REGION 2 MEETING

FEBRUARY 15, 2006

M&T BANK

 

 

Attendance:

 

Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES & MSLOSPN:  Toni Greenlee

Chase Education Finance:  Michael Woody

Citibank:  Debi Mansour, Laura Worley

Continental School of Beauty:  Charla Buckner

Fifth Third Bank:  Marc Woolf

Finger Lakes Community College:  Nancy VanZetta

Genesee Community College:  Joe Bailey

HSBC Bank:  Sherrie Sheppard

Key Bank:  Kathleen O’Connell

Monroe Community College:  Mark Schwartz, Jerome St. Croix

M&T Bank:  Tony Goodwin

Nellie Mae:  Katrina Delgrosso, Abbey Linsner

Nazareth College:  Janice M. Scheutzow

NSLP:  Anne Barton

NYSHESC:  Ed Gilbert

Rochester Business Institute:  Mark Stoll

St. John Fisher College:  Susan Wisniewski, Lisa Hurst

Student Loan Xpress:  Brian Levy

SUNY Brockport:  Nora Bell

University of Rochester Med School:  Margaret Christian

USAFunds:  Debra Eddy

Wachovia:  Karen Blankenburg

 

Treasurer’s Report (Nora Bell):

§          Current balance:  $1,491.93

§          This includes recent revenue sharing check of $815 for the region 2 membership in 0506.

 

Secretary’s Report (Katrina Delgrosso):

§          Minutes from last meeting are on www.nysfaaa.org under Regional News for Region 2.

 

Membership Report (Margaret Christian):

§          No update

§          Call Margaret if you have any membership questions (585-275-4523).  Margaret_christian@urmc.rochester.edu

 

Executive Council Update (Jerome St. Croix & Katrina Delgrosso on behalf of Steve Dodds):

See minutes below these Region 2 minutes.  Other highlights include…

§          In reference to the section regarding Dave Canaski’s President-Elect Report, should we pursue trade marking our logo?  It apparently only costs about $200, but the search is expensive (closer to $1,500?).  Maybe we could have law students in NY work on this as a project?

§          In reference to the 2006 NYSFAAA Conference, the maximum registration will be capped at 550 people.  Also, there will be a survey coming out to see if anyone is interested in riding a bus from Buffalo/Rochester/Syracuse. 

 

HESC Update (Ed Gilbert):

§          Overture product is still available to schools—HESC can provide this free of charge to schools in NY.

§          See HESC Update below these Region 2 meeting minutes.

 

Lender/Vendor Updates:

§          Anne Barton:  NSLP--Federal Deficit Reduction Act web casts will be offered on 2/22 from 11:30 – 1:00 EST and 2/23 from 2:30 – 4:00 EST.  Register at:  http://apps.nslp.org/news/deficitreduction0206.asp

§          In addition, NSLP is offering a “Money Management Counseling” web cast on 3/8 at 2:00 EST.  Register at http://apps.nslp.org/news/moneymanagement0306.asp

§          In addition, NSLP is offering a “Loan Consolidation and Money Management for Students” web cast on 3/15 from 10:00 – 11:00 EST and 2:00 – 3:00 EST.  Register at http://apps.nslp.org/news/nywebcast0306.asp

§          Michael Woody:  Chase purchased Collegiate Funding Services—CFS specializes in loan consolidation. 

§          Debra Eddy:  USAF offering 2 workshops in April.  On 4/4 in Rochester, there will be a retention workshop.  On 4/13 in Syracuse, there will be the spring financial aid workshop.  More information at www.usafunds.org.

 

Committee Updates:

§          Support Staff Workshop (Karen Blankenburg)—haven’t had their first meeting yet.  To be continued…

 

Next Region 2 Meeting and Training:

§          Training at the Region 2 meeting on 3/29 will be on “Neutralizing Your Emotions”—ways to work with stress.  There will be a brief regional meeting, followed by this speaker.  The Executive Council rep can request funds from NYSFAAA for this training program (Steve Dodds, our Exec Council rep, will need to propose this to Exec Council).  The speaker’s cost will be about $400.  The speaker is from the FLCC Institute—Joanne Alibrandi.

