Region II Meeting Minutes

Monday, November 21, 2005

Roberts Wesleyan College

 

 

Attendance

 

Bank of America:  Darcie Stephens

Citibank:  Debi Mansour

Citizens Bank:  Ambrose Price II

Edamerica:  Holly Zaglaniczny

Fifth Third Bank:  Marc Woolf

Finger Lakes Community College:  Nancy VanZetta

Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation:  Patrick Ziegler, Bob Rodriguez

HSBC Bank:  Sherrie Sheppard

Key Bank:  Kathleen O’Connell

Monroe Community College:  Mark Schwartz, Jerome St. Croix

M&T Bank:  Andy Leardini

Nellie Mae:  Katrina Delgrosso, Abbey Linsner

NSLP:  Anne Barton

NYSHESC:  Ed Gilbert, Joe Gorman

Roberts Wesleyan College:  Jeff Wright, Steve Field

Rochester Business Institute:  Stephen Dodds

Rochester Institute of Technology:  Toby Dye

Sallie Mae:  Ithrene Cameron

Sallie Mae Ed Trust:  Vince Davis

Student Loan Xpress:  Brian Levy

SUNY Brockport:  Nora Bell

SUNY Geneseo:  Susan Romano

TERI:  Amanda Baright

University of Rochester:  Gregory A. Sperr, Dawn Langdon, Pat Toporzycki

University of Rochester Med School:  Margaret Christian

Wachovia:  Karen Blankenburg

 

 

Treasurer’s Report (Nora Bell):

§          Current Balance = $912.18

§          No outstanding bills to be paid.

 

Secretary’s Report (Katrina Delgrosso):

§          Minutes will be posted to the NYSFAAA listserv after the meeting

§          Any changes, please email Katrina at Katrina_delgrosso@nelliemae.com

 

Membership Report (Margaret Christian):

§          New membership as of 11/16/05—148 members

§          Last year (0405)—167 members total for Region II (the NYSFAAA conference was held in Rochester last year, so that always inflates the membership figures)

§          Please go online at www.nysfaaa.org to update your profile and make any necessary changes to your information.  If you have questions about how to do this, please call Margaret Christian at 585-275-4523.

§          We will be able to get reports and statistical data in the future—this is something new that Membership Chairs will have access to very soon.

 

Executive Council Update (Steve Dodds):

§          Last meeting held at the NYSFAAA Conference.

§          Minutes from this meeting are listed below at the end of the regional meeting minutes.  Highlights include:

o        Will start taking credit card payments for the conference.

o        Dave Canaski (President-Elect) will assist with statewide training opportunities.

o        Next meeting in Binghamton in December.

o        Please let Steve Dodds know if you have any

 

 

HESC Update (Ed Gilbert):

 

HESC Training Grant Initiative Renewed for 2006

§          HESC will again offer grants in 2006 to help financial aid and bursar office staff attend important industry training seminars.

§          HESC is offering grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to eligible independent, public and business schools in New York so they can send financial aid and bursar office staff to workshops to keep abreast of changes in rules, regulations and trends.

§          Schools that used HESC’s guaranteed student loan program as of July 31, 2005 are eligible for the grants. Grants of $1,000, $5,000, $7,500 or $10,000, depending on institutional size, will be awarded in January. Schools have until Dec. 31, 2006 to use the money.

§          Applications can be submitted to HESC from Dec. 1, 2005 to Jan. 28, 2006. More details on the grant application process will be available soon, and will be discussed during the upcoming HESC Administrative Workshops.

 

Community College Roundtable

 

§          On November 10th, HESC is hosting a Community College Roundtable to explore administrative topics and products for NYS community colleges. More information is available under the “What’s New” link on www.hesc.org.

 

HESC Administrative Workshops

§          Visit hesc.org to register and review the complete agenda for HESC’s upcoming Administrative Workshop series. The agenda will include information on TAP Electronic Processing, Tap on the Web/HESC Pin, Customized Reports, PLUS Credit Check, EFT Express, and Loan Processing Flows.

§          Lunch will be provided.

§          After lunch, HESC will offer 2 concurrent sessions on Loans and Grants and Scholarships/TAP.

 

§          Dates and Locations:

 

            Nov 21 – Long Island                                        Nov 22 – White Plains

            Hilton Huntington                                            Renaissance Westchester Hotel

            598 Broadhollow Road                                       80 West Red Oak Lane

            Free Parking                                                     Free Parking

 

            Nov 29 and Nov 30 – New York City                 Dec 7 – Buffalo

            CUNY Graduate Center                                                Buffalo/Niagara Marriott

            365 5th Avenue                                                 1340 Millersport Highway

            Pay Parking in  Vicinity                                   Free Parking

 

            Dec 8 – Rochester                                           Dec 9 – Syracuse

            Marriott Rochester Airport                                 Wyndham Syracuse

            1890 West Ridge Road                                      6301 Route 298

            Free Parking                                                     Free Parking

 

Dec 12 – Albany

                      Holiday Inn – Turf

205 Wolf Road

  Free Parking

 

 

HESC PLUS Credit Check Process

 

§          HESC’s automated, pre-approval process will be available next Spring. More information will be discussed during the HESC Administrative Workshop series.

