Region 1 Regional Notes/Report

Notes/Report: DATE: December 21, 2007 - REGION 1 SEPTEMBER 2007 MEETING Region 1 (AMENDED 10/9/07) SUNY Fredonia 9/27/07 Kevin Ryan: Opened up with introductions at 9:30. No one from AG’s office attended, cancelled at last minute. Katrina DelGrosso mentioned that AG spoke in Rochester, and she attended, said they had a main session and had break out sessions. AG introduced the two Ben’s said that these are the two guys that know more about student loans than any one in the US. Focusing on Private Loans Mayor Duffy (Rochester) introduced AG as doing such profound work on the scandal of student lending. Laura Worley will check to see if anyone from Citibank attended the session. Brent Mcenroe: Treasury Report: NYSFAAA Region 1 Meeting 09/27/2007 SUNY Fredonia Treasurer’s Report Balance as of 05/08/2007: $2,285.56 Deposits: 06/19/07 $120.00 St. Columban Center Summer Region 1 Meeting 06/22/07 $60.00 St. Columban Center Summer Region 1 Meeting 07/16/07 $21.90 Jack Rafferty Boat Payment for Support Staff Workshop 07/23/07 $2,060.50 Reimbursement for Support Staff Workshop Total: $2,262.40 Payments: 05/29/07 Check #509 $97.50 St. Bonaventure University (May Region 1 Meeting) 05/31/07 Check #510 $200.00 St. Columban Center (Summer Meeting Deposit) 06/07/07 Check image fee $2.00 06/18/07 Check #511 $1,843.16 Buffalo Harbor Cruises (Support Staff Workshop) 07/02/07 Check #513 $155.00 St. Columban Center Region 1 Meeting 07/06/07 Check image fee $2.00 07/10/07 Check #512 $13.13 Region 1 Retirement Bernice Anson (Darcie Stephens) 07/25/07 Check #514 $81.55 Reimbursement for EASFAA gift basket (Carrie Newman) 08/06/07 Check #515 $51.07 Admissions Advisor Workshop Supplies (Kevin Ryan) 08/08/07 Check image fee $2.00 09/07/07 Check image fee $2.00 Total: $2,449.41 Ending Balance as of 09/07/2007: $2,098.55 Tom Dalton is the new NYSFAAA Treasurer and he will have a conference call with all treasurers at some point with a possible meeting at the conference. Future Meeting Dates: November 8th Hilbert College December TBA February 21st Medaille College March 20th TBA May 15th Buffalo State June TBA Discussion on December meeting, what do we want to do…..restaurant or college, how much would folks be willing to pay out of pocket, average per person $25.00 Have a good treasury to date, $10 has been standard price. Looking at the possibility of going to a school to save on cost, however some schools such as UB charge a rental fee. It has been decided that members are comfortable paying $15-20. Laura will look into the Italian Village with Paola Oshirick (nothing confirmed as of yet) Any suggestions please let Laura know. Need a place for the March Meeting……any volunteers?? No April meeting to date, June meeting off site, will discuss as time draws near. Exec Council Report – Lynn Chilson : NYSFAAA Region I Executive Council Meeting Report September 10-11, 2007 – Rochester, NY Current Officers: President: Heather McDonnell 1st Vice President: Angela VanDekker 2nd Vice President: Maria Barlaam Secretary: Nancy Teodecki Treasurer: Tom Dalton • Exec Council meetings are open to the full membership and everyone is encouraged to attend. The next meeting will be on December 13-14 at the Marriott in Amherst. • Slate summit group created (Bill Cheetham, John View, Jim Murphy, Tom Dalton and Pierre Alric) with the purpose to address any issues raised during regulatory process and be a resource for our membership on matters related to SLATE. • Training will be emphasized to help our membership move forward given the events of the last 8 months by providing training at both the regional and state levels. • Governance Committee o Full draft of the Long Range Plan will be presented Tuesday morning at the conference. o NYSFAAA’s proposed constitutional amendments will also be presented at the Business meeting and voted on by the membership during the conference. • Government Relations - C. Sears and J. Valle are available to attend regional meetings to inform members on ‘how to get involved and advocate as members and as constituents’. • Web letter – L.Worley requested that Regions keep her updated on new hires and changes in positions to be included in the web letter. • Tom Dalton reported in the audit that our letterhead does not have ‘Incorporated’ wording on it as a finding. Since our letterhead in stock does have the “Inc” included if any member has the old letterhead, please destroy and request new. • If not doing so, Regional treasurer needs to submit quarterly bank statements to Tom Dalton. He is going to setup a conference call with all regional treasurers to go over the procedures. • Membership to our region is extremely important as we receive money for our region based on the number of memberships we have. If you have not already done so, please renew your membership. If you have questions regarding membership questions/issues, you may email: NYSFAAAmem@fordham.edu. • NYSFAAA’s website is an important tool that all members are encouraged to use to seek valuable information regarding our organization. o Regional activities are posted to the calendar o Training materials