Meeting Minutes:
9/18/06
Exec. Council Update: Steve Dodd’s was absent. Dave Canaski will be inducted at President this fall.
Treasury Report: Currently there is $2,043.41 in account. Rick Ross’s father passed away rather suddenly. Flowers on Region 2 behalf were sent on the 9/13/06.
Membership update: Margaret Christianson reminded everyone to renew his or her memberships. If anyone needs labels to please contact her and let her know if there are any questions or concerns.
HESC Update:
HESC Update-September 2006
HESC Web Site
HESC will soon announce
improvements to the HESC Web site, which will include three links on our
homepage for Students/Families, College Administrators, and Lenders. These portals will lead to areas of interest
depending on the link chosen. Students
and Families will be able to click on a link, which will bring them directly to
the page that will allow them to easily choose the required task, such as the
e-MPN process, completing TAP on the Web, or login to HESC to check the status
of their TAP or loans, etc.
To avoid any confusion for the
schools and students, HESC will insert a new flyer with the school or HESC loan
wrap indicating the HESC Web screens have changed and may be different from the
instructions printed on the enclosed wrap.
The bookmarks used by schools and
lenders to send borrowers to the HESC e-MPN process will also change. These
bookmarks will be available with the formal announcement of the new Web site.
Financial Literacy Tools for Students
HESC recently unveiled new
financial literacy tools, which focus on our Financial Awareness and Consumer
Training for Students (FACTS) program. FACTS
is a financial literacy curriculum for students which are presented as modules,
each targeted toward a different age level or concentration. The presentations
are rich in content, yet easy to understand, and the respective literacy
modules can be downloaded at any time. For more information, visit the “What’s
New” link at www.hesc.org.
Grants and Scholarship/TAP Update
Consolidated Scholarship Roster and
Scholarship Remittance Advice
The following is summarized in HESC Financial Aid
Services Bulletin 2006-010:
Beginning with the 2006-07
academic year, the Consolidated Scholarship Roster/CSR (SU8069) used to certify
eligibility and process payments, and the Consolidated Scholarship Remittance
Advice/CSRA (SU8071) can be viewed and printed via the HESC Web site. Therefore CSR’s will
no longer be mailed to schools.
CSR’s are completed and
submitted to HESC by the TAP certifying officer. The CSR is similar to the
traditional TAP Certification Roster and is the new certification document for
scholarships paid outside the TAP process. The CSR displays the scholarship
identification number, name, award amounts and eligibility points for each
student. Students holding more than one scholarship/grant will have a separate
line entry for each program and each one must be certified. The CSR report is
not available as an electronic file.
The CSRA displays all
certification activity for a particular Consolidated Scholarship Roster and an
itemized list of total dollars paid for each scholarship, supplemental payments
to schools as well as refund amounts which must be returned to HESC. The CSRA
report is not available as an electronic file.
For more information regarding the
Consolidated Scholarship Roster Process, contact
John DeFazio at jdefazio@hesc.comjdefazio@hesc.com.
September Grants and Scholarships/TAP
Schedule
HESC recently posted the
September Grants and Scholarships/TAP Schedule for Rosters, Remittance Advices,
Accounting Documents and Student Status Listings. Also, as a reminder, the
2005-06 State Budget requires that payments for accelerated study be deferred
until October 1, 2006.
The September 2006 schedule is
as follows:
September 1st
2006-07 Remittance
Advice/Accounting Documents
2006-07 Student Status Listing
September 2nd
2005-06 Remittance
Advice/Accounting Documents
September 6th 2005-06 Remittance
Advice/Accounting Documents
(Deferred Payment of Accelerated
Study*)
September 8th
2006-07 Remittance
Advice/Accounting Documents
2006-07 Student Status Listing
September 12th
2005-06 Student Status Listing
September 13th
2006-07 Roster
September 15th
2005-06 Remittance Advice/Accounting
Documents
2006-07 Student Status Listing
September 22nd
2006-07 Remittance
Advice/Accounting Documents
2006-07 Student Status Listing
September 27th
2005-06 Roster
September 29th
2005-06 Remittance
Advice/Accounting Documents
2006-07 Student Status Listing
Files will be available for
retrieval the following morning. Payments will be mailed or electronically
transferred within three to five weeks of the date of the associated Roster or
Accounting Documents.
Reports will be available for
printing and viewing on the HESC website.
Loan Processing Changes
HESC
recently moved the following changes to production:
Stafford and PLUS loans, Guarantee and
Print (GP) Serial Loan Code
Some schools require their borrowers complete a new MPN for each loan. Schools
indicate this by sending a “N” (New) in the Serial Loan field in the CommonLine
(CL) Application Send file. Schools are finding borrowers are completing a new
MPN before the schools sends their certifications in the Application Send file.
Since the school has indicated these records required a new MPN, the borrower
is contacted to complete a new MPN.
To assist schools and borrowers, HESC changed the loan processing program to
find the new MPN the borrower has already completed. The system can be set up
to look back a specific number of days to find an MPN completed by the
borrower.
Changes
effective August 2006:
PLUS Loan Credit Denials
When HESC has determined the borrower should be denied for Adverse Credit, we
can now have the lender review the credit before notifying the school or
borrower of the credit determination. The school and borrower will be told
credit results are pending.
