REGION II MEETING
ATTENDANCE
Schools:
SUNY Brockport: Scott Atkinson, Nora Bell, Craig Gallagher
SUNY Geneseo: Susan Romano, Andrea Mason
University of
Vendors:
ACS Education Services: Nancy Reynolds
AFC: Kristen Carey
Bank of
Citibank: Debi Mansour, Laura Worley, Dan Dunn
College Board: Scott Lewis
Edamerica: Holly Zaglaniczny
Fifth Third Bank: Marc Woolf
HSBC Bank: Sherrie Sheppard
Key Education Resources: Kathleen O’Connell
M&T Bank: Andy Leardini
Nellie Mae: Katrina Delgrosso, Abbey Linsner
NSLP: Anne Barton
NYHESC: Ed Gilbert
Student Loan Xpress: Brian Levy
Wachovia Education
Finance: Karen Blankenburg
Treasurer’s Report (Nora Bell):
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Current balance =
$1,124.82
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Met w/ NYSFAAA
auditor yesterday and he gave good feedback on our books. When we have events like the summer outing
and holiday party where members pay a fee, the person taking the money should
provide a list to the Treasurer for our records.
Secretary’s Report (Katrina Delgrosso):
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All minutes from
Region II meetings will be posted on www.nysfaaa.org
in the Regional News section. Then click
on Region II on the map. Click on
“Notes/Report Index” to see the list of posted minutes.
Membership Report (Katrina Delgrosso):
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The new
Membership Chairperson in 05-06 is Margaret Christian from University of
Rochester School of Medicine. Thank you,
Margaret, for volunteering to take over this role!
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Your 0506 NYSFAAA
membership is $35. If you are interested
in joining additional regions beyond your primary region, the cost is $15 per
additional region.
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If your 0506
membership is paid by
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If you are
interested in being part of the NYSFAAA listserv, you will need to indicate
that on your 0506 NYSFAAA membership application that is online.
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The application
for 0506 NYSFAAA membership and the 2005 NYSFAAA Conference requires two
separate transactions. There are two
separate applications for those at www.nysfaaa.org.
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After
Executive Council Report (Anne Barton on behalf of
Steve Dodds):
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Executive Council
meeting was held September 22-23
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Membership
report: 1209 NYSFAAA members (highest
ever)—Joan Warren is the VP of Membership and has done a great job in this
position
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School counselor
workshop—all regions except Region 7 have dates and committees.
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Nancy (Pawlak)
Teodecki chairs Early Awareness committee—they have done a great job this year;
they did wristbands that were given out at the State Fair for the NYSFAAA table
that says “I’m Going to College”. Also,
they did the early awareness brochure and bookmarks and are distributing them
through the PTA in the state.
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Novice
Training—116 people this year in June (highest number ever); last year at
Manhattanville College; SUNY Cobleskill for the next 2 years; dates are June
3-9, 2006
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HESC Update—see
notes below from Ed Gilbert
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CAAN Update—CAAN
materials were supposed to be ready for the State Fair, but they were shipped
to Sharon Karwowski and she had a family emergency and could not come to the
fair; other materials like the wall chart were handed out at the State Fair
anyway, so it was fine. Media
efforts—John Smith would really like to spread this throughout the state.
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State
Fair/NYSFAAA Table: More successful each
year; approximately 17 schools and organizations who split the cost; NYSFAAA
hosts this event now and we are responsible to seek participants/colleges to
attend
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Government
Relations: Beth Post has done a great
job of keeping NYSFAAA on the radar screen of state legislators and Jim Vallee
and Holly Z are working with the federal legislator efforts (such as visits to
the Hill which is very worthwhile—NYSFAAA covers your costs)—Jim would
appreciate participation from each of the 8 regions in NYSFAAA to attend (at
least 1 person) these visits on the Hill—please contact him at jvallee@mandtbank.com
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Policies and
Procedures Manual: Still trying to get
it updated, but it is a slow process.
Shortly, you should see a new version on website.
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Treasurer’s
Report: Regions 1 and 2 were audited
(the auditor lives in
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Professional
Development: Will be changes for
statewide professional development, but nothing has been finalized yet.
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2005 NYSFAAA
Conference: Registrations are cut off
now on the NYSFAAA website—they already hit the 650 attendance.
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2006 NYSFAAA
Conference:
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2007 NYSFAAA
Conference:
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2008 NYSFAAA
Conference:
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Training for new
Exec Council members was offered at the Exec Council meeting
HESC Update (Ed Gilbert):
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Changed name of
Empire EFT to HESC EFT Express (in beta testing now)
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Students whose TAP applications were processed beginning in August will
receive e-mail notifications advising them of this new online way to change
and/or submit application data.