will be limited to “members only”. o Power point presentations available for download (if you have a presentation that you would like to share with the membership, you can request that it be posted). Anything that is posted to the website is available to the entire membership to use. o Early Awareness power point presentation is being developed and will be posted to the web when available for use. o New members will automatically be signed up for the listserv. o Date to remember: November 15, 2007 – the website will be taken offline for upgrades that could take up to a week to complete. • Regions can no longer solicit funds for events. All support must be done through the Development Committee. Development is creating a standardized form to be used at events that will list all corporate sponsors. Individuals can also make contributions to the scholarship fund. • Awards Committee: Award recipient names are needed ASAP for the plaque order that is going out 9/30. The ‘Rising Star’ award is awarded at the regional level to a member who has recently become active in the organization. The committee is going to be flexible on the 2-year timeframe criteria so don’t let that keep you from nominating someone. • College Goal Sunday (CGS) will be held on February 10, 2008. Information is located online at www.collegegoalsunday.com. The region will be seeking volunteers for the event during the conference. • School Outreach must tighten their budget so will not be offering lunches at counselor workshops in the fall. It was decided by council that there can be no lender tables since that promotes ‘loan activity’ and that no clothing that designates a lender’s employer should be worn at these events. All corporate sponsors to date will be acknowledged at each workshop. • Professional Development Committee will focus on joint efforts with EASFAA/ SUNYFAP to assist in reduction of costs for training. o Need feedback from Regions for topics. o There will be EASFAA training in Nov/Dec time frame, topic: Counseling Students and Families- Tackling the Financial Issues. o Jim Briggs tax workshop will be held outside of our region. They are looking into the Binghamton/Albany area as the closest site to us. • NYSFAAA Annual Conference o Executive Council encourages all attendees at the conference to visit the vendor area sponsored by HESC. Exec council sessions open to any member. Start at noon on Thursday and end at noon on Friday Curt encouraging members to attend an Exec Council meeting if they can afford time out, very worthwhile. Lynn will send times/dates of next meeting. Legislative Forum 2/4 & 2/5/08. The Rising Star: This award has been established for someone who has recently become involved in NYSFAAA and will be awarded at the conference. Regions will no longer doing be High School workshops, they will be doing School Outreach, however Region 1 already has their workshops in progress and the workshops will open to all levels. Will not be doing a tax workshop in Region 1, closest Region is Region 3. Lynn will take back to council that Region 1 did not stipulate that we did not want tax workshop any longer…. wanted it every other year. Jim Briggs will do two sessions one in possibly the Binghamton area and one downstate. Support Staff Workshop - Rachel Barker Workshop was held on the Miss Buffalo Cruise Ship and was a huge success. Had approximately 49 attendees. Full agenda with a Federal Update by Curt Guame (Canisius College), HESC Update by Jack Rafferty (HESC), Time Management Presentation by Rachel Barker (AFC), Survivor Memory of Financial Aid Acronymns by Rachel Barker (AFC), Kathy Michalski (NCCC), Beverly Chudy (Hilbert College) and Networking Challenge with Colleagues by Lea Nicholson (Canisius College). Kevin Ryan/Michelle Rizzo- Admissions Workshop: Workshop was held at Classics V with 75attendees, attendance was down from last year but not due to lack of interest, but due to conflicts with campus orientations. Looking at doing every year but majority of attendees would like to see breakout sessions for those who are Novice and more seasoned. Invitations went out to Regions 1 & 2. Tried to make a little different, tried to bring a link between Admissions/Financial Aid. Dan Tramuta did a great presentation on the relationship that the Admission Offices and Financial Aid need to have. Presentation was on “Strategic Enrollment Management.” We will be sending out Certificate of Completions along with a letter indicating that presentations are available on the web. However, they may not be able to access as they are not members. Lynn Chilson will check into this to see if non members will be able to access the training materials. HS Counselor Workshops: Coming up at St Bonnies on 11/6 and 11/7 at Classics 5. Committee meeting on 10/4 at TGIF’s on Walden Ave. (sorry time was not disclosed) We need more volunteers, new volunteers are welcome!!! Professional Development Committee -Lea Nicholson Committee members consist of Lisa Morrison, Lea Nicholson, Dan Dunn, Lynn Chilson, Beverly Chudy and Rachel Barker. Topics of training consist of the Legislative Process (Curt Guame and Dan Hunter). Part