REGION 3 GENERAL MEETING

Hosted By LeMoyne College

February 29, 2008

 

WELCOME: Sean View

 

Sean View, Chair, opened the meeting at 10:25 and thanked LeMoyne for hosting. Then everyone went around the room and introduced themselves.

 

EXEC COUNCIL UPDATE   - Gina Soliz

 

Gina will be posting the minutes to the Website. Some of the highlights of her report are:

  • The NYSFAAA treasurer position has become so encumbered that Wayne Harewood has been appointed “Assistant Treasurer” to help Tom Dalton.
  • Region 3 has 187 current members.  Total state membership is 1344 - up by 40 from last year.
  • The membership brochure is being updated and they are looking for feedback. Please look at it on the website and let Gina know of your suggestions.
  • The Website has not been updated yet. They got some good input from members but there is a dollar constraint on what they can do. There will be the capability to do event management and the cost will be absorbed by the regions that use it. The list serve will be down during the reconstruction.
  • It will soon be time to start planning the School Counselor Workshop. If you want to be on the committee please contact Kate Bellefeuille, Gina, or Sean.

 

TREASURY REPORT – Pat Johnson

 

  • The current balance is $131.09.
  • The $300 scholarship check cleared.
  • Pat has been in touch with Tom Dalton about the Region 3 revenue-sharing check(s) that haven’t been received yet.

 

STATE UPDATE - Dawn Langdon

 

Some of the 2008-09 Executive Budget Proposals for HESC include:

  • No reduction in student award schedules for the TAP or state scholarship programs. More than $802 million in TAP awards is expected to be distributed by HESC to students next academic year.
  • The budget redirects the funds used to pay the 1% default fee to support the TAP program.
  • Stipulates that all students in default on a federal student loan would be ineligible for TAP awards, regardless of the guarantor for the loans. Currently they only look at loans guaranteed by HESC.

 

UPDATES

 

John View stated that there is 2.2 million dollars in the Governor’s budget to go toward funding and hiring staff to enforce SLATE. Additionally John went on to report the AG’s office has collected $14.5 million in fines from SLATE. These funds are supposed to be used to educate students/parents on Financial Aid matters and to date NYSFAAA has not been allowed to utilize the funds. John suggests that contacting your legislators to determine why NYSFAAA has not been allowed to access these funds when the organization does so much public service.

 

Karen Blankenburg stated that Wachovia is increasing to 5 NY representatives and adding 160 additional staff.

 

REGIONAL BUSINESS

 

COLLEGE GOAL SUNDAY:  LaSonya Griggs

·        It was very successful in spite of the storm. They had 34 people signed up and ended up with 70 families participating.

·        The tech support was great and they really reached those students for which it was intended.

 

CONFERENCE 2008 – John View

·        Moving along on schedule.

·        They are trying to break even on the cost. A projected conference fee of $350 will include all meals.

 

JUNE REGION MEETING

·        Scheduled for Friday, June 6 – location to be decided

·        Heather McDonnell, current NYSFAAA president, and Curt Gaume, president elect, have been invited to attend.

 

NEW BUSINESS

Gina passed out copy of the NYSFAAA budget and asked the group to rank the items in order of their importance. After much discussion, most people considered all the items important with emphasis on training. Gina will send out the information to the list serve and would like everyone’s input.

 

Holly Zaglaniczny announced that the House and Senate have put in 40 hours of discussion on the Reauthorization Bill.

 

After a short break, Christine Sears did an interesting power point on becoming a student aid advocate. Since funding is not available to send a large group to Washington, it was suggested that Region 3 organize a meeting to meet with our representative at their local office.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM.

 

Respectively submitted:

Bonnie Rooker, Secretary

 

Attending:

Ambrose Price, Citizens Bank

Bonnie Rooker, Cayuga Community College

Brian Levi, Student Loan Xpress

Christine Sears, Bryant & Stratton College

Courtney Harris, Campus Door

Darcie Stephens, Bank of America

Darrin Rooker, NY Chiropractic College

Dawn Langdon, HESC

Elizabeth Key

Gina Soliz, Syracuse Law

Holly Zaglaniczny, Edamerica

Jerome Moss, Keybank

John View, SUNY ESF

Jon Dodd, Key Bank

Karen Blankenburg, Wachovia Education Finance

Kathy Flaherty, SUNY Oswego

Katrina Delgrosso, Chase

LaSonya Griggs, Ithaca College

Michael Rivera, Chase Co Finance

Nancy Teodecki, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Pat Johnson, Syracuse University

Sean View, Hobart & William Smith

Sharon Halpin, LeMoyne

Sharon Karwowski, TC3

Sheila Coolay, SUNY Oswego

Sherrie Sheppard, HSBC

Theresa Gieseke,TERI