The lender will review credit and may work with the borrower on credit
resolution. Once the lender has made a determination, HESC is notified and the
loan is processed. Both school and borrower are notified of the outcome.
Lenders must contact the Solutions Team at solutions@hesc.org, or 518 473-0480 to have this process set up.
For more information on Loan
Processing Updates for the 2006/07 Academic Year, please refer to Financial Aid
Services Bulletin 2006 – 007.
PLUS Credit Check and eMPN
HESC changed the PLUS Credit Check and e-MPN process to allow borrowers to
complete an e-MPN when their credit check is denied. If the borrower requests a
“second look” and credit is subsequently approved, the loan may be processed
since an e-MPN is on file.
Lender/Vender Update: Wachovia was pleased to announce that processing is going well so far this year.
NSLP- Anne Barton reminded everyone that the Default Preventative workshop was taking place on 9/26/06. Registration is still open to attend.
Mark Schwartz announced that Nora Bell of SUNY Brockport has been awarded the Region 2 Service award. Unfortunately the plaque is not ready but will be sent to her shortly. Congratulations to Nora!!
General Discussion:
John Smith facilitated the following discussions.
Falling attendance:
Region 2 has experienced falling attendance for meeting and trainings. It is difficult to plan a meeting that meets everyone’s needs (lenders and school alike). This is a problem in many regions. Discussion ensued as to why the meetings are valuable. Dan Abbot stated that he missed attending and felt rejuvenated at the meeting and seeing everyone again. Suggestions were presented that offered meetings of only four times a year (fall, holiday, spring and summer) but consensus felt that the meetings should be a full day with a meeting and training or professional development component. John Smith as President will be contacting the Financial Aid Offices in Region 2, to encourage attendance and find what needs the region had. A motion was unanimously supported to create both Mentoring and Training Committees, which will ensure more attendance and activity within the region.
Co Chairs for Training are: Marc Wolf and Andrea Mason
Co Chairs for Mentoring are: Abby Linsner and Margaret Loops.
Mentoring committee includes: Dan Abbott of U of Rochester and Laura Giglio of SUNY Alfred.
Training committee includes: Wendy Flemming of SUNY Alfred and Robin Harrington of SUNY Alfred.
Please contact any of the above if interested in joining the committee.
Development Committee: Katrina Delgrosso spoke about the new rule that each region will spend down their treasury. This is a transitional year with the new rule. $500 is a more preferable amount to keep in regional treasuries. After spending down the funds, the region then can request additional funding from the Exec. Council for other events (holiday parties, meetings, trainings etc). The committee would like to make it easy to request the money. There is over $30,000 to be divided between the eight regions.
The PDF guide for the annual sponsorship (06-07) is on the NYSFAAA website. This serves as a guide for sponsorship for those venders to have paid $ can be sponsored with pads, pens and can attend the events as a lender. (Same guidelines for regional training and events).
Steve Field asked if the region could recognize the people who volunteer at HS nights and other events with such things as gift card or small token of appreciation. This cannot be done as it violates NYSFAAA guidelines, but the volunteers can receive compensation for mileage.
ACG/Smart Grant: Discussion ensued between different schools as to how each Financial Aid office handled the Smart grant and the ACG Grant. Many schools utilized the Admissions Offices and Registrars to assist in coding the students that were eligible and found a great partnership in working with other offices. This will assist in the future for incoming freshman.
College Goal Sunday: Volunteers are needed for College Goal Sunday, February 11, 2007. This is a program that targets low income and first generation college studies. East HS in Rochester is hosting this event, which should see 100 students attend. The College Goal Sunday Committee is also looking for people to serve on its planning Committee. The Region 2 Counselor workshops in November and December are great avenues to advertise and promote this event. Many SUNY Schools are hosting similar events in January and February.
NYSFAAA Conference- 06: Reminder that the conference registration is 80% full and to register now if you have not done so already.
Webletter: Reminder that articles need to be submitted by September 25th.
Meeting was adjourned at 12: 06pm
Roberts Wesleyan College
Attendees:
Region 2 Meeting- September 18, 2006
Kathleen O’Connell- M & T Bank
Jack Rafferty- NYSHEC
Marc Wolf- NYSHEC
Nora Bell- SUNY Brockport
Darcie Stephens- Bank of America
Margaret Christianson- U of R Med School
Karen Blankenburg- Wachovia
Laura Worley- Citibank
Toby Dye- RIT
Melissa Everetts- RIT
Corinne Franklin- RIT
Troy Robinson- RIT
Dan Abbott- U of R
Anne Barton- NSLP
Steve Field- RWC
Mark Schwartz- MCC
Katrina Delgrosso- Nellie Mae
Sandy Stevenson- First Niagara
Abbey Linsner- Nellie Mae
Wendy Flemming- Alfred State
Robin Harrington- Alfred State
Laura Giglio- Alfred State
John Smith- RWC
Shane Rauh- AMS
Holly Zaglanicsny- EdAmerica
Angela Monnat- St. John Fisher College
Andrea Mason- SUNY Geneseo
Gladys Torres- Eastman School of Music