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HESC anticipates elimination of paper award notices as
well as change forms and RFIs in the near future for students who have valid
e-mail addresses.
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The online Change
Form and/or the RFI can be accessed on HESC’s Web site by selecting:
“Managing your Loan or Grant”, then
“Your Account.”
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Students can follow
the instructions on the TAP Award Status page to view their award information.
If they wish to proceed to the Change Form or RFI, they can use the link
provided to continue.
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Students will
then be asked to provide their HescPIN to be allowed to view their application data. If they do not have a valid HescPIN, they
will be given the opportunity to create
one at that time.
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The Change Form
allows students to change application data on file with HESC. However, changes
that would create application errors will not be allowed.
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The RFI displays
messages indicating which data must be corrected or supplied to complete the
application process. Students will be
instructed if additional documentation must be submitted to HESC.
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In most cases,
the data submitted within these pages will be processed within 24 hours.
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HESC's
website has been updated to include the student link to TOTW as an option
under Applications
On-Line. To view from our homepage select, Applying
For Aid, then click on Applications.
Students will answer yes/no questions to direct them appropriately.
New Nursing Scholarship/Loan Forgiveness
Program
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HESC recently
announced the signing of new legislation creating 2 new programs to increase the number of educators and adjunct clinical
faculty teaching nursing in
- Senator
Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship Program
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For more information
on these new programs, including eligibility requirements, please refer to
Financial Aid Services Bulletin 2005 –
016 which can be viewed on hesc.org’s “College Administrators and
Lenders” link.
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Governor George E. Pataki recently
signed into law a bill creating a new scholarship program for the spouses,
children and financial dependents of victims of the November 2001 American
Airlines Flight 587 plane crash. This program, like the World Trade Center
Memorial Scholarship, will help students from affected families obtain a
college degree.
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American Airlines Flight 587
crashed shortly after takeoff from JFK airport, in the
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In the spirit of the World Trade
Center Memorial Scholarships, the Flight 587 Memorial Scholarship program will
cover the cost of attendance at any
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The statute allows for payments
retroactive to the 2001-02 academic year, and does not require students to meet
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Eligible students and families
should contact Mike Reynolds or Rita McGivern in the Scholarship Unit at HESC 1
- (888) 697-4372 to obtain information and apply for payment.
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A Consolidated Scholarship Roster,
as summarized in HESC Scholarship Modernization Bulletin 2005-021 (
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Please note that
Scholarships previously paid manually
will be included on the new Consolidated Scholarship Roster (CSR), as
will awards for students with multiple scholarships. Each scholarship or award
assigned to a student is listed under
the student’s name and also provides schools
with an itemized list of each
scholarship paid by program. The Consolidated Scholarship Roster (CSR)
layout is similar to the traditional TAP roster.
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More information
regarding the Consolidated Scholarship Roster, including future enhancements,
will be discussed at the fall NYSFAAA Conference.
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Recent HESC
Financial Aid Services Bulletin 2005 –
022 and 2005-013 provided highlights
on HESC’s September 8th Loan Subcommittee Meeting and Loan Web Improvements:
PLUS Credit Check Pre-Approval
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Responding to
many requests, HESC will implement the PLUS credit check pre-approval process
and an automated credit approval process, and it is expected to be completed by
the beginning of 2006. A detailed bulletin describing the new process,
including pre-approval procedures and other features will be sent shortly.
Alternative Loan Focus Groups
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As promised, HESC
has formed focus groups to explore the alternative loan system for passing data
between lenders and schools. We met with schools and produced a list of options
that they wanted. HESC is reviewing all the feedback and will schedule more
discussions. For more information, contact Lisa Simpson at lsimpson@hesc.org or (518) 473-0482.
Total Enrollment Reporting Process
(TERP)
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The Total
Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP) is a service offered by the National
Student Clearinghouse, providing a single, reliable source for student
enrollment information. The clearinghouse collects, checks and distributes data
to guarantors and their lenders and servicers.
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During the
subcommittee meeting, there was overwhelming support for HESC to join the
Clearinghouse TERP process. We will keep you informed as we move forward with
this.
PLUS Credit Check Web Screens
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HESC has added
new fields to existing screens to display information about a borrower credit
check when the credit check is performed by HESC.
Access to Web Screens by Student SSN
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For PLUS loans,
school and lender/servicer access to loan Web screens is now available by
student SSN.
Standardized Reports
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HESC has added
two new reports, HESC Performed Credit Checks - Daily Credit Results Report,
which displays the results of the HESC credit check. APP718 is the lender
report and APP719 is the school report.
