Present:Kris Shear, Brad Hardison, Sherrie Padilla, Debbie Soria, Nancy Davis, Keith Cobb, Judy Cohen, Patti Morgan, Margie Carrington, Myra Rush, Linda Faasua, Maria Escobar, Dennis Schroeder, Gloria Falcon. Guest:Yasmin Delahoussaye

Absent:

JoAnn Bernard, Beth Asmus, Sherrie Padilla, Nicole Aldrian, Steve Arena

Action Taken Prior to Meeting: A motion was made by Margie Carrington and seconded by Brad Hardison on January 30, 2008 to add Kristin Shear (President) and Deborah Soria (Treasurer) as signatories on CCCSFAAA accounts. On January 31, 2008 this motion passed via an email vote with 16 ayes and one abstention.

The meeting was called to order at 8:15 AM by President, Kris Shear. She introduced Gloria Falcon from CSAC who was filling in for Brian Dickason.

Kris announced that the 2012 conference contract has been signed.

Minutes

Nancy Davis distributed the minutes of the following meetings as recorded by Secretary, Mary Spady:

October 07 (transition meeting). MargieCarrington moved that the minutes be approved. Andi Schreibman seconded. The minutes were approved as read.

Nancy then distributed the minutes of the Dec. 4, 2007 meeting. Judy Cohen moved that the minutes be approved. Andi seconded. The minutes were approved as read.

Nancy then distributed the minutes of the December 13th Meeting. Correction:Reina is the coordinator from Region I not II. Andi moved approval, Margie seconded. Minutes were approved as corrected with two abstentions – Reina and Anafe.

Minutes Special Exec Bd Mtg – Dec 20 Judy Cohen moved to approve, Reina Branum seconded. Minutes were approved as read. Abstentions-Anafe and Keith as they did not attend.

Treasurer’s Report – Brad Hardison (liaisons were asked to leave room)

Accounts -

Current Balance = $302,619.80Last’s year balance was $344,000 (used $41,000) from reserves

CD coming due

Scholarship account balance = $7, 423.83

Fall Conference –

Registrations down to 475; sponsorships exceeded projections.

Conference used $6932 of reserves.

Judy Cohen moved to approve Treasurer’s Report. Patty seconded. Report approved.

Brad explained process for this meeting – Chancellor’s Office will pay for travel CCCSFAAA pays for today. Dennis, Nancy, Greg and Keith's costs covered by CCCSFAAA including dinner if you get home after 6 pm.

707 527-4616 is Kris’s fax # if you need her to sign off on reimbursement – if not and complete, send to Debbie.

Fiscal Planning Report

Debbie Soria reported on the Fiscal Planning Committee. Meetings were heldthe past Thursday and Sunday

2008 Budget Discussion

Income

Toni Dubois, 2008 Conference Chair proposed a break even conference. The registration fee will be increased by $30. Projected amount from sponsorship income was reduced from last year. Looking for additional sponsors (non lenders). A membership drive will be held to increase income as a $3000 increase is budgeted for this year. An increase in scholarship income is budgeted, based on plan to expand involvement in order to raise more funds. Reina Branum volunteered to serve on committee with Margie. In addition the projected income from the Spring Conference was increased as hope to increase number of registrants.

Expenses

Decisions Made:

Awards budget was cut. (Note* -last year’s figure was for 2 years). The amount for executive board meeting costs was increased as we will be picking up more cost since CCCCO does not have as much money due to lower enrollment fees and less funds available in the set aside. The fall conference expenses will include the President’s Reception as part of meals and breaks. Kris, Margie and Sherrie will attend the NASFAA Leadership Conference. The amount for a gift for the North Carolina Association was reduced and both requests for laptops (1 from the secretary and 1 from the Newsletter editor) were denied.

Other expenses were reduced as follows: the Scholarship Committee’s budget was reduced by one half, give-aways were eliminated for the Spring Conference, funds to sponsor the All Director’s Training were eliminated, web services were cut in half, and the LCD projector request was cut. Expenses for CSAC Meetings, Day at the Capitol and League Advocacy were budgeted. The final projection is that we will need$48,000 from reserves. Brad said we need to look at long term solution as we cannot continue to do this each year. Discussion followed regarding Scholarship fund raising – get word out sooner. Give more time for application process. Spring Training – suggestion was to do some baskets as well as 50/50 type thing.

Motion – Judy moved to accept the 2008-2009 budget – Margie seconded. Motion was approved.

Liaisons rejoined the meeting.

Fall 2007Conference Report – Brad Hardison

Brad reported that the 19 member Conference Committee planned the conference. Two in person meetings were held and the rest were done through CCCCONFER. Brad said that Syed and Nancy were a big help, especially with furniture and audio visual needs. Evaluations were generally positive especially the hotel, Dr. Joe Martin, Jeff Baker, and Linda Michalowski. A common complaint was that there were not enough handouts. The handouts will be posted on the web (Dennis will take care of this). There were also some complaints about the Visa cards as some members were charged a fee, some thought it would pay for more than the $12 and some businesses would not accept the card for partial payment.

