Financial Aid Office
Memo
To:Roger Miller, Dennis Bertch, Michael McCall, Steve Doherty, Mike Collins, Mary Lawrence, Erick Martin, Carol Heeter, Makida Coulter, Laura Cosby,
From: Sue Newington
C: Institutional Effectiveness Council, Nancy Young (archives)
Date: 09/18/2018
Re: Financial Aid Advisory Council Minutes – December 17, 2009
Present: Miller,Collins, Lawrence, Cosby, McCall, Bertch, Doherty, Heeter, Newington
Absent: Coulter, Mallinson, Martin
Approval of Minutes
Minutes from October 15, 2009 were approved as submitted.
Old Business
FISAP
Miller reported the 2008/2009 FISAP edit was filed December 15, 2009.
State of Michigan Financial Aid Funding
Miller reported the Michigan Merit Award was funded for 2009/10 and the Michigan Competitive Scholarship was funded at a reduced amount. The Tuition Incentive Program and the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver remain in place. As was mentioned at the last meeting, the following programs were not funded for 2009/10: Michigan Promise Scholarship, Michigan Nursing Scholarship, Adult Part-Time Grant, Michigan Education Opportunity Grant and the Michigan Work Study program.
Higher One Update
Lawrence gave an update regarding Valley OneCards. Miller asked Lawrence to reconvene the Higher One work groups to review what is working, what’s not working, etc.
Financial Aid Credit/Balance Adjusted with Credit Card Payment
Miller reported there was confusion as to when a student pays their tuition via credit card, then receives financial aid which results in a credit/balance on their account, if the credit card should be credited or the credit/balance be given to the student. Miller will contact the Department of Education to make sure we are in compliance.
New Business
Tuition Delay Update – Fall 2009
Miller reported the Financial Aid Office approved 790 tuition delays for the 2009 fall semester.
Scholarship Update
Newington reported that in November, 28 scholarships sponsored by the KVCC Foundation were promoted to students. Awards were given to 17 different students. Seven of the scholarships did not have any applicants or no eligible applicants. These scholarships will be promoted again during the winter semester. Discussion followed.
E-Advising Update
Miller reported our e-advising continues to increase. He reported e-advising in the financial aid office is up 47% from last year. A summary chart was distributed.
Financial Aid Outreach Summary 2009/10
Miller distributed a listing of financial aid outreach activities for 2009/10.
Attendance Monitoring
Miller reported that he had spoken at faculty seminar days, and to department chairs to remind them of the key aspects regarding attendance monitoring. Those key aspects are as follows: ECAR completion: Complete ECAR in a timely manner and submit an accurate ECAR. In other words, if a yes is reported base it on pursuit of class. Last Date of Attendance (LDA): If a 0.00 grade is assigned, input a LDA value. Coordinate ECAR submission and LDA information reported.
The college receivable from financial aid over-awards has grown significantly over time. The primary contributors to this development involve awards to students that do not attend and/or completely withdraw on or before the 60% point of a semester. The significant increase is a result of the increase in aid recipients, increase in the maximum award amount of Pell and Stafford Loan.
Miller reported that there will be greater communication to financial aid students reminding them of the importance of class attendance and the need to speak with a financial aid advisor if they need to completely withdraw from their classes.
There will be signs available in key office areas, handouts for staff to give to students if they express an intrest in wanting to withdraw from one or more of their classes. There is also a more detailed message in the banner self-service drop/withdraw area. We are also looking into using twitter and sending emails to students.
Patient Care Academy
Miller reported that he was working with M-Tec staff to determine eligibility status of the Patient Care Academy for Federal Title IV Student Financial Aid.
Direct Lending
Miller reported that the financial aid office will be participating in the Direct Lending program beginning with the 2010 fall semester. We are currently participating in the Federal Family Educational Loan Program (FFELP) where a lender from the private sector is involved. With Direct Lending, funding is through the Federal Government.
A banner consultant will be coming in to help with the set-up of this new program. When speaking with folks from the Aid Office at WMU, they thought this was really a good idea to have someone come in to assist with getting this new program up and running.
National Student Clearinghouse
Miller reported that KVCC will soon decide whether it will contract with a third party service provider, National Student Clearinghouse, to report enrollment information to Federal Stafford Loan service providers as required by Federal regulations. Miller stated that this “Core” service would be provided at o cost to the College. He further added that NSC offers a menu of services which includes “Student Tracker”. This service provides a means to track KVCC students post KVCC enrollment. Miller added as a side note that the Kalamazoo Promise uses the NSC Student Tracker service and has expressed an interest in KVC C’s use of the National Student Clearinghouses so our students would be added to the core data.
Other
State Approval Agency Representative Visit
Miller reported that a Mr. Dave Hanson, Higher Education Consultant, State of Michigan, Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth was scheduled for a campus visit on Wednesday, January 6. The purpose of the visit was to review program eligibility requirements for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. Involved parties include the following: Jim DeHaven, Cindy Buckley, Rick Ives, Stacy Hoffman, and Roger Miller. Miller added that the Veterans Administration does not recognize non-credit based programs as eligible for V.A. benefits. He was informed by the above referenced office that within the state there are no non-credit programs authorized eligible for V. A. Benefits.
Lawrence reported Carol Mallinson’s last day is December 23, 2009.
Agenda Items Next Meeting
Next Meetings
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
All meetings will be held at 2:00 pm in room 4370.
Meeting Adjourned
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