 

Updates/Discussions:

§          Region 3 has invited Region 2 to attend the June meeting, which will be the summer outing.  There will be a great motivational speaker, Steve Morgan, who will be doing a presentation from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm and then we will have lunch.  Region 3 is having a quick regional meeting prior to this at 10:00 am and Region 2 could do the same.  NYSFAAA already provided funds for Steve Morgan, so we would just need to determine whether the region can help subsidize some of the cost of the food (breakfast and lunch).  We may try to obtain additional funding from NYSFAAA because if we try to encourage new people to join NYSFAAA, it may be allowable support from NYSFAAA.  Once we know the final cost of the food per person, we can vote on this in Region 2.  No one at the meeting opposed to this idea today.  It seems like a great opportunity.

 

Officer Elections—We Need Your Help!

§          The officer positions of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are up for election for 0607 through 0708 (2 year commitments).  Executive Council is not up for reelection until next spring as that election is on the opposite year as these other 3 roles. 

§          Joan Shedd is not able to be the Elections Chairperson this spring.  Debi Mansour agreed to run the Election for nominations.  We should aim for nominations by 3/15/06.

§          We need to send notification to the region to nominate people.  You should talk with the person you are nominating to make sure they agree to run for the position.

§          There will be online voting after that.

 

Trainings/Workshops:

§          Tax training:  2/23 in Amherst; sign up by 2/17 on www.nysfaaa.org

§          Fiscal officer training:  register at www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/training/index.html

 

CAAN Update (Joe Bailey):

§          East High School FAFSA review took place on 2/7.  There were 20 people in attendance. 

 

Thank you to those who helped out presenting:

§          Nora Bell, SUNY Brockport

§          Nancy VanZetta, Finger Lakes Community College

§          Chris Alonzo, SUNY Brockport

§          Amanda Carter, University of Rochester

§          Andrea Mason, SUNY Geneseo

§          Toni Greenlee, BOCES

§          Andrea Mravlja, University of Rochester

§          Joe Bailey, Genesee Community College

 

Thank you to the vendors who supplied pens, pads, etc.:

§          Sallie Mae

§          Nellie Mae

§          Citibank

§          First Niagara Bank

 

Discussion:

§          Joe Bailey:  There was an article in the Democrat & Chronicle about a month ago regarding Paying for College.  They advertised a service that charges fees to complete the FAFSA—College Assistance Plus out of Honeoye Falls.  This is a continuous battle against these organizations who charge fees.  Verna Hazen, Director of Financial Aid at RIT, was quoted in the article at least, so that is good to have her perspective in the article. 

§          Joe went to their website and apparently, they franchise this business! 

§          Debi Mansour went to one of their presentations and they used scare tactics to get people to pay fees. 

§          Susan Wisniewski had issues at St. John Fisher last year because this group filled out FAFSAs and put student information in the parent section and vice versa.  Some of these families paid up to $1,400 for this service.

 

NYSFAAA Webletter (Laura Worley):

§          Posted today at http://www.nysfaaa.org/docs/toc_newadditions.html

 

Vacant Positions:

§          Finger Lakes Community College—will be posted late April—will be working with loans.

 

Today’s Training—Federal Update/Deficit Reduction Act Changes—moderated by Tony Goodwin, M&T Bank:

§          We had a good discussion regarding the Deficit Reduction Act and what this means to us in the financial aid, lending and guarantor arenas.  All of us will be affected by these changes.

§          There was a drafting error that needs to be corrected because the Direct PLUS loan interest rate (fixed rate) was listed as 7.9%, but it is actually 8.5%, the same as in FFELP PLUS as of 7/1/06.

§          The fixed Stafford rate will be 6.8% as of 7/1/06.

§          Special allowance still in effect for lenders to pay back to the government.

§          Loan origination fees will be phased out by 2010, beginning 7/1/06.

§          Guarantee fee of 1% has to be placed in the federal reserve fund for that guarantor.  That fee can’t be paid by federal funds.  So if the guarantor has other streams of income, they can afford to waive the 1% fee.  However, guarantors won’t necessarily be able to waive this fee long-term.  For a state like New York with so many schools/so much loan volume, this will be challenging to some guarantors—additional pressure to them.

§          Graduate PLUS loans—this will tremendously affect companies who only offer private loans and no other products, because their potential graduate private volume will be diminished as schools offer PLUS to their grad students as opposed to private loans.

