NYSFAAA Region III Meeting Minutes

Sherwood Inn, Skaneateles, NY

December 6, 2006

Members and guests present:

Abbey Linsner, Nellie Mae

Ambrose Price II, Citizens Bank

Anne Barton, NSLP

Brian Levi, Student Loan Xpress

Cathy Patella, Wells College

Charlie Boland, Bank of America

Dan Dunn, Student Capital Corp.

David Canaski, SUNY Cortland

Dawn Langdon, HESC
Gina Soliz, Syracuse Law

Diane Dixon, NY Chiropractic College

Holly Zaglaniczny, Edamerica

Jackie Darquea, Cayuga Community College

Jan Klotz

Jennifer Best, Cayuga Community College

Jerome Moss, Keybank

John View, SUNY ESF

Judy Minns, Syracuse University

Karen Blankenburg, Wachovia Education Finance

Karen Taylor, SUNY Cortland

Kate Bellefeuille, Onondaga Community College

Kathy Flaherty, SUNY Oswego

Katrina Delgrosso, Student Capital

Kristen Carey, AFC

Laura Bedford, Utica College

Marion Twitchell, Collegiate Solutions

Mark Humbert, SUNY Oswego

Michael Rivera, Chase Ed. Finance

Michael Woody, First Niagara Bank

Mike McGraw, TC3

Nancy Connery, Onondaga Community College

Nancy Teodecki, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Pat Johnson, Syracuse University

Rick Ross, M&T Bank

Sean Rafferty, College Loan Corp.

Sean View, Hobart & William Smith

Shane Rauh, Sallie Mae

Sharon Karwowski, TC3

Sheila Coolay, SUNY Oswego

Stephanie Stock, Sallie Mae

Tami Gilbeaux, Nelnet

Theresa Gieseke, Next Student

Tim O’Donnell, Syracuse Law

Tony Goodwin, M&T Bank

Wen Juan Huang, TC3

William Cheetham, LeMoyne College

The Meeting began at 10 am:

Meeting began with Nancy Teodecki’s welcome and attendee introductions. In Bonnie Rooker’s absence, the minutes will be recorded by Theresa Gieseke.
Executive Council Update - Sharon Karwowski

Request/Reminder on review and feedback of new proposed Statement of Principles.

· Sharon shared feedback she received thus far from Bill Cheetham, John View, and Irv Bodofsky. Dave Canaski expressed the need to obtain membership feedback, and stimulate discussion for review.

Reviewed New Budgeting Process for funding at Regional level and Revenue Sharing Increase:

-Revenue sharing – council voted an increase of $10 for a total of $20

per member effective 7/1/2006.

- Executive Council has requested each region submit an annual budget,

region 3 had submitted the requested budget for 2006-07.

- Regions will be asked to sustain a $2,500 balance, and if funding needs

exceed current regional budget, region would request additional funding

from Exec Council. This provoked lengthy discussion and feedback

from Bill Cheetham and Dave Canaski.

Treasurer’s Report – Abbey Linsner . $919.50 in treasury. Revenue sharing check

received but not deposited yet due to question on the amount. Abbey will contact

NYSFAAA Treasurer for clarification.

HESC Update – Dawn Langdon

Redesigned HESC Website

HESC recently created a web environment with easier navigation, targeted content and quick links for students and parents. Upgrades to the site include separate pages for students, college and lender administrators and school counselors. Students and parents can also use “hot buttons” to quickly apply for TAP to sign their e-MPN.

Default Management/Prevention Grant

HESC recently unveiled a new default prevention grant initiative for

Creative default prevention proposals at NYS colleges.

The grants, ranging from $2,500 to almost $50,000 per school, will be awarded to selected colleges and universities for creative proposals designed to identify risks that contribute to student loan delinquency and to develop and implement new programs which have the best potential to significantly reduce the dollar amount of defaulted loans.

To be eligible for consideration, grant proposals must be submitted to HESC no later than Jan. 25, 2007. The awards are expected to be made by March 26.

HESC representatives will discuss details about the default prevention grant during the ongoing statewide HESC Administrative Workshops. Locations and dates of the workshops can be found at www.hesc.org.

For more information about the new grant, colleges are encouraged to visit

HESC’s website at www.hesc.org, or contact Edward Gilbert at

(518) 473-3528, egilbert@hesc.org.

Loan Processing Updates

A new Web screen has been added to transaction processing giving schools the ability to update a student’s loan period begin and end dates and grade level. For more information on this loan processing update including other enhancements, please review HESC Financial Aid Services Bulletin 2006-015.

New TAP Reporting Requirements

NEW TAP CREDITS EARNED REPORTING REQUIREMENT- October 10, 2006

As a reminder, a new state law requires the president of the New York State Higher Education Services Corp. (HESC) to prepare and submit an annual report on the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to the governor and Legislature by February 2007.

The annual report will include statistics regarding TAP recipients, including the number of:

-students receiving TAP in each term;

-students who were granted waivers by their institution;

-students decertified for not meeting good academic standards;

-credits earned by TAP recipients.

HESC collects most of the information needed for the annual report except the number of “credits earned by TAP recipients.” HESC will collect this data from each school.

Starting in December, HESC will provide each school with a file of their undergraduate students certified for each term of the prior year. This new outgoing TAP file, HE8501 Listing of Students who Receive TAP at a Specific School—Credits Earned Reporting (Outgoing), will be available electronically as a flat file or an Excel spreadsheet. The file will be compared to the school's system and create a return file with the credits earned data populated, or to produce a summary listing.