One major problem the Committee faced was that theyfound out that we did not have access to the vendor area on the day before since another group had it. That group released part of the space, but it did disrupt some of the vendor’s plans.

Brad said that registration seemed to go well and the final figure was 452 (had projected 500). There were not as many late registrations as last year and there were more cancellations this year (43). Andi expressed a concern from her CSSO regarding no one day registration fee and she suggests looking into that for next year. Gloria Falcon said the commissioners would have come for one day also. Dennis Schroeder reported that online services for the conference were enhanced including the ability to purchase guest tickets on line.Debbie Soria reported that the vendors didn’t hit the submit button when they requested a booth. She got a printout so she could walk them through finishing the online process. Also, sent paperwork to Amy Tien, but she had difficulty identifying who the checks were for. She admitted that there were some challenges this year, but feels it is a great system.Dennis will look into a way that the Treasurer could input the info for the vendors per Debbie’s request. Judy said the same would be great for registration.Margie Carrington recommended looking at the location for scholarship auction as it was difficult to carry everything to Jillian’s this year.

Next year Toni DuBois is chairing the conference as professional developmentactivity with her staff. In June we will have our Board Meeting at Anaheim instead of San Diego so that we can visit the Conference site.

The contract was signed for the 2012 Conference which will be held in Anaheim on December 5 – 12th(we lost the previous dates right after Thanksgiving).

CASFAA Election – Pres, President Elect and V.P.State Issues

Mindy Bergeron is filling in right now since Craig Yamamoto resigned. Kris discussed not going out any further with site selection with Mindy.

CASFAA Liaison Report – submitted by JoAnn Bernard. CASFAA discussed Fund Development, Online newsletter and re-evaluating budget in June 08. CASFAA is interested in a joint Day at the Capitol. Issue regarding Wednesday event instead of Tuesday – if we would be willing to change to Tuesday they could participate. We will change to Tuesday and our Board meeting would be on Wed, instead.

Kris introduced Yasmin Delahoussaye – CSACCommunity CollegeCommissioner.

CSAC Liaison Report………………..Gloria Falcon

Elimination of new competitive Cal Grants - Gloria reported that if they usually run the selections in April it will be a problem, but if they wait until the May revise, that will be late. She said that Cal C can be run later, but students may miss out on A or B. She asked us to inform her or Brian if we have any suggestions. Kris said we strongly encourage CSAC to award Cal B’s in April with language that it is a tentative award and to award C’s after May revise.

Gloria also reported that the September GPA form will be available March 4th. They are thinking of only putting it on the website. CC’s would do well. High Schools tend to do more paper. If they put it only on the website, they would need to do reminders. Kris said that we could do postcards and a pdf document. Need posters also. Tim asked her to share the talking points from CSAC regarding this issue to try to prevent elimination. Tim also asked her to inform CCCO when they know how they are going to proceed. He also asked if they are going to reach out CSU, UC, and Independents. She will ask how CSAC will communicate plans. Two events are coming up (March 4th – Advocacy Event 18th (Day at the Capitol). Tim said we need the talking points by then.

Yasmin Delahoussaye mentioned that at the February commission meeting – ask for action plan that will include all of the stakeholders. Need op ed pieces for newspapers, etc. Can work with Bill Madsen, communications person on these pieces. Need to involve public. Some feel that the legislature will never do this. Students need to get involved. Yasmin will help.

The new IPA will be sent out in mid February (19th) and will be due in 30 to 45 days. Brad asked about the interest bearing account issue. She said that the college business offices just turned in surveys. The issue regarding getting a credit was discussed since the institution may front the money until funds come in. The 2008-2009 IPA was already approved (good for 4 years). The survey was for the future. They received input from 100 schools and will revisit that issue. Schools must submit the IPA on time – if not they will not receive their advance. Judy asked to get the advance earlier (i.e. early in October). When RealTime is implemented we will be able to pick the date. The group said they would like it as early in October as possible or at least be notified of the date earlier.

Gloria reported that EdFund and CSACwill be moving in August to new locationsin Rancho Cordova and they will let us know the schedule for any closures.

Chaffee Grant – app online now. 08-09 – working with Dept. of Soc Services for additional funding. Encourage students who want to apply for 07-08 to do so. Margie asked about students who applied for 0708 but did not get funded – will they get priority for 08-09? She asked if they could be considered renewals. Tim said real renewal students will get priority – need NARS report for 08-09 for these students. Tim is asking for CSAC to send out an Operations Memo to discuss this whole situation as soon as possible.

Gloria reported that they are going to be sending postcards to students regarding those students who didn’t submit GPA form, etc. Kris asked that we be notified when these are going out so that we know what the student has received. Tim also asked for postcards for the September deadline.

Brad discussed the fact that we would like to be able to go on the web and see what the student sees rather than our screens,which are very different.

Reorganization being discussed. Effective day of sale – civil servants will be lost from EdFund. Sale $500 million is price tag now. Trying to maintain services to schools and students. Suggestions are welcome.

