NYSFAAA Region III

Regional Meeting Notes

LeMoyne College

February 10, 2006

 

Attending: Nancy Teodecki, SUNY Upstate Medical; Abbey Linsner, Nellie Mae; Sharon Karwowski, TC3; Nancy Connery, OCC; Kate Bellefeuille, OCC; Sean View, HWS; Eileen Muhlig, USA Funds Services; Katrina DelGrosso, Nellie Mae; Kathy Flaherty, SUNY Oswego; Kathleen Pagano, SUNY Oswego; Andrew Leardini, M& T Bank; Tim O’Donnell, SU Law; Xavier Miranda, ED Funds; Rachel Barker, AFC; Scott Lewis, College Board; Gerald Christie, NYHESC; Kristen Carey, AFC; Cindy Kohlman, St John Fisher; Jackie Darquea, Cayuga Community College; Anne Barton, NSLP; Tom David, Morrisville State; Steve Kakaty, TG; Michael Woody, Chase Bank; Stephanie Stock, Sallie Mae; Sharon Halpin, LeMoyne; Brian Levy, Student Loan Express; Marra Piazza Bress, LeMoyne; William Cheetham, LeMoyne; Cathy Patella, Wells

 

The meeting was opened by Nancy with a welcome, thanks to LeMoyne’s staff for hosting the meeting and introductions.

 

Executive Council Update

            Nancy represented Sharon who was ill and unable to attend Exec Council.

Intermediate training will be held at Brockport on March 17th. Sharon has a few spots in her car if anyone is in need of a ride. An agenda, including speakers will be sent shortly. Jim Briggs Tax Workshops will be held in several locations across the state. Information on these workshops has been sent.

            Credit card payment for NYSFAAA events is being implemented and should be available for Novice Training and later events.

            Judi Miladin has said that NYSFAAA will participate in College Goal Sunday. This is a push to get increased education about and participation in the on-line FAFSA in areas where participation is low. Wayne Harwood of CUNY has been asked to be the State-Wide Chair.

            A new statewide committee Conference Facilities Committee has been established. The purpose is to research the basic requirements needed for conference facilities. The committee consists of past facilities chairs. Their report should be available the end of February.        

            State Chairs Update: Cindy Kohlman has resigned as Awards Chair and Kathy Flaherty has accepted this position. Earl Trethaway has resigned as Informational Technology Chair and has yet to be replaced. Katrina DelGrosso is chair of the Development Committee. This is a new position to be vendor liaison to Executive Council. The assignment was previously handled by the Treasurer.

            Future Conferences will have a cap on attendance. This will require that participants pay before the start of the conference; late fees will be implemented. The use of credit card payment should facilitate this process. A Grad Concerns Symposium will likely take place on Day 1 of the annual conference. For the 2007 Conference there will be tri-chairs. This conference which will take place in New York City will run from Monday – Wednesday, with the banquet scheduled for Tuesday.

            Judi has asked Dave Canaski to look at the NYSFAAA policy on membership. They are looking at the definitions for membership and at screening applications for membership. It is important that members are willing to abide by the principles the group espouses. He is also looking into the ByLaw as related to elections. Dave is looking for a representative from each region for this group. Please let Sharon know if you are interested in this. Legislative Training was part of the last Executive Council meeting.

            Nancy reported on the Early Awareness Committee. They will be targeting middle school guidance counselors, possibly to piggyback on the high school guidance workshops.

            The next Executive Council Meeting will be April 20-21 at Lake Placid.

            Treasurer’s Report: Abbey reported the current balance is $3703.33

            NYHESC Update: Gerald highlighted his handout

                    -            HESC PIN can be used for the Stafford and PLUS e-mpns

                    -            Training grant deadline is February 17, 2006

                    -            College data surveys are due

            Nancy announced there would be a new Agenda item for Guarantors and Lenders.

-     Anne Barton announced that NSLP will be hosting a webcast on Feb22,23 on deficit reduction and its impact on financial aid; on March 8 on money management counseling; on March 15 on NY specific issues and loan consolidation

-     Eileen for USA Funds said that they would be hosting workshops on retention in several locations in NY in late April/early May. Details will follow.

-     Scott Lewis for College Board said they would be hosting a workshop on Needs Analysis at LeMoyne on Feb 28

 

Regional Business

    Eileen and Annette Broski oversaw the media coverage and forms workshops. Since attendance has been decreasing at the forms workshops, this medium may be reconsidered. Suggestions for improving this process were offered by the group to Eileen.

    June meeting will be held jointly with Region 2 with Steve Morgan, a motivational speaker, for training. The Ramada really has the only option for location. Sean View presented his research on menu and location. Nancy presented several topics that were available.  The group voted to hear about “MBGs” (Management of any group requires that we first know and understand the goals of our team members. Organizations have objectives – individuals have goals. It is through the balancing of these two perspectives that we will be better enabled to handle both). The discussion on pricing and the subsidy for members was tabled for a later meeting. Sean will be gathering more details on pricing from the Ramada.

    The business portion of the meeting concluded.

    Scott Lewis of the College Board presented information on financial literacy.

 

Submitted by Kathy Flaherty