TASFAA Board Meeting
May 18-19, 2010
Hilton Arlington
Arlington, TX
Members and Committee Chairs Present: Carolyn Jones, Rick Renshaw, Tia Clary, Ed Turney, Amy Hardesty, Kay Mooney, Enrique Garcia, Mike Carranza, Shannon Crossland, Joe Pettibon, Amanda Jurovic, Dana Mingo, Devon Wiggins and Karen Krause
Guests: Vicky Tanner, Gary Rodgers, Jane Caldwell, Lyn Kinyon, and Mike Novak
Not Present: Melet Leafgreen, Carolyn Mallory, Alan Ahmad, JimAnn Batenhorst, Sharon Mullins, Carol McDonald, Raul Lerma, Anne Walker, Richard Silva, Lynn Barnes, Christina Quintanilla, Amanda Dickinson and Laurie Coulter
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Carolyn called the meeting to order at 12:43 p.m.
President’s Report Carolyn Jones
Carolyn passed out a new contact information sheet. She stated that Mike Williams is no longer chairing the Mentor Committee. He is being replaced by Belen Valdez with Texas A&M. Karen’s information is on the list now since she replaced Lyn. Alan Ahmad’s contact information has changed as well. She also mentioned that Amanda Dickinson is now Amanda Stephens. Matt Siegel is no longer with USA Funds.
ATLE is having their meeting at TG next week (June 15th). They asked Carolyn to come to the meeting to visit about what ATLE’s role can be in the future. Karen stated she was not sure how to answer that since we do not know who the members are and their size. Caren agreed. Carolyn stated that her first thoughts were financial literacy and default management. Karen asked about what their resources are and would they be able to provide a service. Rick asked what their position is on private loans. Caren asked if they could help with the PUT loan issues. She again asked who the members were. Carolyn speculated that NelNet and SallieMae might be key players. Caren stated that any help we could get on the student issues would be great. Mike asked if we could gather information on what their plan is. Ed asked if we could get a copy of their updated mission statement. Carolyn stated that they may be looking to us to give some direction on where they should go.
Carolyn visited about NASFAA’s new training in addition to the webinars. Revising your cost of attendance would be a training session and they will still provide webinars. Carolyn did not think this would be a good session to have at the regional trainings but might be good to have it at the fall conference. SWASFAA is supposed to have trainers available in the region. Karen was asked to participate on the committee. She stated that it might be good to have half a day on revising your cost of attendance and then a session on the net price calculator. They also discussed having a pre-conference training since it is about a 2.5 - 3 hour training. Karen stated that she has not seen the materials to know if it could be condensed. It was discussed that it might be good to have it as a pre-conference session. The issue with that is that those in the board meeting can’t attend a pre-conference session. Karen thought we might have to charge for the materials but Carolyn thought the materials would be free. Handouts could be pre-printed so that there would not be a cost for the training. Ed suggested sending the handout electronically to those who registered to attend the training. Karen will visit with Mary Sue about having it as a pre-conference session on Wednesday, October 6 from 8:30-11:00 or 11:30. Carolyn will talk to Anne about using it as a pre-conference session.
On April 26th, Lisa, Rick, Joe and Carolyn visited with the Senate Education Committee. Rob Sheridan also filled in a spot. Carolyn thanked them for their time and visiting with the committee.
I would like to thank everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers during such trying times. Your support means a great deal to me and my family. It also helps me to remember that I am not alone!
I have an updated contact list for everyone.
ATLE is meeting June 15, 2010, at TG and I have been asked to speak. ATLE would like to know what role we see them playing to assist TASFAA in serving students. I would appreciate board input in what our association needs from ATLE.
There is new NASFAA Training available entitled “Revising Your Cost of Attendance”. Since it is such a limited subject would this be a good session at the Fall Conference?
There was a Senate Hearing on April 26, 2010. Lisa Blazer, Joe Pettibon and Rick Renshaw spoke on the same subjects as they did in February to the House. Also Rob Sheridan of University of Houston spoke on TASFAA’s behalf. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for doing a wonderful job! If you see any of these people please thank them for their hard work and dedication to TASFAA and Texas students.
Vice President’s Report Kay Mooney
Kay went over her report. Kay stated that she will send a message out to the list serve at the end of May encouraging everyone to volunteer. Carolyn asked that Kay work with Alan to get the volunteer site up and running. She will also need to work with Joe on changes that he is going to make for committees. Karen mentioned that NASFAA asked people to volunteer for their interests not specifically for a committee. She did not know if that would help. Rick stated that it might make things harder to match up.
Vice President Report
May 17, 2010
Agenda and Scheduling
May 18, 2010
· Meeting starts with lunch at 11:30 in the Capitol I & II meeting room
· Snacks and drinks will be provided for the 3:00 break on Tuesday
· Dinner will be with the NAOW campers at 6:30 pm in the
Beverly/Flamingo/Statler meeting rooms.
May 19, 2010
· Breakfast at the Capital I & II meeting rooms from 8:00 am to 8:45 am.
· Board meeting will begin at 9:00 am in the Capital I & II meeting rooms.
Rooms
· The following have rooms on the Master Bill at the Hilton Arlington
Carolyn Jones, Kay Mooney, Tia Clary, Amy Hardesty, Shannon Crossland, Enrique Garcia, Amanda Jurovic, Ed Turney, Mike Carranza and Dana Mingo.