§          Loan limit increase is not into affect until 7/1/07 – not 0607.  Freshman will be able to borrow $3,500 and sophomores will be able to borrower $4,500.  Juniors and seniors will remain at $5,500 per year. 

§          4/1/06:  School as lender program is going away.  If you haven’t originated and funded a loan by 4/1/06, then you will not be able to participate in the program.

§          In-school consolidation is no longer available.  You will see a rush on consolidation by 6/30/06. 

§          Spousal consolidation will no longer be available.

§          Single disbursements available to schools now.

§          Smart Grant program—Department working on more information for this.

§          Procedural issues—how will your financial aid management systems be handling the reduction in origination fees over time?  On 7/1/06, the origination fees for FFELP Stafford will be 2% and will go down from there over time.  For Direct Lending schools, the fees will be 3% in 0607 and will go down from there. 

§          Single holder rule will continue—if a lender of record offers consolidation, the student needs to consolidate with that lender.

§          Don’t forget to participate in the web casts that NSLP is offering to discuss the Deficit Reduction Act.  USAF is also offering this.  The more information you can hear, the better. 

 

 

 

 

NYSFAAA EXEC COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

JANUARY 29-30, 2006

ALBANY, NY

 

 

 

Present:  Sue Aldrich, Rachel Barker, Dave Canaski, Carolyn Corcoran, Steve Dodds, Clair Jacobi, Pat Johnson, Bill Mack, Heather McDonnell, Janet McGrath, Sheryl Mihopulos,  Judi Miladin, Lisa Simpson, Nancy Teodecki, Angela Van Dekker, Sam Veeder,  Joan Warren, Mike Williams, Brenda Wright (Beth Post and Jim Vallee joined us on Monday, January 30th)

 

Unable to Attend:  Maria Barlaam, Sharon Karwowski

 

SECRETARY’S REPORT – Carolyn Corcoran

  • December 2005 meeting minutes were distributed beforehand via email and reviewed for changes/corrections.  Corrections and clarifications were noted and minutes updated accordingly.
  • MOTION; To approve December 2005 meeting minutes as amended; Dodds/McDonnell.  MOTION APPROVED.

 

MOTION; To accept Janet McGrath as new Region 1 representative to Executive Council (Rachel Barker had to resign as accepted new job with lender); McDonnell/Van Dekker.  MOTION APPROVED.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT – Sam Veeder

  • Distributed written report
  • Conference 2005 hotel bill paid
  • Investments are up a little
  • Final summary of 0506 sponsorship distributed
  • Dues are way up
  • CAAN support was down
  • Statewide Training and School Counselor support was way up
  • Revenue sharing checks have been cut but only Regions 3, 6, and 8 checks are in mail as Sam needs quarterly reports from other regions before mailing checks
  • Ready to go with credit card payments on-line; could be used first time with Novice Registration;  here it was emphasized that anytime a region is planning an event involving a fee, Paula at ATAC needs to be informed beforehand and regions need to be using the Events Management function of website
  • Mileage rate changed; prior to 1/1/06 rate was .485 and now is .445

 

VP MEMBERSHIP REPORT – Joan Warren

  • Distributed written report
  • We’re at 1304 members
  • Reminder that every regional officer can go into website and get membership data for his/her respective region

 

VP TRAINING REPORT – Heather McDonnell for Maria Barlaam

  • Update on Jim Briggs Tax Workshops include the following dates/locations:
    • February 23rd in Buffalo at Classic Five  (Kevin Ryan, coordinator)
    • February 22nd in Albany at Charter One Bank (Lisa Simpson)
    • February 21st in NYC at Lincoln Center (Sheryl Mihopulos/A.VanDekker)
    • Jim Briggs has 2/24 open and suggested a Syracuse area site; he also has the week of March 20th open

 

  • Intermediate Training set for Region 5 on March 31st at Italian American Club in Albany
    • Sheryl expressed concern about the 2/21/06 training event as they’re having problems getting event on website.  Suggestion made to coordinate so that regions’ tax workshop registration forms can be put on one form; for now everything should be channeled through Joan and Joan will contact Paula at ATAC; Judi will have Maria do an email to members about tax training information being on website
    • Sam suggested that vendor invoices for these workshops go through Sam and NOT through regional treasuries.  If a deposit or pre-payment is needed, contact Sam and keep Sam and Maria in the loop

