2006 CASFAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
President
Louise C. Jones, UC Riverside
1156 Hinderaker Hall
Riverside, CA 92521
(951) 827.7247
President-Elect
Mindy Bergeron, John F. Kennedy University
100 Ellinwood Way
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925)969.3388
Past-President
Joanne Brennan, Career Colleges of America
5612 East Imperial Hwy.
South Gate, CA 90280
(562)861.8702
Vice-President
Ken Walsh, California Maritime Academy
200 Maritime Academy Drive
Vallejo, CA 94590-8181
(707) 654-1276
Treasurer
John Anderson, Retired
439 Olazabal Drive
Hemet, CA 92545
(951) 325-7295
Treasurer-Elect
Tim Bonnel, CA Comm College Chancellor’s Off
1102 Q Street, 3rd Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916)445-0104
Secretary
Katherine Sharifi, Art Center College of Design
1700 Lida Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
(714) 396-2214
Member-at-Large
Graduate and Professional
Linda Williams, McGeorge School of Law
3200 Fifth Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95817
(916)739.7040
Member-at-Large
Ethnic Diversity
Tom Ma, UC Irvine
102 Administration Bldg.
Irvine, CA 92697
(949)824-4885
CSU Representative
Susan Gutierrez, Sonoma State University
1801 E. Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
(707)664-2287
Community College Representative
Steve Arena, San Joaquin Delta College
5151 Pacific Avenue
Stockton, CA 95207-6370
(209)954-5856
Independent Representative
Germaine Graham, Claremont-McKenna
890 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, California 91711
909.621.8356 x 72716
Proprietary Representative
Marie Navarro, Western Career College
6201 San Ignacio Avenue
San Jose, CA 95119
(408)360-0849 x 227
UC Representative
Shawn Brick,UC Office of the President
1111 Franklin St.
Oakland, California 94607
(510)987.9539 / August 16, 2006
Honorable Jackie Speier
State Capitol, Room 2032
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator Speier:
The California Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the California Community College Student Financial Aid Administrators Association and the California Lenders for Education addressed a letter to the California Student Aid Commissioners recently. This letter represents a joint communication from the above associations who represent administrators of state and federal financial aid. Collectively, we represent over 1600 financial aid administrators who are employed at over 600 institutions of higher education and 31 participating student loan organizations in the State of California. We would like you to consider the attached statements of concern that we share. Representatives from each group are prepared to meet with you at your request. We are attaching a copy because we believe that may help you to understand more clearly the situation we, as stakeholders, face with regard to our frustration with CSAC.
We are concerned that many of the top level professionals and other staff have left EdFund and CSAC as a direct result of the CSAC’s current leadership. The Commissioners have taken steps to alleviate the situation with the appointment of Dr. Sam Kipp as President of EdFund. As stakeholders we are pleased that the Commissioners acted promptly to put in place a person of high integrity with extensive knowledge of the grant and loan programs. This appointment is the one positive step we have observed.
The grant program has tripled in size since 2001 thanks to the legislature and the Commissioners’ dedication to assisting California students. The Federal Family Education Loan program has also grown since 2001 because of the many initiatives that EdFund has implemented.
However, we are concerned that the inexperienced staff at CSAC has placed agency and taxpayer dollars at risk. We are available to meet with you individually or collectively to address these concerns—especially the raiding of EdFund’s Operation Fund to pay for grant and CSAC expenses rather than decentralizing the grant programs. In addition, we are extremely concerned that CSAC senior staff has disrupted EdFund’s business which is costing students and taxpayers thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Again, we are available to speak with you or your legislative staff with regard to our concerns. We thank you in advance for any consideration you may give to the information provided in the attached letter.
On behalf of the three organizations,
Louise C. Jones
2006 CASFAA President