Region 3 Regional Notes/Report

Notes/Report: DATE: September 14, 2006 - Exec Council Report to Region 3 Executive Council September 14 &15 Adams Mark Hotel Buffalo Report to Region 3 Note new format: Since my reports seem to be lengthy I have decided to make them more reader friendly. First you will see the topics covered in the report numbered. Then you will be able to scroll down to the number you would like to read or refer to. I hope this format makes it easier for you to read. In this report you will find: 1) V.P. for Membership Report-short and sweet 2) V.P. for Professional Development Report-upcoming training 3) President Elect-revisions and discussion concerning new organizational chart 4) Development Committee-Who are our sponsors this year and what are the sponsoring 5) Conference Committee 2007-NYC update 6) Early Awareness-what is new 7) State Fair- Great event this year 8) Novice- Things to think about as we grow 9) HESC-October 1st things are changing 10) Conference Committee 2006 you won’t want to miss the opening ceremony 11) President’s Report-why are conferences scheduled the way they are and more 12) Communications-a face to a name 13) Regional reports-Wonderful new workshop from Region 1 14) New Business-Financial Aid Consultant brochure. Request for a letter from NYSFAAA leadership to School Counselor Association. 1) REMINDER..Members must renew or their access will end on 11/15/06. Joan Warren will not be able to get a good handle on this year’s membership until after overlap period ends 11/15/06. As of June 30, 2006 total membership was 1417. That is up 17% over last year. She has been working on outstanding payment issues and database issues. 2) Have we got training for you..EASFAA Fall training will be on Verification. October 11 at Citizens Bank in Albany, October 20th at SUNY Brockport, and October 26th at FIT Jim Brigs will be doing Advance Tax workshops at the following locations 2/13/07 Long Island, 2/15/07 NYC, 2/16/07 North Country/Vermont, 2/20/07 Syracuse (LeMoyne), and 2/21/07 Albany. Working on Spring Intermediate/Advanced Workshops. Looking at “Admissions, Financial Aid, Diversity and the Michigan Cases- Three Years Later” also looking at possibly doing the “Admissions Advisor Financial Aid Workshop” that Region 1 had such great success with. 3) President Elect brought the dates for Executive Council meetings for the next year. They are on the NYSFAAA calendar. Next meeting will be December 14 & 15 at the Courtyard at the Newburg Airport. Brought a revised text for the definition of The Statewide Committee Chairpersons definition. That revision was revised by council and voted on. There was discussion about the new committee structure and concern that not all committees or responsibilities were reflected. I believe there was a consensus that the organizational chart needed to be expanded so everyone knew who to contact and where that certain committee belonged. Not to mention giving credit where credit is due for certain volunteer activities. 4) You can now go to the NYSFAAA website and see who our sponsors are for 06/07. There was a reminder that if you are holding an event only the sponsors that signed up for that activity may display their information. Please check the list as you plan your activities for this year. There is still activities available and venders should check the website if they are interested. 5) Conference Committee 2007 NYC gave an update. Reminder that there will be two nights on your own. NYC was interested in knowing if anyone wanted a bus. They wouldn’t know the cost until closer to the date. Concern from their region if it is cost effective to have Conference update this far out. 6) The brochure “The Path to College Starts in Middle School” was able to be printed in time to be handed out at the State Fair. The brochure has been shipped to various committee members. The final proof for the poster has been signed off on. Bookmarks, both brochures, and wristbands were available for the State Fair. Regions 2,3,4 &8 have agreed to the joint middle school & high school guidance counselor workshops for this Fall. The committee members are reaching out to their respective regions. They are requesting assistance in order to distribute “The Path to College” materials to those middle schools counselors who will not attend a workshop. 7) Higher Education Day at the State Fair was held Friday September 1st. Officaial attendance for that day was 102,803. Nine tables were rented besides our NYSFAAA table and the Sallie Mae Fund bus joined us this year. This year’s NYSFAAA raffle winners were Michael McCarthy-SUNY Albany and Sarah Midgley-SUNY Fredonia. Jackie from the Sallie Mae Fund bus reported that they talked to over 800 students and parents throughout the day and had 300 students apply for the scholarship drawing they held that day. We got great press for print and TV. 8) Some very thought provoking questions were raised. Now that we are growing in numbers in NY State there may be a need to limit future novice trainings. Some format changes are needed. They wish to stay at the same location for next year. 9) HESC will be changing the face plate of their website on October 1st. A big thank you goes out to Lisa Simpson for not letting them do that in September as they had planned. . There may not be HESC training money next year. It is being reviewed to determine if it could be considered an “inducement”. 10) Conference Committee 2006 report. There is still room to register. There will be a couple of bus routes planed to bring people to the conference. There will be plenty of shuttles between hotels so no one should have to wait long. They have adjusted some of the sessions based on the interest indicated at the time of registration. There will be a “opening session” and “closing session” with each region being represented. Sounds like you will not want to miss this! 11) Presidents report included the numerous events, meetings, and presentations that a NYSFAAA President represents the membership at. As an aside some officers of Region 3 were contacted by a few members who were not aware that the conference site had been changed to the Adams Mark. At this time many of our members would not be able to attend a conference at the Turning Stone. Some time ago NYSFAAA asked the firm that was also looking for conference sites for EASFAA to look at NY state to find space that would be available to meet/eat/vend/sleep our ever growing population of Financial Aid professionals. As of today there are only 2 sites in NY State that can and are willing to accommodate us. One is the Adams Mark in Buffalo and the other is the Turning Stone Casino in Vernon. We are in hopes that the Turning Stone will be able to resolve its issues with the state of New York which in turn would allow state employees to be able to attend a conference at that establishment. They remain open and willing to work with NYSFAAA in the future. 12) The communications person came to meet everyone face to face. She is more then willing to work with the membership so please contact her. She is on the NYSFAAA website. 13) The regional reports again brought the spotlight to a tremendously successful workshop that Region 1 did “Financial Aid Training for Admissions” They are willing to “take it on the road” or you can do your own but it sounded like it was something we should really take a look at. All other regions seemed to be busy like ourselves. 14) As tasked by the council I brought a draft of a brochure for Financial Aid Consultants that Anne Barton had put together. Council felt the wording was too harsh and sent me back to the drawing board. Anne and I were able to meet on September 22 and another draft is being worked on now. Sdk 9/25/06 POSTED BY: Sharon Karwowski