The following are self-pay: Joe Pettibon
Committee Reports
· I did not receive a report from:
Joe Pettibon – Finance Committee
Alan Ahmad – Communication Network
Belen Valdez – Mentoring, Leadership & Diversity (New committee Chair, replacing Mike Williams)
· Nothing new to report
Carolyn Mallory – Awards
Melet Leafgreen – Newsletter
Volunteer Forms
· I will be sending a message to the TASFAA community via the list-serve at the end of
May to encourage everyone to volunteer for the upcoming year (November through October).
President-Elect Joe Pettibon
A report was not available.
Past President and Planning & Evaluation Committee Reports Rick Renshaw
Rick discussed the meeting with the Senate Higher Education Committee. There was a good amount of time for questions and answers. He had about 25 minutes with the committee – about 10 to present and 15 minutes for questions. They are interested in TASFAA’s position and what they can introduce as pre-bills for the next session. Rick stated that he did let them know that we will make some recommendations/positions for the legislature. We need to be involved in the process.
Rick discussed the EASFAA spring conference and stated that he was appointed as a NASFAA Commission Director for next year. How do you transition into this new environment, how to balance our budget, how do we provide meaningful products and do what we want to do in this new environment were topics of discussion. There will be discussion on what NASFAA can do the help state and regional associations. There are some associations that are struggling because they don’t have reserves as they had relied on vendor support. Financial stability is a concern for the associations. Rick discussed the survey on credentialing and a good response was received. The national association is divided on their thoughts on credentialing. Good things came out of the survey and he is hopeful that training options will be a priority.
Past Presidents Report
May 2010 Board Meeting
Arlington, Texas
In April, I was invited back to the state capitol by the Texas Senate Higher Education Committee to reprise the presentation on federal aid programs that was presented to the House Higher Ed Committee in February. The senate hearing was quite a bit more structured and we were put on a timer to limit the presentation time. However, there was quite a bit of dialog after the presentation. So, in addition to the ten minute presentation, I had another fifteen minutes of question and answers. It is my impression that the committee is very interested in TASFAA’s position on several issues expected to come up in the next session. They are looking for some help right now in suggestions for legislation that could be introduced. This is a great window of opportunity for our association.
This past weekend I was in Connecticut at the site of the EASFAA spring conference. I have been appointed as a NASFAA commission director for this next year. Laurie Wolf, NASFAA Chair-elect, Justin Draeger, the newly selected NASFAA President, and the two other commission directors, Susan Murphy and Dino Koff, met to complete the selection of NASFAA committee members and plan for the next year. With the passing of the HCERA this past spring, the profession can move forward beyond the discussions of FFEL vs. FDL. One of the issues that we discussed was how could NASFAA help the state and regional associations address the issues with their financial stability in this new paradigm. This will be discussed at the next NASFAA board meeting and it is possible that some sort of summit or leadership meeting with state and regional association leaders may be set up at the Denver conference.
Treasurer’s Report Tia Clary
Tia stated that the informational return has been filed – similar to a tax return – we are not required to file a tax return. She discussed the audit report. We had a clean audit. This covers our fiscal year beginning Nov 1st – Oct 31, 2009. She discussed using cash from investments to help with expenses from the last two conferences. At the end of the fiscal year, we had about $73,000 in cash. Karen questioned the two conferences expenses occurring in the same fiscal year and Tia did state that it was just a timing issue. Rick stated that two years ago we did not know until after the conference but this year we had notice of the additional expenses. She also discussed the association’s investments. Ending balance of investments was approximately $252,000. Joe asked what the other expenses included. Tia stated that credit card fees, database (ATAC) fees, stipends, etc were probably included in this line item (non-committee expenses). Carolyn asked Tia to provide information to the Newsletter Committee for the annual report.
Tia passed out a Budget vs. Actual and Balance Sheet reports. She went over each report. We are currently operating at a loss. Tia and Carolyn visited last week and Tia moved funds from investments in the amount of $9000 to cover the deficit. Carolyn asked if there were any outstanding payments from last year’s fall conference. Tia and Rick have several that they are still working on. Tia stated that we may be short in the NAOW line item by approximately $4-5000. She discussed that Membership Dues will increase as fall conference registration rolls around. Karen asked if there has been a comparison of who has not paid. Carolyn stated that the Membership Committee report will cover this. Joe thought there might be a dozen who are still outstanding. Revenue expectations may be short approximately $15,000-20,000. Caren stated that credit card processing fees have gone up. Tia discussed possibly reducing committee budgets. Training will be over budget because of the hotel costs. Room costs were high because many did not want to share a room and we only charged $100 more for a single room. Rick stated that it is still better to have the expenses and receive a benefit. Carolyn asked about reducing committee expenses as she felt there was a reason for the budget amount. Karen thought the committee funds were specific to the committee’s use and then there was another line item for administrative expenses. The asset page does not include investments that Gary will discuss in his report. Caren asked if the checking account included the $9000 that was moved from investments and Tia confirmed. Carolyn asked about the CD’s and when they mature. Tia stated that there are three available. The closest one’s maturity date is October 2010 with a value of approximately $8400, the next matures in January 27, 2011 for $10,000 and the third comes due in October 2011 for $15,000. We could cash those out and pay a penalty. Committee expenses and July board meeting are pending between now and October. NAOW is the only other expense that are still being processed.
Tia stated that we have two action items – address the need for liquidity (cash in CD’s or work with Gary on recommendations regarding cash flow needs through the investments) and completing a resolution for Rodgers Capital so that they can move forward as our broker. Gary stated that a resolution is needed to allow the treasurer and president to sign for funds from the money market account.
Carolyn asked if we need to adjust the budget. Tia did not think this was necessary. She stated that information might need to be provided to the auditors at the end of the year. Karen asked if we could go ahead with Gary’s report so that we could visit about these issues in length.