Time TAP - Erica Terwilliger will be sending folks in to discuss the program. Medaille’s meeting will discuss the Admissions Process with a Panel from two year private, 4 year private and 2 year public and 4 year public. March Meeting will discuss SLATE one year Later…one year anniversary……May Meeting - Generational look at technology. Looking for students and professionals to be on the Panel…..any volunteers?? Service Award: Troy Martin and Michelle Rizzo This individual has contributed effortless hours to this organization. Always willing and ready to help. Thank you so much for all your contributions to NYSFAAA. Recipient not available at meeting, therefore name not disclosed at this time. It is my pleasure to announce that Kathy Michalski is the recipient for this years NYSFAAA Service award. Kathy…….on behalf of Region 1 “Thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication to our organization.” Congratulations!!!! Membership – Carrie Newman: Membership total is 203, however current membership carries over until 11/15. Numbers are off due to carrie overs. Asked to get offices more involved in NYSFAAA. Membership dues went up $15 (currently $50 per member) Katrina DelGrosso- NYSFAAA Scholarship: Members can go online and contribute to the NYSFAAA scholarship individually (out of pocket) if you are interested in contributing some money. Have had several members donate $ as an individual donor. Thank you for any contributions that have been given both on the Corporate level as well as the individual levels. Donors can be recognized as they are non-educational loan activities. Curt mentioned that at EASFAA people were afraid to go in and talk with vendors, Curt encouraged folks to go into the vendor area at the NYSFAAA Conference . Kevin mentioned that the NYSFAAA scholarship form is online. Carrie Newman also mentioned that some students may not have met the criteria so she suggested that you send out the nominee anyway as they are having difficulties finding students. College Goal Sunday – Ambrose Price: College Goal Sunday is scheduled for 2/10/07, location is not decided yet, however Medaille is available if no other location is available. Working through channels to find a new possible location. Came under budget last year. Looking for volunteers, had many volunteers last year and need more, need folks that could do the online FAFSA process. Looking at possibly doing another location in Jamestown. Funds are available to do second location. Scholarship money is available, served about 19 families last year. Rochester had over 100 attendees at their event last year. Site needs to have a computer lab. Darcie Stevenson asked how they will market…….Ambrose said they need computer lab with printers, Will target a certain zip code. Will hopefully find a location that will tie into that zone which is 14215. Holly volunteered to take over the Jamestown site. Remind students that Feds are not going to be sending out paper FAFSA. The website for college goal Sunday in NY is http://collegegoalsundayny.com/Program.asp Kevin suggested that the link for College Goal Sunday be put on the NYSFAAA web. HESC Update: Marc Woolf Mentioned that the HESC Symposium was fantastic, all presenters were awesome. Proud to announce that the cohort default rate is a low 3.9% Hope to see everyone at the conference. HESC UPDATE September 2007 Accelerated Study Term Report Report HE8498, the Accelerated Study Term Report is now available on the HESC web site and will be available at the end of each term’s certification period. This report is only available for schools that have continuous enrollment and whose regular calendar allows students to attend 3 semesters or 4 trimesters in a calendar year. To view the report visit the Transaction Center, select Transaction Processing, click on Grants & Scholarships, click on Reports, and select Standard Reports. If you have questions, please call 1.866.431.4372, option 4 to speak with a TAP representative. Math & Science Teaching Incentive Scholarship Application Period Reopened The competition for the New York State Math and Science Teaching Incentive Scholarship Program has been reopened for the 2006-07 academic year with an application deadline of October 1, 2007. Applications and information for the 2006-07 scholarship are available on HESC’s web site in the Students, Families & Counselor section. Applications for the 2007-08 academic year will be available after January 1, 2008. Ability to Benefit Test Students may take the federally approved Ability to Benefit Test up until the end of the Fall term. This is for the current Fall term only and clarification will be provided for the upcoming Spring term. New Access to Digital Dashboard The Digital Dashboard is a report which contains information on all loans guaranteed by loan type. Information includes the number of loans, loan guarantee amount, number of disbursals, anticipated dollars disbursing, actual dollars disbursed, total amount canceled, number of HESC held e-MPNs and number of HESC held paper MPNs. The Digital Dashboard can be accessed by visiting the College Administrators center, then