Feds set up College Access Challenge Grant $60 million – formula driven state grant. One agency will be awarded money to administer grant – disadvantaged low income populations in Cal. Tim asked if CSAC had asked to administer the 8 million dollars.

Yasmin thanked the Board for pushing her nomination. 6 new commissioners have been appointed and these new members will be at next meeting. She will be on the Commission until 2009. She is one of the most senior members. She is now chair of Personnel Evaluation and Nomination committee and she may also become one of the officers. She is currently serving on the monitoring committee and they are working on developing a document. She said issues concerning her are: sale of EdFund –they are working on detangling of Edfund and CSAC. She mentioned that the move also important and difficult as they are moving the technology structure. Budget cuts – staff terminations – civil servants, elimination of Cal Grants, Cal-SOAP – struggling to get reps in place. Whenever there is a community college vacancy that we respond as we need to have these reps for CC’s.

She spoke about the series of questions that she wrote about in the CCCSFAAA newsletter.

Question #1-Are we satisfied with outreach that CSAC has put forward? (I Can Afford College, Cash for College, etc.) Is there a need for improvement? The Board explained that we need more communication and Yasmin said she will speak to Diana about this. Tim Bonnel said that many of our schools are hosting Cash for College workshops as well.Andi said that a large part of our student population is already out of high school and they don’t get the advantage of the scholarships given at the Cash for College events. Tim brought up SB1644 and the fact that there is a provision for outreach for disabled students, transfer students, foster youth, which has never happened. All money has gone to high school efforts. Tim will send Yasmin a copy. Anafe Robinson noted that with Cash for College, the emphasis is on Cal Grants only – she is concerned that other programs are not included in the message.

Question #2–Student aid forms can be difficult to understand – can they be simplified?

The Board told her that we are collaborating on revisions to CSAC forms. We mentioned that we are trying to do the same with the FAFSA.

The issue of reporting corrected information on subsequent ISIR transactions to CSACwas discussed. CSAC does not update web grants, but waits for schools to send in updates. This requires manually looking at each record. Yasmin will take this issue back to Diana.

Yasmin also spoke about her concern about the rising alternative loan volume. Shetold the group that we were welcome to email her with any concerns and suggestions.

State Issues Report-BradHardison

March Meeting – Day at the Capitol coming up on that Wednesday. Legislature not in session, however we will be able to meet with staffers. On March 4, 2008, a Foundation for California Community Colleges Lobby Day for community colleges hosted by CCCCO will be held beginning at 9:00 am. Brad is willing to attend as well as Kris. Group agreed.

EOPS Report – Maria Escobar Maria reported that the EOPS Board met last Friday in Sacramento. President, Paula Munoz shared a letter from Beth to participate in the October EOPS Conference. Beth did a presentation regarding best practices of coordinating EOPS and Fin Aid. Beth’s EOPS Director was upset that she did not know she was presenting. Still want to foster this kind of dialogue. EOPS is planning an Assoc. Director’s Training. Maria suggested that we might want to combine with Financial Aid. The idea of having joint regional meetings was discussed. Coding of the BOGW’s was discussed and EOPS access to financial aid screens. At some colleges EOPS determines eligibility and grant amounts. The Financial Aid office enters the awards on the system. Some colleges allow the EOPS office to post awards on the aid screen or “resource” screen. Maria reported that the proposed budget cuts were discussed. Jonathan Lightman, a lobbyist for EOPS presented information regarding the effect on EOPS programs.

To Do: Find out if your EOPS Office has access to financial aid screens.

EOPS Conference October same time as our meeting – Millbrae, CA- Westin

Kris invited Maria to discuss with Paula advocating for preserving Cal Grant funding.

To Do: Kris asked for volunteers to hold joint meetings with EOPS. Region V and X and I will work on putting together a joint EOPS, Fin Aid Meeting in their regions.

Kris asked if we can change October Meeting dates from 27, 28, 29 to 20, 21 and 22. The Board agreed.

Federal Issues Committee

Margie Carrington will have a Federal Issues Committee Meeting shortly. She is also on the CASFAA Fed Issues Committee and she is working with Pat Hurley. On Friday, Pat will be giving her an update on current issues. Jacque Bradley, Anne McKinney, Kris Shear also on committee. The current issues they are discussing are the Grijalva Amendment – Cohort Default Rate change (3 years) – CC’s will double their cohort default rate as a group if this goes through. Anne McKinney is going to D.C. next week with some of the Trustees and will present our perspective and lobby to get that changed. They will advocate for changing the limit for low participation rate to 25%, decoupling Pell from loan default rate – penalty would be elimination from loan program only. The Committee will be working closely with Pat and CASFAA as a group effort. Will help build these relationships with CASFAA. Margie also reported that CASFAA is sending a letter pushing for amendment to change language in CCRA– allowing guaranty agencies to present entrance and exit counseling. Margie asked if we agree and we can fax our own letter. Consensus to send letter.SEOG allocation is an issue also.