Schools will be required to submit TAP credits earned to HESC using one of the following three file format options:

HE8502 Credits Earned Reporting for Students Receiving TAP--Detail Reporting (Incoming)
This file format will be used to report the number of credits earned for each student by term and academic year.

HE8503 Credits Earned Reporting for All Students at a Specific School --School-Provided Listing (Incoming)
This file format is for schools that wish to provide all students to HESC and HESC will perform the data matching.

HE8504 Credits Earned Reporting For Students Receiving TAP-- Summary Reporting (Incoming)
This file format will be used to report the total number of students who received a certain number of credits by term and academic year.

(The City University of New York (CUNY) central administration will submit the number of TAP credits earned by recipients for all students at CUNY schools).

Note: On Monday, December 11^th, HESC will hold a TAP Webcast to discuss the new school procedure regarding the reporting of TAP credits earned ( a copy of the HESC TAP Webcast Announcement is attached below).

Questions regarding TAP questions, including the new TAP Reporting Requirements, can be directed to HESC TAP Policy at 1-518-474-3552 or at tappolicy@hesc.

TAP Processing Schedule

The following schedule includes the anticipated date of Rosters, Remittance Advisories, Accounting Documents and Student Status Listing. If unable to meet the scheduled date of any of the listed reports, we will send an e-mail update.

2006 December Processing Schedule

December 1st

2006-07 Remittance Advice/Accounting Documents

2006-07 Student Status Listing

December 8th

2006-07 Remittance Advice

2006-07 Student Status Listing

December 13th

2005-06 Remittance Advice/Accounting Documents

2005-06 Student Status Listing

December 15th

2006-07 Remittance Advice/Accounting Documents

2006-07 Student Status Listing

December 19th

2006-07 Roster (All Terms)

December 22nd

2006-07 Remittance Advice

2006-07 Student Status Listing

December 27th

2005-06 Remittance Advice/Accounting Documents

2005-06 Student Status Listing

December 29th

2005-06 Roster

2006-07 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.

Consolidated Scholarship Rosters (SU8069) and Consolidated Scholarship RAs (SU8071) are now available in On-demand on the dates listed above. These documents are for scholarships such as: WTC Memorial, Robert C. Byrd Scholarship,etc.

Information regarding these documents is available in FAS Bulletin 2006 - 010 and Appendix F of our Programs, Policies and Procedures manual. Reports will be available for printing and viewing by visiting the Transaction Center area of this web site. If you are authorized to access this data, you will be required to logon with your HESC User ID and password.

For assistance in obtaining a User ID and password contact HESC’s Help Desk at 1-888-NYSHESC (1-888-697-4372).

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Committee Updates

Guidance Counselor Workshops –Kate Bellefeuille (OCC)

· Binghamton – 50 attendees/ John View has spoken to schools in the Binghamton Area to increase next year’s participation.

· Syracuse – 160 attendees held at the NYS Fairground Facility (researching other low-cost location for future workshops)

· Did not offer Novice Training this year , will consider for next year

· Special thanks to: John View & Bill Cheetham- Financial Aid Award Letters and Federal Update, Nancy Teodecki, Bonnie Evans (State Update).

2006 Region III Support Staff Workshop Report – (report read by Nancy)

· The Support Staff Workshop was held on Tuesday October 24^th at the Craftsman Inn in Fayetteville, NY.

· 55 attendees. There was no registration fee this year.

· Committee Members included Darcia Banks (Great Lakes), Ann Barton (NSLP), Karen Blankenburg (Wachovia), Annette Broski, co-chair (Mohawk Valley CC), Sheila Cooley (SUNY Oswego), Rose Patterson, co-chair (Mohawk CC).

· Dave Canaski began the day with a brief overview of ACG and Smart Grants, which was very well received. Evaluations: 24 rated the session excellent, 26 very good, and 2 fair.

· Mel Stephens continues the morning with a presentation dealing with Identity Theft. 98% rated this session excellent, and the comments suggested a similar presentation next year. Evaluations: 37 excellent, 14 very good, 1 fair

· Audience played Financial Aid Jeopardy, which was a lively interaction of 3 teams. Evaluations: 28 excellent, 16 very good, 8 fair.

· Sam Caesarea presented the Multi-generational Workplace which was also received with a high approval rating. Evaluations: 28 Excellent, 21 very good, 1 fair.

· Quality of Workshop: 34 excellent, 17 very good, 1 fair. Workshop site: 37 excellent, 15 very good.

· Total bill for Craftsman was $2,124.20, which included breakfast, lunch, tip, and use of meeting room.

· Cost to reimburse committee members for decorations and supplies was $375.18.

· There was no NYSFAAA state funding requested, nor did we charge registration.

· Cost to Region 3: $2,499.38

2006 NYSFAAA Awards

· Since Patricia Johnson was not present at the Fall conference, Kathy Flaherty gave the formal presentation of the 2006 State Award- the Citation of Appreciation, to her. Pat is Assistant Director of Financial Aid at Syracuse University.

· Nancy mentioned that Irv Bodofsky, SUNY Upstate Medical University ,was recognized with the 2006 Presidential Award and truly surprised with the Governor’s Proclamation.

· Also mentioned was Nancy Teodecki , SUNY Upstate Medical University, as the 2006 Joseph Dunne Award recipient.

New Regional Business

· Michael Woody has joined First Niagara.

Training by Darcie Stephens from Bank of America on the topic of Diversity

Meeting concluded at 11:45 am followed by a Holiday lunch.