requested document by state legislators.
Patti Ronan, Director of
Corporate of Initiatives in the Office of the President at HESC, gave us an
update on the newly created document tracking system. Patti answered questions and took suggestions/recommendations
from the EC.
Lisa Simpson gave an update on
the Empire EFT Disbursement process at HESC; a detailed presentation will be
offered to all members at the Conference.
Novice Update – Lisa Simpson
The 2004 Novice Workshop was
held at Manhattanville College with 98 participants. Lisa proposed a total cost of $580 for 2005, to include the $35
NYSFAAA membership. She hopes to do
registration for next year’s workshop on the Website and do more Web
interaction with registrants.
MOTION: To accept the cost for Novice participation
for 2005 to be $580, which would include annual NYSFAAA membership dues.
Smith/Drapala
Motion passed
President-Elect Report- Judi
Miladin
The December 2004 meeting will
be held in either White Plains or NYC area.
The February 2005 meeting will
be held at the Crowne Plaza in Albany.
College Goal Sunday- we’ve
been contacted by Ambrose Price (USA Funds) about participating. It is generally held the Sunday after the
Superbowl. The program includes a
$25000 grant over 3 years from the Lumina Foundation. There’s also a $7500 exploratory grant (start-up grant). Once
grant funding is over, the association would have to be ready to fund
the event. Judi spoke with an Ohio
association member who said that after the 3 years, they had a “cost
overrun”. Discussion took place. The general consensus seemed to be that the
grant money didn’t seem to be a lot, considering the potential media cost for
the program. Discussion ended with no
motion made.
CAAN Update – John Smith
The Wall Chart is now
available. The Wrapper is being printed
now and will be available for School Counselor Workshops; next year the Wrapper
should be available for the State Fair (the Wrappers’s readiness depends on
when sponsor support is ready). Anne
asked John to bring a Wrapper sample to the December meeting.
Regional Reports
Verbal reports were given by
each regional representative. Most discussed their region’s concern with low
school member turnout at regional meetings and some regions discussed
strategies for hopefully remedying this.
Most regions submitted a hardcopy report to the Secretary. Region 7’s Gail Drapala mentioned that the
2005 Conference hotel on Long Island has undergone a name change. It is now called the Hyatt Regency
Windwatch. The hotel is being renovated
currently and the new hotel contact is Mark Purdue. Region 8 members indicated that preliminary conference planning
for Conference 2006 is underway.
Conference 2004 Update – John
Smith
Final details are being worked
on. One of the original entertainment
sites has filed for bankruptcy but options are being planned.
Bids for the 2007 Conference
need to be received by Executive Council by the February 2005 meeting (February
6-8 at Albany Crowne Plaza Hotel). Any
proposals need to be presented at the December 2004 meeting (December 9-10 at
White Plains Crowne Plaza).
Region 6 stated an intention
to have a 2007 conference proposal on the December 9-10 meeting agenda.
President’s Report – Anne
Barton
NYSFAAA Volunteer
Brochure- Anne created the brochure and
had it available at the 2003 Conference; Kerrie said there’s also a prompt on
the membership application so anyone who checked it should show on Website
Report of New Volunteers. Earl, Maria
and Karen volunteered to follow-up on the volunteer brochure and contact
volunteers.
Senator LaValle Family Day
Event – Gail Drapala has volunteered to chair the event; it’s held in Suffolk
County at Suffolk Co. Community College, where his constituency is. He sponsors the event and any organization
can show up and donate an item to be raffled.
It will take place October 23rd
and Gail will man the table. NYSFAAA
will raffle an Amex Gift Card of $100.
MOTION: To present/offer a $100 Amex gift card for
Senator Lavalle Family Day Event
Drapala/Jacobi
Motion approved
Legislative Training Day –
this was a very successful event for which NYSFAAA received a NASFAA
award. Anne sent thank you cards to
Senators LaValle and Canestroni. Anne
has talked to Bill Cavin about the 2005 event and possibility of training on
the FM EFC formula and TAP calculation.
We’re going to ask the legislators when they’d like the training done.
Long Range Plan- the current
plan expires in Sept 2005 so Anne advised that we may want to get a new
committee together to begin thinking about a new long range plan.
Historian- Adrienne King of
Pratt Institute has volunteered to act as Historian. Anne put her in touch with Bob Shorbe, who is EASFAA’s historian.
Policy and Procedures Manual-
there are still some sections that need to be updated. We will possibly need a sub-committee to
work on it and bring it back to Council for review.
Media Exposure- Sallie Mae
arranged a meeting with Gannett newspapers; it was a way to introduce the
association to the media. Anne invited
Gannett reporter to the Rochester Conference.
EASFAA- A summer retreat was
held to set up Tom Dalton’s (new EASFAA President) agenda
Anne Barton has replaced Mike
McGraw on the NCHELP Advisory Committee; 2 main points raised were: 1. issue of
inducements; NASFAA is not getting involved on this. USED will create a policy and 2. the growing volume of
alternative loans and that the financial aid community wants some common ground
policy/practices from the lending community. Judi Miladin offered here that the
SUNY group that was put together on the MOU issue has developed some guarantor
performance standards.
Website Status- Anne reminded
all that regional meeting minutes need to be posted to regional areas of the
website by either the EC regional representative, the EC regional chair or the
regional secretaries. If members have
problems posting regional minutes to the site, they should contact Earl
Tretheway, who is our ATAC liaison.
Old Business –
Service Award Issue- The
Awards Committee wants EC guidance on issue of giving an associate member a
service award, which typically goes to active members. An exception was made in the past but the
recipient was an active member in the year for which the service was being
measured. The person whom the Awards
Committee has nominated for this year’s award, was an active member 7 or 8
years ago. A lengthy discussion
followed.
MOTION: That Executive Council clarify that all
existing service awards be given to a member who is/was active during the
twelve (12) month period immediately preceding the current conference.
Miladin/Drapala
Motion approved unanimously. Anne Barton will pass this on immediately to the Awards
Committee.
EASFAA Conference Regional
Nomination- regions should submit a name of a regional member to Anne Barton by
the October 2004 Conference. The
individual only has to pay $50 EASFAA dues and agree to serve on an EASFAA committee
beginning after the May 2005 Conference.
New Business
Anne raised the issue of EC
members sharing rooms at EC meetings.
Short discussion followed.
MOTION: That NYSFAAA Executive Council members be
allowed to have single rooms at meetings.
Smith/Barlaam
Unanimous approval
TAP CUNY Portal Issue- Mike
Williams indicated that “Anytime TAP on the Web” will be unveiled at the
Conference but basically students will be able to change their college code but
will be also able to file TAP on the WEB if have a valid FAFSA filed, so
therefore no access to CUNY site should be necessary for 0506.
Gear Up Grant proposal- We’re now in the 5th year of the
grant. Participants of the first grant
should be college freshmen in the fall of 2005. HESC and NYSFAAA will need to
continue to work together on using Gear Up funds to their fullest
potential. Council will meet at the
Conference to discuss this more.
MOTION: To adjourn the meeting at 11:35 am.
Smith/Drapala
Approved