AASFAA Fall Conference

AASFAA Fall Conference

Business Meeting Minutes

April 11th, 2007

PerdidoBeach Resort

Gulf Shores, AL

I. Call to Order/President’s Report

President Jonna Gibson welcomed everyone to OrangeBeach and introduced herself. She referred to the conference agenda and stated that an excellent program had been put together for them. She said that there were many AASFAA members who had worked diligently for this conference. She stated that it took everyone pulling together to make the conference a success. She encouraged everyone to step up and serve on a committee or run for an office. She said that several members had served on a SASFAA Committee and asked them to stand for recognition. She then called the meeting to order at 1:40 p.m. and asked for Officer’s reports, calling Secretary Suzanne Bush to the podium.

II. Officer’s Reports

Secretary

Suzanne Bush stated the minutes from the fall Board and Business meetings held in Auburn in October were approved by the Board last night. She stated that Buddy Jackson made the motion to approve, Charles Markle seconded the motion, and the motion carried. Suzanne reported the minutes were now posted on the web and she hope everyone had read them. She made the motion that the minutes be approved as posted, Clark Aldridge seconded the motion and the minutes were approved.

Treasurer

Phillip Nelson reported that AASFAA had another good year as far as money was concerned. He reported that AASFAA had received $4165 in annual dues and to date there were 210 attendees at the conference. He thanked Lora Kiser for her help as Vendor Sponsor. He stated that Karen Gibson had audited the records this year and that at her suggestion he had moved $40,000 from AASFAA’s checking account and had moved it to a money market account that would accrue 4.5% interest. He reported that AASFAA owned five certificates of deposit, which could be viewed on the back of his report. He reported the checking account was balanced; all the bills had been paid as of Monday when he left his office, and if anyone had outstanding receipts, to please see him before the conference was over and he would get them a check then or mail it to them next week. He concluded by stating it had been a pleasure to serve everyone as Treasurer this past year and looked forward to next year. Phillip then made a motion that the Treasurer’s Report be accepted. Jonna asked for a second, Chip Quisenberry seconded, all were in favor.

Vice President/Professional Development Committee

Charles Markle reported the final training for the New Aid Officers was held that morning and that it went very well. He asked that all New Officers please stand and be recognized. He reported that Ms. Giles from BishopState won the prize for being the newest of the New Aid Officers having served for one month. He thanked everyone that had participated in the training series the past year: Melody Caldwell, FaulknerUniversity, Tommy Wilson and Veronica Davis, AuburnUniversity, Andy Weaver, University of Alabama Huntsville, Suzanne Bush, BevillStateCommunity College, and Wanda Bass, LurleenB.WallaceStateCommunity College. He also thanked those lending partners who helped sponsor these training opportunities this year. Charles stated the partners were listed in the training manual, but wanted to announce their sponsorship. The sponsors were ASC, AmSouth, College Loan Corp, EdAmerica, Key Bank, Alabama Student Loan Program – KHEAA, National Education, Nelnet, TNC Bank, Regions, TG, and Wachovia. He asked that everyone give a round of applause to these sponsors in their efforts to assist with training new aid officers. He closed by reminding everyone that this summer the SASFAA Training Workshop would be held in June the week of the 23rd. He encouraged everyone to go to SASFAA’s website and sign up for the workshop as it fills up very quickly.

President-elect

Ben Baker stated that as President-elect his major responsibility was to serve as the Conference Chair. He reported that the conference program represented the work of the conference committee. He stated that for the most part the program represented the committee’s report. He asked that everyone note the names of the committee members who had worked very hard to provide a quality program for the conference. He stated the committee was headed by Pat Watkins and he congratulated Pat for doing a superb job in arranging and establishing an excellent program for this conference. Additionally, he gave credit to Linda Calvanese and all members of the Local Arrangements Committee, as well as Lora Kiser, Vendor Sponsor Chair, who ensured that funds were secured to present an excellent program and conference. Ben concluded his report by stating if it were not for Lora’s efforts; AASFAA would not be able to keep the conference fee so low.

