Notes from September 30, 2005 Regional Meeting

 

Nancy thanked Bill Cheetham for making the arrangements to tour the Turning Stone, which will be the site for the 2008 NYSFAAA Conference.

 

Executive Council report by Sharon Karwowski

 

There is a link available for audio conferencing. Those wishing to use this may contact Sharon for password and information. Sharon will post her notes on the Region 3 website

 

Beginning 2006-2007 CUNY will not be processing TAP awards

 

CAAN – the wrapper was available prior to the State Fair. It contains generic information. The primary change is the color.

 

Regional Membership – Region 3 currently has 174 members, up from last year. Sharon passed out the current membership brochure. Sharon has a list from ATEC (sp?), the webhost for all on the listserv. Members can confirm their status with Sharon.

 

Conference in New York City in 2007 will have 2 nights out since there is so much to do in New York. There is a regional interest in hiring a bus to Lake Placid for the 2006 Conference.

 

Exec Council will be meeting at the conference and then in Binghamton, December 8-9. Members are encouraged to attend these meetings when they are in your region.

 

A Higher Education Fact Sheet that was used at the State Fair was passed around along with a list of those who participated. The Early Awareness bracelets were a very popular hand out at the State Fair. Other regions are now interested in participating in the State Fair project so the committee will have to “re-look” at how this event is run.

 

Novice Training – this year’s group was the largest to date. This may in part be due to the HESC training grants. Next year’s training will move to Cobleskill for 2 years. NYSFAAA will be renting a self-storage unit to hold all of the materials related to training. After training is complete at Cobleskill bids will be available for the next sites.

 

Lifetime membership questions may be voted on at the Conference.

 

Early Awareness Campaign – Nancy reported that 48,000 bookmarks were distributed at libraries. These are targeted to young children and the project did win an award at NASFAAA this year.

 

Larry Chambers is recovering at home, and working!

 

Treasurer’s Report - $1629.29 is the current balance. Expenses included the June meeting and luncheon. Revenue sharing of $870 has been received.

 

Sharon reported that regional treasuries would be audited to be sure they are behaving as not-for-profits. Region 1& 2 will be audited this year.

 

No State Update as Jerry was absent.

 

Regional Business:

 

Support Office Workshop – Gina Soliz

            The event will be held October 26th at the Craftsman’s Inn in Fayetteville. About 12 registrations have been received to date. By the response date of October 10th, they are hoping to have @ 50 registrations. They have recruited 2 speakers and have door prizes to encourage attendance.

 

Guidance Counselor – Pat Johnson

 

Pat is both the regional and state chair of this activity.

This event is scheduled for November 18 in the Empire Room of the State Fair. Presenters are set and topics to be included are: federal update, financial aid pitfalls (fafsa.com, planners, scholarship scams), filling need gap with other loans, 529 plans as used and viewed by financial aid, TAP update. There will be both novice and advanced sessions.

 

Initially it was reported that the Binghamton program would not be held since there was a lack of volunteers to work on the program. After a discussion including the number of counselors who had attended and would be left out of a program, it was decided to open up this program again. Some presenters volunteered from the group. The date originally scheduled was November 3rd. Pat will recanvas for help with this program.

 

Conference 2008 – Bill Cheetham

 

A conference co-chair has been named: John View

Their goal is to get committee chairs in place in the next year.

 

CAAN – Eileen Muhlig will continue as media rep and Annette Broski has accepted the position of co-chair for this committee.

 

Program Committee (formerly Training Committee) – Kathy Flaherty

Thanked her committee of Sean View, Scott Lewis and Vince Scalise for their help. A survey had been sent to the regional membership. About 40  people responded to the survey. So recommendations were submitted to the group from this list based on the time of year and possible location of the meetings. The committee will now meet to arrange for speakers, etc.

 

            The recommended topics are:

November – either FERPA or Choosing a Preferred Lender

December – ID Theft

January – FERPA or Choosing a Preferred Lender

February  - Generation X/Y

March – Financial Literacy/Debt Management

May – Personal/Professional Development

June – Joint meeting with Region 2?

 

The following meeting dates and locations were set:

 

Wed. Nov 16 – MVCC

Wed. Dec 14 – Sherwood Inn (Sean will make arrangements)

Fri. Jan 13 – Bryant & Stratton (Great Northern location)

Fri. Feb 10 – LeMoyne

Fri. Mar 17 – TC3

Fri. May 5 – Auburn Country Club

Fri June 23 – Hobart and William Smith

 

Sharon brought a request from the State training chair about what types of training the regions would like to see. This was followed by a discussion that there is so much training going on that there seems to be overlap. A better thought might be for the State chair to collect the information from all the regions and others offering training and act as an umbrella resource for what is available.

 

New Business:

            Darci Stephens has accepted the position as web liaison for the region. Nancy will share the HESC sponsored hotline for last minute meetings changes.

 

            John View said that he is doing a series of financial literacy presentations at his school, and is available as a resource for others needing this information.

 

            Nancy will get the Policies and Procedures Manual project moving again.

 

            The Robin Jaycox Service Award was presented to Kathy Flaherty.