NYSFAAA

Region 7 Executive Council Rep= ort

December 14 and 15, 2006 ̵= 1; Newburgh, NY

Our October 13 meeting was a discussion of how we balance the needs of staff, students and their familie= s, and our

Colleagues= within the Aid Office itself.

We discussed the following:

Office set-up, physical layout= - what's good, what's not so good, what

we'd like to see in an ideal world=

Work assignment and structure - providing customer service balanced with

getting the volume of work done<= /o:p>

How incoming calls are handled=

How job assignments are made -= who handles the "counter" - appointments

vs<= /span>. walkins=

How we manage staff to keep on= task

The EASFAA Verification traini= ng was conducted by Clint Hanson and was held on October 27 in Farmingdale. We had 60 attendees; total of 65 w= ere registered, but we had 5 no shows.

Our December meeting was held = on Dec. 8 where we had a roundtable discussion:

· = 2006-07 changes and additions to the federal programs, n= eed analysis formulae and packaging/administrative changes.

· = Legislative Update about lending issues

· = NYSFAAA proposal about ethical principles

· = Looking ahead at 07/08

Our January meeting will focus= on government benefits and will be held on January 12 at Adelphi University<= /st1:PlaceType> and will feature a professor from the Adelphi School of Social Work.

One of the laws governing fede= ral financial aid changed this year, and expands certain eligibility criteria f= or applicants who have already met a "means test." The means tests include supplement= al security income, food stamp program, free and reduced price lunch program, TANF, and= the WIC program for women and children.

We believe that it will be very beneficial for our membership to have a representative who could discuss eligibility criteria for any or all of those benefit programs. The focus will be on:

What kinds of people are eligi= ble, what the benefits provide, where people go for assistance, how long the benefits

last, and general questions of that nature. The law didn't mentio= n Section 8 housing but that's another category of applicants we get quite frequently= .