Customized Reports
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The two new
reports can be found under the Reports Tab. Misc.
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Select “MPN Data – Schools”, or “MPN Data – Lenders” to
display master promissory note (MPN) data including where the MPN is stored and
the borrower signature date. It will also display MPNs that do not have any
loans.
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Select “Pending
Data – Schools” or “Pending Data – Lenders” to display loans that are pending
for a school. Loans are pending for missing or incomplete information.
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HESC also
enhanced the customized report for Guaranteed
Loan Volume for Lenders and Schools to produce the reports by
“Program Type”.
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As a reminder, Lender and school contracts
for the Empire Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) program, including school and
lender manuals, are available
electronically on hesc.org to download and use.
NYGEAR UP Update
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HESC has received $21 million in federal funds that will allow the State to continue its
successful six-year NYGEAR UP
program that helps thousands of at-risk students prepare -- both academically
and financially -- to attend college.
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Nearly 7,000 current
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HESC is pleased
that NYSFAAA will also be participating in NYGEAR UP activities.
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HESC's inaugural
Loan Symposium, held in
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Robert Butler,
a 30-year HESC manager who most recently was HESC’s Chief Operating Officer, retired recently, but will continue as
a part-time consultant to HESC. Leonard
G. Sippel, who has worked as a
financial expert for several colleges and universities, will replace
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Sippel worked as
executive vice president for finance and administration at
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He was also the
vice chancellor for finance and administration at the City Colleges of
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June F. McQuide
has been hired as the Director of the
Audit and Quality Assurance Division
to direct a staff of seven who audit HESC’s operations
and the agency’s outside vendors.
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McQuide has
extensive experience with large and small private companies and a major
national accounting firm. She served as a team leader in
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McQuide has
served as the executive director of the University Heights Association in
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McQuide, a
Certified Public Accountant, also owned an accounting firm in
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Citibank is
paying origination fees on all
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Wachovia
Education Finance—Jan Klotz is continuing his role as Regional Sales Manager
through December and then will be a consultant for Wachovia working with
particular schools in NY.
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Greg Sperr is now
at the
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When Val was
promoted at SUNY Alfred, Laura Giglio was promoted to the Director of Financial
Aid.
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Dawn Langdon left
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Bryant &
Stratton is hiring a Financial Services Manager and Business Office Manager for
the
Committee Updates:
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High School
Counselor Workshops: 11/14 at Alfred
State; 11/18 at SUNY Brockport—roughly 50 counselors expected
in Alfred and 140 in Brockport; doing online registrations this year; Nancy is
sending out registrations within a week from now that will provide the website
to register online; more vendors supporting workshop this year versus last year
(13 this year contributed to these workshops).
Letters were sent to the vendors to ask them if they want to set up
tables and bring materials—or they can send materials. Lenders can contact Holly Z if they have any
questions. Region 2 puts together a
financial aid office directory and includes information about each of your
colleges to provide to the high school counselors. Darcie Stephens will contact those schools
who weren’t represented today at the Region 2 meeting to make corrections to this
directory.
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Mall
Programs: There were 2 last week. 1 this
week and the other one was cancelled.
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Support Staff
Workshop: There haven’t been any
decisions made for this year’s workshop.
Karen Blankenburg agreed to participate this year on the committee. There were a couple of schools who
participated on the committee last year and that helped in the planning
stages. If anyone from the support staff
is interested to be on this committee, please volunteer.
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Susan Romano is
looking for training topics for this year’s Region 2 meetings. Please email her at romano@geneseo.edu
Region II Service Award:
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There were 2
winners this year because both of these nominees were distinguished contributors
in the region. Congratulations Scott
Atkinson (SUNY Brockport) and Valerie Nixon (SUNY Alfred)!
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Both Scott and
Val have been active in the region in addition to being the co-chairs of the
2004 NYSFAAA Conference in
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Scott was here
today to accept his award and Val was contacted after the Region II meeting
today.
NASFAA/EASFAA Training:
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On EASFAA’s
website, you can sign up for the fall training at MCC.
Presentation:
Presentation Skills (Marc Woolf)
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Thank you to Marc
for presenting today—very informative—good tips!
Next Meeting:
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11/21:
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We may change the
December holiday party meeting of 12/16 at SUNY Geneseo because it conflicts
with other regional holiday parties.
After the Region II meeting today, the meeting was changed to Thursday,
12/15, at SUNY Geneseo, although that still conflicts with Region I’s holiday
meeting/party. As of 10/25, the 12/15 is
still the new date of the Region II meeting.