the Transaction Center using your user ID and password. The Dashboard tab is located to the right of the Reports tab. HESC Enhances Default Manager HESC has enhanced Default Manager once again. Beginning Aug. 1, the HESC Default Manager program began to select delinquent accounts and assign cohort years based on the date of repayment reported directly by the lender. Delinquent accounts were previously based on information provided by School Certification Data (SCS). HESC Default Manager eliminates the potential for discrepancy by assigning a cohort year based on the lender reported, “date entered repayment” for each identified delinquent loan. The source of the delinquency notification and the “date entered repayment” will now be the same, considerably reducing the number of accounts with conflicting data. Future enhancements will include exporting of demographic information in Excel format which will facilitate mail merge functionality and the ability to create the cohort rate listing directly from Default Manager. If you have any ideas for additional future enhancements, please contact Ed Gilbert directly at egilbert@hesc.org or 518.473.3528. Preferred Lender List Changes In compliance with SLATE, HESC has added additional wording to the e- MPN process at the point where a borrower selects a lender. The new wording follows: Students and their parents have the right and ability to select the education loan provider of their choice. If a preferred lender list is displayed, you are not required to use a lender on that list, and will not suffer a penalty for choosing another lender. For information regarding a school’s policy on establishing a preferred lender, please contact your school’s Financial Aid Office. If a college has supplied HESC with a URL to their website, there will be a link for the borrower to the school’s policy on determining a preferred lender. Students can review the information, close the school window and continue with the e-MPN process Credit Check Enhancements HESC has updated our system for sending Certification Requests when the borrower completes the credit only portion of the e-MPN. If a borrower chooses to complete the credit only portion of the e-MPN, a certification request will be sent to the school upon credit approval. To receive a loan guarantee, the borrower will need to complete the e-MPN but the school will be able to complete the certification request once the credit pre-approval is complete. Schools now have the ability to request a list of all students and borrowers for whom HESC has performed a credit check. Visit the College Administrators center and sign into the Transaction Center using your user ID and password. Go to the Loans section and then to the Reports tab, select Apps Processing, click on Request Credit Check Results Report (APP 723) under the “Generate Report Request” heading. HESC’s Default Rate Lowest in 34 Year History The New York State Higher Education Services Corp. (HESC) has reached a milestone in its 2005 cohort default rate – 3.9 percent, according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education recently. Leading the way in default avoidance for more than a decade, HESC assists college financial aid administrators to successfully contact and help students with repayment options and debt management education. This spring, HESC awarded $1 million to 29 schools to help prevent student loan defaults. The grants, ranging from $4,800 to almost $50,000, were awarded to competitively selected colleges and universities for their proposals to identify risks that contribute to student loan default, and to develop and implement new programs which have the best potential to significantly reduce the dollar amount of defaulted loans. Upcoming NYSFAAA Conference Please join HESC staff at the Upcoming NYSFAAA in New York City. We look forward to sharing information with you at the TAP New Legislative Changes, Understanding TAP Audits and the HESC Loan Processing sessions on Sunday, the Default Prevention and Mapping Your Future – Meteor sessions on Monday, the Financial Aid Best Practices on Tuesday, wrapping up with the HESC and Slate Updates on Wednesday. HESC Loan Symposium 2007 HESC would like to thank all our school and lender partners for making HESC’s third annual Loan Symposium a great success. More than 230 participants registered, representing 148 school and 89 lender partners. For those of you that were not able to attend, we have made the Powerpoint presentations available to you under “What’s New” in the College Administrators section of HESC web. Save the date for the 2008 symposium at the Saratoga Hotel and Conference Center on Sept. 17th & 18th. We look forward to seeing you there. Ambrose announced that Citizens Bank name changed to RBS Citizens Bank……Royal Bank of Scotland….look for them under the R’s Lender/School News: Ambrose Price announced that Citizens Bank’s name has changed to the Royal Bank of Scotland…..look for them under the R’s. Teresa Geseke is now at TERI. Diane Sturzenberger announced that JBS is now offering a Bachelors Degree. Sandy Stevenson is now with Edfund. POSTED BY: Kevin Ryan