 

 

HESC Loan Symposium 

 

§          As a reminder, all sessions from HESC’s 2005 Loan Symposium have been posted on www.hesc.org.  Please mark your calendar for next year’s Loan Symposium, which will take place on September 21-22 at the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs.

 

 

Lender Updates:

§          Sean Rafferty will be covering Regions 1, 2, 3 and part of 8 for College Loan Corporation.

§          Patrick Ziegler was promoted to Sean’s previous position at Great Lakes. 

§          Ambrose Price will be covering Regions 1, 2, 3 and part of 5 for Citizens Bank.

 

High School Counselor Workshops (Nancy VanZetta):

§          44 people at SUNY Alfred workshop.

§          Almost 80 at SUNY Brockport (less than previous year—usually around 100).

§          Evaluations were all positive.

 

Awards (Jerome St. Croix):

§          Val Nixon sent a thank you note to the region for her Region II Service Award.

 

Old Business:

§          None

 

New Business:

§          December 14th is our holiday Region II meeting at SUNY Geneseo.

§          In the past, each participant paid $10 and the region paid the difference.

§          The cost per person for breakfast and lunch is just over $17 and if each participant pays $10, then the region would need to pay $7 per person.  The event can hold 60 people, so the region would have the funding in the treasury to cover this.  Everyone at the meeting today was in favor of this plan.

§          Susan Romano will be sending out paper invitations.  Jerome St. Croix will send an email to the Region 2 listserv.

 

Updates/Discussion:

§          Sherry Buck is retiring from Nazareth College in December.

 

Upcoming Region II Meetings:

§          Spring meeting dates will be decided once Jerome St. Croix can check on other regional meeting dates.

 

Reauthorization Update (Holly Z):

§          Reauthorization could possibly be put off for another year with a continuing resolution.

 

Training Update (Mark Schwartz):

§          Maria Barlaam is the VP of Training in NYSFAAA. 

§          Mark Schwartz is representing Region II for this committee.  If you have ideas for NYSFAAA training, please let Mark know (mschwartz@monroecc.edu).

 

Training/Presentation:  “Customer Service Success:  It Starts and Ends with You”

Robert Rodriguez, Director of Corporate Training

Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates

§          This was great training—if you would like a copy of the handouts, please let Patrick Ziegler know at pziegler@glhec.org

 

Executive Council Meeting Minutes (Unofficial)

October 19, 2005

Location:  Annual NYSFAAA Conference, Long Island

 

Present:  Sue Aldrich, Maria Barlaam, Anne Barton, Carolyn Corcoran, Gail Drapala, Sharon Karwowski, Judi Miladin, Kevin Ryan, Earl Tretheway, Samantha
Veeder, Joan Warren, Mike Williams

 

Guests:  Rachel Barker, Dave Canaski, Angela Van Dekker, Brenda Wright

 

Not Present:  Clair Jacobi, John Smith

 

 

I.  Judi Miladin announced that Karen Price-Scott had tendered her resignation.  Judi asked Maria Barlaam to consider taking VP position and Maria agreed, pending Council approval.

 

MOTION:  To appoint Maria Barlaam as V.P. for Professional Development;  Karwowski/Tretheway.  MOTION APPROVED.

 

 

II.  Discussion on the Direction of Statewide Training.

  • Region 5 felt that the two hot topics are COD and Tax Return Analysis/Comprehension
  • Region 3 asked if there was a way to have a clearinghouse on the website that would list ALL training ALL over the State
  • Dave Canaski asked if philosophically we want more statewide OR regional training and consensus from group was “we want more of both!”
  • Earl Tretheway suggested that we have anyone offering training funnel the event information to him as Communications Chair; consensus was to only post events that have “open” access
  • Anne Barton mentioned biggest complaint has been we haven’t done two annual events; this where/why we may want to consider using different formats (video/tele-distance).  Anne also mentioned that members acquaint training with what we get for our dues
  • Sam Veeder commented that more intermediate training is needed and it the group agreed with this
  • Kevin Ryan commented that annual conference sessions need to be put on the website as NASFAA sessions are
  • Angela VanDekker offered that web training needs to be explored
  • Extensive Discussion followed
  • Judi stressed that large part of VP Professional Development job is communicating with regions and using the website for communication
  • Maria Barlaam encouraged regions to let her know of any dynamic/effective training that they have in their region (so Maria could see if other regions want access to it)
  • Joan suggested each region should designate a training coordinator and then Maria could set them up as a Training Committee (these persons should be paid members!).  Discussion ended here.

 

 

MOTION:  To approve minutes of September 2005 Council meeting;  Barlaam/Barton.  MOTION APPROVED.

 

Final Reminders:  December 2005 Council Meeting will be December 8th and 9th at the Holiday Inn Arena in Binghamton  and the January Council Meeting will be January 29, 30, 31st at Holiday Inn Express on Wolfe Road in Albany.

 

If anyone has any topics, questions, or comments, please feel free to email me at sdodds@cci.edu. It was nice to see everyone!!