Region VII Report to Executive Council

April 20-21, 2006

Lake Placid, NY

On Friday, February 17 at Suffolk County Community College, Grant Campus Region VII members were active participants in a roundtable discussion concerning difficult case studies. Some of the cases were gleaned from real case studies. At the meeting we had a lively discussion about eight cases and were able to obtain viewpoints from both public and private institutions. Cases involved families and individuals who report $0 income, or so little income it is not apparent how the family/individual pays for basis living expenses.

There were no “right” and “wrong” answers for this exercise. It was a wonderful exchange of ideas and was beneficial for the group in developing our “best practices”.

The Tax Workshop for Regions 5, 6, and 7 was held February 21 and attracted close to 90 people. Jim Briggs answered everyone’s questions and was both entertaining and informative. Overall response from the attendees was a positive one.

At our March meeting which was held on March 10 at Briarcliff College we had Theresa Garland from HESC present on credit management, “What You Don’t Know Can Cost You” and Jim Vallee from M&T Bank and NYSFAAA’s Government Relations Committee present on the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

We had a great turnout for the March meeting. All of us in Region VII are so pleased that our meeting topics has given the membership good reasons for leaving their offices!

May 12^th is the date for our Intermediate Workshop. Registration is on the web and email blasts will be sent to promote the event. There is a committee of Region VI and VII members working on a great agenda which includes: Federal Concerns – conflicting information, INS, and funds management, the Deficit Reduction Act, and Financial Literacy.