Past President

Buddy Jackson began his report by stating that as Past President he served as Chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee and served as the state representative for SASFAA’s Nominations and Elections Committee. In addition, Buddy stated that he served as Chair of AASFAA’s Nominations and Elections Committee. He reported that as Chair of that committee he was pleased to announce the following who had been recommended by the committee as officer nominees for the upcoming year:

Secretary:Ann Little

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Endora Todd

WallaceCommunity College

Treasurer-elect: Marcus Byrd

AlabamaA&MUniversity

Ann Campbell

Southwest Student Services

Vice-President: Dr. Sam Chukwuemeka

FaulknerStateCommunity College

Andy Weaver

University of Alabama – Huntsville

President-elect: Charles Markle

AuburnUniversity

Buddy then addressed President Jonna Gibson, stating that all candidates met the eligibility requirements for election and he moved that the recommendations from the Nominations and Elections Committee be accepted. Jonna stated there was a motion to accept the recommendation and asked for a second. Chip Quisenberry seconded the motion. Jonna asked if there was any discussion, there being none, a vote was taken and the motion carried. Jonna then moved to the individual nominations for office. She named nominee(s) for every office and then asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There were no nominations from the floor for any office and all nominations were voted on and accepted by the Association members as recommended by the Nominations and Elections Committee as listed above. Jonna then asked the Committee Chairs to come forward and give their reports.

III. Committee Reports

ACHE Liaison

Cheryl Newton reported that all Alabama Student Assistance Program and Alabama Student Grant participants had received the first of two disbursements. She stated that there were approximately 400 ANGEAP awards for fall. She said there were 63 TSPAT awards and fall disbursements had been made for the 21 participants of the POFSEAP program. Additionally, Cheryl reported that in January 2007, $10,000,000 was allotted to the Alabama Student Assistance Programs from the Knight vs. the State of Alabama court settlement. These funds, she stated, would be disbursed in the fall and be under the guidelines established for the ASAP program. She stated that as a result of this settlement the maximum ASAP award would increase from $2,500 to $5,000, effective for 2007-2008. Cheryl reported that the legislative session had ended and the proposed 2007-2008 budget had been approved by the Governor and was sent to the legislators for approval. Cheryl stated that a 100% increase ($3.4M) was requested for ASAP, $2.7M (current level) for ASG, level funding for both ANGEAP and POFSEAP, and a $200,000 increase requested for the Technology Scholarship for Alabama Teachers. Cheryl ended her report by stating that invoices for ASAP were due by April 20th and she was happy to report that she had already received some. She said that she would send check disbursements in the order of invoices received.

Archives

Dr. Chip Quisenberry reported he and Kevin Ammons had organized the two boxes of AASFAA Archives received from Mike Reynolds into five broad areas:

Minutes

Newsletters

Budget Reports

Old Conference Programs

Miscellaneous (important) documents

Chip stated that they had not yet accomplished scanning these into digital format, but would have it done by fall. He also reported that he had discussed in the Executive Board Meeting about the possibility of putting this information on the web. He stated that he and Shannon Cross would get together and discuss this and also that Shannon would find out about the cost of getting this done. He stated he would have a recommendation for the Association in the fall. He also said that he had recommended doing away with the Archives Committee after all of this had taken place at the Board meeting, but Joan Waters had stated that she had several boxes of pictures dating back many years that would have to be dealt with. He concluded that his goal was to get everything in digitized format and build upon that so there would be no need for an active Archive Committee.

Diversity

Deborah Byrd - No report

Electronic Services

James Berry reported that everyone could go to or www. aasfaaonline.com and one could view the new website. He reported that the new site had gone live in February and that candidate information, membership information, etc. had been loaded to the site. He stated that eventually everyone would be able to vote electronically from this new website. He concluded his report by encouraging everyone to visit the new web site.

Finance and Audit

Karen Gibson reported that she had met with Phillip Nelson on March 6, 2007. She said she spent most of the day reviewing the records. Karen stated that a 5% sample was taken from all the records that Phillip dealt with, including CD’s, bank statements, conference registrations, membership applications, deposit slips, etc. She said that bank statements, beginning and ending were checked, and everything was clean. She reviewed all checks over $2500, which required dual signatures and found all records to be in order. Karen stated that CD’s were looked at and they discussed that as they matured Phillip should take a look at those and ensure they were deposited in accounts, which would bring the highest interest. Karen reported that all voided checks were accounted for, that sponsorship reconciliation, which was huge, was clean and in order. She stated that ATAC sponsorship was not addressed since it had only been live for about two weeks when she did the review, but it would be checked next year. She closed by stating that Phillip had done an awesome job and had balanced everything to the penny. The only recommendation she had made was to move some money from checking to a money market account in order to get a higher return and he had already done that. She closed by stating again what an outstanding job Phillip had done and that this Association was in great shape financially.