 

  • Region 2 (SUNY Brockport) will host Region 1,2,3 Intermediate Training on a date to be announced

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Judi Miladin

  • Signed Novice contract with Cobleskill; attorneys liked the contract as it’s loosely written
  • College Goal Sunday; we’ve been approved for exploratory grant; there will be training in Indianapolis; Judi solicited for state coordinator and has gotten responses.  Judi has asked Wayne Harewood (of CUNY/Kingsborough Community College) to be state coordinator and he’ll be meeting with Ken Storms, HESC’s representative for CG Sunday. 
  • Judi has appointed a committee to establish minimum qualifications for annual conference hotel site.  The committee includes Bruce Wooley, Chair, Lisa Simpson and Janet Grey.  The committee has been asked to report back to Judi by end of February so that she can share their information at April 2006 meeting
  • Kathy Flaherty will assume Chairmanship of Award Committee
  • Katrina Delgrosso will be new Development Chair
  • Earl Tretheway ahs resigned as Communications Chair; Judi has yet to appoint new one and Judi would like suggestions
  • Judi has written several articles for various publications
  • Wrote position paper on budget
  • Made contact with intern at Pierce Law School on trademark registration
  • Working on response to Senate Bill 1832 which is up for re-vote in House next week
  • Met with Cathy Patella on new Gear Up contracts; we are getting last year’s money without having to match it
  • Had a conference call with Nancy Teodecki and Sharon Karwowski on NASFAA award nomination; project pulled together

 

EARLY AWARENESS UPDATE – Nancy Teodecki

  • Has finalized committee; not all regions are represented
  • Had two conference calls meetings in January 2006
  • First project is to send information to middle-school counselors with the theme “Did You Know?” which includes posters and brochures; made contact with NY State Middle School Association
  • Second project is to plan for workshops for middle-school counselors; committee wants to focus first on getting information to middle-school counselors
  • 3000 more wristbands were ordered; holding for State Fair or if regions want some for regional events, they can contact Nancy
  • Nancy submitted information on costs for posters, brochures and was again advised not to let money stand in her committee’s way
  • They will meet the February 28th deadline for NASFAA award submission

 

NOVICE TRAINING UPDATE – Lisa Simpson, Bill Mack, Heather McDonnell

  • Committee met prior to Council meeting on January 29th
  • Details for 2006:  site is SUNY Cobleskill from June 3rd through June 9th
  • Participation will be capped at 120
  • They’re going with 12 small group leaders vs. 11 used last year
  • Received 8 applications for small group leader position
  • Joan clarified for Novice Committee that the earliest someone can register for membership for 0607 is April 1st

 

STATE FAIR UPDATE – No update

 

SCHOOL COUNSELOR WORKSHOP UPDATE – Pat Johnson

  • December 8th and 9th workshops had to be postponed due to weather; Region 6 had to reschedule for a February date and Region 4 has a workshop rescheduled in January
  • Pat is waiting for final reports from Regions 5 and 7
  • Idea was raised of  having a breakout session/workshop at statewide school counselor conference
  • Short discussion on giveaways at school counselor workshops; Pat will clarify with committee that regions need to keep monetary amount at a reasonable level and that regions need to exercise good judgment

 

PRESIDENT- ELECT REPORT – Dave Canaski

o        Dave pointed out that currently there’s no policy on membership management; discussion began.  Joan described what she currently does when receives new membership registration; she notifies applicants via email if they appear to be eligible for membership or not.  Joan has ability to cancel the membership application and suggested leaving the “unaffiliated” option on application

o        Dave presented a new proposed new policy with the purpose of managing the membership of the organization.  The proposed policy would mandate that “NYSFAAA will ensure that the membership is limited to those individuals who are actively engaged in (or retired from) student financial aid administration, and those others whose career interests are consistent with the organization’s principles, values and goals.” Extensive discussion followed and amendments were made to the proposed procedures to be used for enforcing this policy. The following procedures were agreed upon:

o        The Vice President for Membership is responsible for creating and maintaining a membership application process/system that operates in a manner consistent with the NYSFAAA constitution, by-laws, and this policy