Regional Minutes

Tompkins Cortland Community College

March 18, 2005

 

Attendance: Cathy Bellomo (Patella), Karen Blankenburg, Annette Broski, Laura Burns, Kristen Carey, William Cheetham, Gerald Christie, Kathy Flaherty,  Sharon Karwowski, Jan Klotz,  Conor Linehan, Abbey Linsner, Debi Mansour,  Mike McGraw, Eileen Muhlig, Kathleen O’Connell, Tammy Oliver, Nancy Pawlak,  Michael Rivera, Darcie Stephens, Keith Stevenson, Michael Woody, Laura Worley, Holly Zaglaniczny

 

Welcome:  Nancy Pawlak

 

Nancy welcomed all to the meeting and thanked Mike McGraw, Sharon Karwowski and their staff for hosting this meeting. The region had sent a note to Jennifer Best on the birth of her son, and had received a note of thanks from her. Eileen Muhlig also shared that as of March 28th she would be the Debt Management Consultant for USA Funds.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Abbey Linsner

 

The current balance is $2,247.34 There has been no recent activity and some bills are still outstanding.

 

Executive Council Report: Sharon Karwowski

 

Since there has been no meeting recently, Sharon shared some announcements. The NYSFAAA website will now include a list of potential presenters for various activities. Contact Earl Trethaway or Sharon if you have someone to recommend for this list. Sharon attended the leadership conference held in Washington recently. They were given the talking points on Reauthorization that NASFAAA is considering. The next Executive Council Meeting will be April 6-7.

 

Cathy Bellomo asked if anyone had access to the EASFAA web presentation on Reauthorization to be held in April. Tompkins Cortland Community College will try to tape the presentation and make copies available to members. Nancy will also follow up with John View and Irv Bodofsky on this.

 

State Update:  Gerald Christie

 

Gerry reminded members about the telephone line hosted by HESC  that provides current status of scheduled events. This might be used by the organization in the case of inclement weather resulting in the cancellation of a meeting. HESC has issued a bulletin on the improvements they have made in Grants and Scholarships Processing for 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. The March Processing Schedule is now available. Schools may now have separate Preferred Lender Lists for Undergraduates and Graduates. The 2005-2006 College Data Survey can be completed on the Web and is due March 31, 2005. HESC is hoping to have a link from their website to the web TAP application. In the meantime the site can be accessed at www.TAPWeb.org.

 

Gerry was asked to find out whether TAP awards could be recalculated if tuition rates are set after initial awards have been issued by HESC.

 

Regional Business:

 

June Meeting: Nancy

 

Nancy led a discussion about the June meeting. Last year’s June meeting was very well attended. Abbey offered to look into a possible location and motivational speaker for this year’s meeting. Several suggested speakers were mentioned by members.

 

Regional Elections: Annette Broski

 

Offices up for election this year are: Regional Chair, Regional Secretary, Regional Treasurer and Executive Council Representative. Nominations will be open until April 8th. Contact Annette if you are interested in running, or if you would like to nominate someone for one of these offices.

 

On a Personal Note:

 

Kathy Flaherty and Mike McGraw thanked the members for the many cards, notes, and condolences they had received on the recent losses of their family members.

 

Conference Transportation:

 

A suggestion was made to gather information on the region traveling together to the fall conference. Possibilities include reduced air fare and then pooling a bus ride with another region from the airport to the conference site.  Nancy will follow up on the suggestion and report back.

 

The business portion of the meeting was adjourned.

 

Training:

 

Federal Stafford Loans presented by Bill Cheetham (Part 2)

 

The following information was offered during this discussion:

 

-          When awarding Perkins a hierarchy can be set to address awards to full-time and part-time students

-          A student pursuing a teacher certification after completing a bachelor’s degree will borrow at the 5th year rate. If taking prep courses for a grad program, the student will borrow at the first year level.

-          A new PLUS loan denial must be obtained annually before certifying additional eligibility for the unsubsidized loan.

-          Loan proration is dependent on the portion of a student’s program measured against the full year. This only applies in the student’s final year of program study.

-          When a student returns for a second undergraduate degree determine their aggregate balance only on their undergrad loans. Loans borrowed as a grad are not included in this total.

-          Use of the borrower based year allows use of the summer term as a header or trailer.

-          Unequal disbursements may be made to cover a study abroad program or if more than half of the loan period has expired.

-          Summer session can be treated as a single enrollment period. If the student is enrolled in modules 1& 4 of a four module summer program, disbursements can only occur in modules 1 & 4.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kathy Flaherty

Secretary

Region 3