Legislative Relations – State

Clark Aldridge reported there were only four bills introduced in the Alabama Legislation this session concerning students and financial aid. He stated that two of them had to do with medical programs. One affected the nursing scholarship and the amount the student received would increase. The other affected the optometry program and increased the amount of scholarships the student could receive. Clark stated that for scholarship recipients who did not work in the state, the scholarship converted to a loan that must be repaid. The law would specify that funds repaid would go back into the scholarship fund rather than the Education Trust Fund as it currently does. Clark also reported that one bill related to the NCAA and athletes. The bill, he stated, would provide for criminal felony penalties for any person, corporation, athletic booster club etc. to induce athletes to attend a particular institution by offering anything valued greater than $500 to attend a certain college or institution. In closing, Clark stated the last bill dealt with the Alabama Student Grant Program. Under current law, in order to receive moneys from this grant, institutions must be non-profit as well as accredited by the Southern Association of College and the bill, if passed, would remove these stipulations.

Legislative Relations – Federal

Doug Savage started his report by encouraging everyone to sign up for the ASFAA list serve, because he stated this was a way that he used to get out Federal Updates as well as current trends and issues to keep everyone informed. He also asked that everyone use IFAP to keep informed as there were many student aid issues going on. He stated that Negotiated Rulemaking would be finalized in November and enacted in July, 2008. Doug said that whatever came down the pike regarding ACG, Smart Grant, and the student loan issue, was something to watch for because there would be very specific language regarding these topics. He closed his report by stating that hearings were being held to seek input regarding potential reauthorization issues and the draft reauthorization bill being issued by mid-summer with the intent of it passing in the next legislative session.

Spring Local Arrangements

Linda Calvanese said she hoped everyone had gotten checked into their rooms with no problems, but to see her if there were any. She then stated that all general sessions would be in that room and that while the sessions were going on, the vendor area would be closed. She encouraged everyone to stop by the vendor booths and pick up displayed items and to thank them for their sponsorship. She stated there was a change in the location of the Luau that night because of weather. She said the banquet the next night was business casual and asked that everyone attend because a very good program had been planned for the evening. Linda closed by stating that if anyone had any questions or concerns to see her.

Long-Range Planning

Dee Talley reported that at last fall’s Board meeting she had presented a mission statement, a vision statement, and a statement of ethical principals for the Association to adopt. She stated those documents had been posted to the web for the membership to review and make any comments or suggestions they might have to improve them. Dee reported that to date she had received only one suggestion. She stated those were still on the website and encouraged everyone to submit their suggestions to her. She said the committee would present these to the Board at the transitional meeting for final approval. Additionally, Dee reminded the officers and committee chairs, that their year-end reports would be due at the transitional meeting in June. She also stated that recommendations had been presented at the last Board meeting concerning Committee chairs and other items of importance that the Long Range Planning Committee wanted the Board to consider. Dee closed her report by asking everyone to go back and look over these recommendations give their input before the new year began.

Membership

Shannon Cross reported that as of Monday afternoon there were 259 members. She said that all members should be subscribed to the list serve and if not to let her know. She stated that all new members should pick up their new member ribbon at the registration table so they could be recognized by the current membership. She also encouraged everyone to utilize their new user id and password for the new website. She closed by stating that any member could access the website to change their personal information, such as phone number, email address, etc.

Policy and Procedure Manual

Dr. Bill Wall reported that he and Carol Supri, By-Laws Chair, had worked on Policy and Procedure in conjunction with the By-Laws. He stated that several changes were made last year when the P&P and By-Laws were reviewed thoroughly. He reported these had been acted on but there remained a few that needed to be made this year, hopefully by the Transition meeting. One, he stated, was to supplement the officer’s duties and responsibilities with job expectations that were not specifically addressed. Second, he reported electronic voting would necessitate a change to the voting procedures, because the policy currently went into detail regarding paper ballots. Dr. Wall stated that he and Carol would be working together the next few weeks to bring to the Board revisions to the Policies regarding an Editorial Board for publications and recommendations relating to membership. He concluded his report by stating that Carol Supri had looked over the By-Laws thoroughly and would make comments regarding her review.