CC: Kathy Johnson, Nancy Young (Archives)
Memo
To: Roger Miller, Dennis Bertch, Meily Lightcap, Michael McCall, Steve Doherty, Carol Heeter, Makida Coulter, Mike Collins, Erick Martin, Laura Cosby, Richard Garthe, Lauren Beresford
From: Sue Newington
CC: Kathy Johnson, Nancy Young (Archives)
Date: 4/3/2014
Re: Financial Aid Advisory Council Minutes – February 13, 2014
Present: Miller, Collins, Bertch, Cosby, McCall, Doherty, Lightcap, Beresford, Coulter, Newington
Absent: Heeter, Garthe, Martin,
Approval of Minutes Minutes from December 12, 2013 were approved, with the correction of Erick Martin being present at that meeting.
Old Business
Faculty Seminar Days Presentation
Miller reported, Garthe was not able to attend the meeting, but he reported that the presentation for high default rate and “bad debt” at the College was still on the list of potential seminars for the 2014 fall seminar days.
National Student Clearinghouse - Update
McCall provided an update regarding the National Student Clearinghouse. Miller discussed the new 150% rule regarding student loans and how it would affect enrollment reporting. Webinars are now being offered through the Department of Education, as well as other sources relating to this topic.
KVCC Foundation Funding
Newington reported at the last meeting how appreciative our office was in regards to having funding available through the KVCC Foundation and how helpful it has been to students, especially if they are not eligible for any other gift aid. Information was reviewed for this past 2013 fall semester to determine how students who received funding through the Foundation performed academically. Out of the 188 students who were in good standing with our office and received Foundation funding, 91% of those students remained in good standing. 62 students were awarded Foundation funds who were not in good standing going into the fall semester, and those students are currently being reviewed to determine how they performed.
Attendance Monitoring
Two issues were addressed at the last meeting:
1. It was brought up as to why Kalamazoo Promise (KP) students were not included in the monitoring of attendance. This was discussed and I said I would provide a summary of students from this past fall semester who also received some type of financial aid in addition to the Promise. This information was distributed. 70% of the fall semester students who received a KP award, also received some other type of financial aid. 66% of the fall semester students received some type of federal aid, so they would have been included on the ECARS.
2. I monitored the Last Date of Attendance report from the fall semester for students who had a class where the instructor indicated the student never attended to see if these students appeared on the ECAR. There were 10 students who instructors reported as never attending. Out of this 10, 6 instructors had reported YES the student had attended when they completed their ECAR. 3 classes were not on the ECAR and one instructor had reported NO on the ECAR, but must have re-instated the student, and then at end of semester, reported never attended.
New Business
Scholarship Update
Newington distributed a listing of 21 scholarships currently being promoted for the winter semester. Deadline to apply is February 19, with the exception of the KVCC Faculty Association Scholarship which has a deadline date of February 28, 2014.
Miller reported a meeting was held with Louise Anderson, Newington, Doherty, and himself regarding the promotion of scholarships earlier to help with enrollment. Discussion followed. It was mentioned that scholarship dollars are needed to recruit graduating seniors to attend KVCC. Newington reported the majority of scholarships we now currently promote are not for in-coming freshman. Students have to establish an academic record with KVCC, with a certain KVCC GPA and number of credits completed at KVCC. If we were to open these scholarships to in-coming freshmen, guidelines for these scholarships would need to be changed.
Satisfactory Academic Progress – Fall 2013
Newington distributed a handout showing financial aid academic progress summary for the past two fall semesters. She reported, during the month of January, 2014 she reviewed over 500 appeals from students who want their financial aid re-instated and Alisha Cederberg and Erin Macioce reviewed over 500 Financial Aid Academic Plans from students to determine if they were still eligible for financial aid for the winter semester. Any appeal form that was submitted to the Financial Aid Office by Friday, January 3, a hold was placed on their winter semester classes until January 30 until the Financial Aid Office had a chance to review their appeal. Discussion followed.
Miller recommended a project team be developed to look at SAP in relation to tuition delays.
Attendance Monitoring Update – Winter 2014
Newington distributed a summary/comparison chart reflecting the number of students who owe money and the amount of money owed to the College due to being dropped from classes due to non-attendance for the winter semester. Newington will provide a summary at the next meeting regarding number of classes dropped during this time period. Discussion followed.
Higher One Update
Lightcap distributed a Higher One disbursement Update and Comparison report. Discussion followed.
Summer Awarding
Newington distributed summer financial aid information handout. We sent out a notification via email to students who were registered for either this past fall or current winter semester letting them know the steps to apply for summer financial aid. This information handout stresses the importance of students not enrolled and attending 6 credit hours that begin on May 5, 2014 and how this will affect their credit balance refund. This important note will also show up when students access their My Valley account to look at their award information. If a student accepted a loan for summer, they will have a message, personalized with their name which provides this information.
Federal Pell Grant – 2014/2015
Miller reported the Pell Grant will increase by $85 for 2014/2015. The maximum Pell Grant will be $5,730, compared with $5,645 for 2013/2014.
2011 “Draft” Cohort Default Rate
Miller distributed a summary table of our 2-year draft cohort default rate for 2011. The two-year default rate is phasing out and the three-year draft default rate will become the standard. Our 2011 3-year cohort default rate will be released on February 18, 2014, with the final rate being posted in September, 2014.
He reported there will be sanctions: if the CDR is 30% or higher for any one year: create a default prevention taskforce, develop and implement a plan to address the institution’s high cohort default rate, and submit a Default Prevention Plan to the Department for review. If CDR is 30% or higher for two consecutive years: we would need to submit to the Department a revised default prevention plan and may be placed on provisional certification. If CDR is 30% or higher for three consecutive years: the institution loses eligibility to participate in both the Direct Loan Program and Federal Pell Grant Program.
If the CDR is greater than 40% for any one year, the institution loses eligibility to participate in the Direct Loan Program. Discussion followed.
E-Advising
Miller distributed a summary report reflecting the amount of emails the Financial Aid Office responds to. Emails that are directed to the FINAID email site are answered by Makida Coulter, Erin Macioce, Alisha Cederberg and Sue Newington.
Other
College Goal Sunday
Miller reported College Goal Sunday was held at WMU this past Sunday and Erin Macioce, financial aid advisor, represented KVCC. The focus of this workshop is to assist families with the completion of the FAFSA.
Ellucian Consultant
Miller reported Gary Doll, from Ellucian, will provide a remote consult with financial aid staff on February 21, 2014.
Agenda Items Next Meeting Newington asked for any agenda items for next meeting be submitted to her.
Next Meeting (All meetings held in room 4380 at 3:00 pm)
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Meeting Adjourned
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