Region 1 Regional Notes/Report

Notes/Report: DATE: January 1, 2009 - REGION 1 DECEMBER 2008 MEETING NYSFAAA Region 1 Meeting December 18, 2008 Pearl Street Grille Attendees: 60 signed in attendees: J.Pollard Sallie Mae, A.Barton NSLP, K. Delgrosso Chase, S. Stevenson Ed Fund, B. Chudy Hilbert College, J. Lanski, Hilbert, L. Bove Great Lakes, B. McEnroe UB, K. Ryan UB, J. McGrath Trocaire College, S. Kindzia Buffalo State, C. Vukman Buffalo State, W. Hoffman (sort of) Buffalo State, L. Morrison Buffalo State, L. Chilson Buffalo State, L. Nicholson Buffalo State, A. Del Plato Nelnet, J. Zadvorney Trocaire College, L. Kraska Trociare College, T. Meidenbauer Medaille College, J. Bronicky Medaille College, A. Higgins HESC, J. Moss Key Bank, M. Rizzo Canisius, I. Cameron Sallie Mae, C. Horner Villa Maria College, Sister M.D. Miller Villa Maria, M. Koehneke Canisius, L. Helmich PNC, D. Tramuta SUNY Fredonia, J. Tranquilli Daeman College, S. Looker Daeman College, J. Pagano Daemen College, M. Salfi Niagara University, J. Garey Niagara University, B. Niagara University, M. Zaffalon SUNY Fredonia, J. Corrente SUNY Fredonia, K. Taylor Houghton College, Marianne Loper Houghton College, T. Martin Houghton College, Holly Z. EdAmerica, S. Barber Niagara University, M. Loops Buffalo State, K. Michalski NCCC, J. Rafferty HESC, R. Barker NCCC, D.Sturyenbecker Jamestown Business College, B. Anson Retired ECC, S. Ross D’Youville College, S. Hudson D’Youville College, C. Prelewicz D’Youville College, I. Dwaik D’Youville College, L. Metz D’Youville College, E. Bartels D’Youville College, M. Metz D’Youville College, J. Nowak D’Youville College, M. Brockel St. Bonaventure University, M. Piccoli St. Bonaventure Univeristy, V. Goodwin Jamestown Business College Welcome and Introductions – Kevin Ryan • Thank you to all for all the donated toys for the Toys for Tots annual Toy Drive. Kevin and Brent McEnroe will deliver the toys after the meeting. Treasurer’s Report – Brent McEnroe • Thank you to all members for paying for the Holiday meeting on time. • Balance as of 11/06/08: $4,435.21 • Minus: • 11/20/08 $75.00 American Beauties Florist (CK 564 Helen Lukasik Flowers) • 12/08/08 $2.00 Check Image Fee • Total: $77.00 • Plus: • 11/12/08 $980.00 ($880.00 Revenue Share $100.00 Wii Bowling Name Winner) • 11/19/08 $225.00 Holiday Meeting First Deposit • 12/06/08 $595.00 Holiday Meeting Second Deposit • Total: $1,800.00 • Balance as of 12/08/08: $6,158.21 Executive Council Update - Lynn Chilson • Strategic Plan Accepted. • New State Treasurer Proposal Accepted. • Overall NYSFAAA Membership is down. Please follow up on yearly membership and renew. College Goal Sunday – 2/8/09 • Jamestown Site – Debbie Mauro: debbiemauro@mail.sunyjcc.edu • Buffalo site – Ambrose Price – ambrose.m.price@citizensbank.com • 25 volunteers are signed up and many, many more are needed. • Over 300 students are anticipated to attend event. • Please contact Rachel Barker at NCCC or Ambrose Price if you are interested in volunteering. Committee Updates: 1. Membership committee: 142 current members in Region 1. This is down from Last year of 170. Below is the information on the extension for non-affiliated members. Thank you Carrie Newman for the details. The following info from Adrienne King regarding the NYSFAAA membership for impacted employees: "Those members need to renew their membership and in the drop down menu (type of membership)they will see the option of '2008 Membership EXT DW'. Once they have procured a job within the industry then they should be able to update that status." The membership fee for 2008-2009 is $60. $50 was quoted at the NYSFAAA meeting but it appears that it has gone up. 2. High School Counselor Workshop: • 140 attendees at Classics V – up about 35 participants from last year. • 45 attendees at St. Bonaventure University – same attendance. • Evaluations were all positive. • FAFSA changes for 09/10 may have driven up attendance. • A suggestion was given to perhaps coordinate the Alleghany Counselors meeting with our workshop to increase attendance in the southern tier. • A heartfelt thank you to all who planned, participated and presented. HESC Update – Jack Rafferty Holiday Processing Schedule Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) will use the following schedule to process data during the 2008 Christmas and New Years holidays. Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008 - Normal processing will occur with the exception of EFT Express. Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008 - HESC offices are closed. Online updates are available. Friday, Dec. 26, 2008 - Normal processing will occur; however, EFT Express will not run. The EFT Express schedule will resume Monday, Dec. 29, 2008. Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2009 - Normal processing will occur with the exception of EFT Express. Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009 - HESC offices are closed. Online updates are available. Friday, Jan 2, 2009 - Normal processing will occur; however, EFT Express will not run. The EFT Express schedule will resume Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 A Case for FFELP At HESC, it has always been our tradition to focus on the needs of college administrators and others in the financial aid community when developing new products and services. Recently, one document that has been the subject of frequent requests is an up-to-date analysis and discussion of the Federal Family Education Loan program. In response to these requests, HESC has created a publication that provides a comprehensive and current view of the Federal Family Education Loan Program. We hope you find it informative and compelling. A copy of this publication has been mailed to all financial aid offices in New York, and can be found under the “What’s New” section within the College Administrators section at www.hesc.org. Should you have questions about the information provided, or about any HESC product or program, please direct them to your HESC Client Relations Manager. HESC Puts Students on the Right Track – Provides Partnership and Support in Controlling Cohort Default Rate The New York State Higher Education Services Corp. (HESC) recently introduced its new Right Track default prevention program for college financial aid administrators and their students. Right Track is a complete package of services designed to help students stay on the right course and meet their obligations as borrowers throughout the life of their loans. The new Right Track Web portal provides information about the tools and support HESC offers to help college administrators prevent student loan defaults. The recent passage of the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act altered the formula for calculating the cohort default rate. Under the new law, the cohort default rate now includes three years of repayment data instead of two, increasing the likelihood of higher default rates for schools. Right Track offers schools staff training, default management action plans and strategies for prevention, retention and intervention in addition to HESC’s innovative Web-based Default Manager tool. Default Manager provides colleges with the timeliest information available to help electronically identify, track and schedule follow- ups for borrowers who are closest to default and in need of additional assistance, saving paper and staff resources, while helping schools significantly lower their default rate. For more information on Right Track, you may contact Ed Gilbert egilbert@hesc.org or your regional representative. School, Lender and Guarantor News: • Sean Hudson is the new Assistant Director at Canisius College. He begins his new position 1/5/09. • 3 new positions are posted at University at Buffalo. The positions are posted on the NYSFAAA and NASFAAA websites. • Christine Vukman joined the Buffalo State staff at the end of October. Welcome to Region 1! Update on NYS Stafford/PLUS Preferred Lender RFI – Ann Higgins HESC HESC has created an RFI generator that will be ready for school use in mid-January. Highlights include: • No passwords for access • Ability to download the spreadsheets and share with lenders. • Link provided directly to SLATE Fact Sheet. • The Generator will: Provide school information, contacts and deadlines for individual schools. It is designed for FFELP. Schools may select their individual headings and questions from the RFI Generator to fit their individual school needs. A weighted system will be in place for schools for analysis. The entire document can be downloaded and sent to lenders. Lenders can respond directly on document as lines have been designed for expansion. Schools can rate responses in the order of their individual importance for their lender selection process. NYSFAAA Banner was found. Holiday Words provided by Warren Hoffman. Our next meeting will be February 19th at Niagara County Community College. We will view the AG presentation at that time. Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jennifer Pollard, NYSFAAA Region 1 Secretary POSTED BY: Kevin Ryan