SWASFAA
Southwest Association of Financial Aid Administrators
SWASFAA
Southwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
Board of Directors Meeting
Hyatt Regency, Albuquerque, NM
December 8 - 9, 2009
Present : Taina Savoit, Lee Carrillo, David Page, Lisa Griffin, John Jefferson, Rick Renshaw, Gwen Nixon, Shannon Guillory, Nora Cargo, Janell Valdez, Tricia Dubroc, Laura Coponiti, Andrew Hammontree, Karen Krause, Gladys Chairez, Mark Bandre', Tammy Harrison, Carlia Smith, Ron Hancock, Cindy Perez, Malea Fowler, Scott DeBoard, Mary Sue Rix, Sara Elliott, and Nora Cargo
Guest: Joan Crissman (NASFAA Interim President and CEO), Ron Day (NASFAA Representative at Large), Mindy Bergeron (WASFAA President) and Darlene Ellinger (SWASFAA Secretary Elect).
2010 Observers: Nancy Moats, Oscar Garcia and Jackie Lachapelle
Absent: Judi Sears, Lynn Wheeler and Lisa Hooper
Agenda Item and Attachment Number / Discussion / Action/DispositionMeeting Start Time / Called to order 12/8/2009 at 12:22 p.m.
Opening Remarks / Introductions and recognitions of Special Guest and Board Members / Informational item
Minutes - September 28 - 29, 2009 / David Page made the motion for September 2009 board meeting minutes to be approved as presented; Gladys Chairez seconded. Motion Carried / Minutes Approved
Officers' Reports
Agenda item #1-- A1
President's Report
Taina Savoit / The contract with the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque was signed in 2006. As of 12/8/2009 room block was 38.4% filled leaving an attrition charge of approximately $25,000. Renegotiations to reduce the penalty are planned. Taina proposed three possible options: 1) hold 2011 SWASFAA conference here at the Hyatt as contract for Oklahoma has not been signed. Oklahoma would then host in 2012. The Hyatt does have two possible dates available, the week before Thanksgiving and the week after Thanksgiving, 2) Hold 2011 NMASFAA conference at Hyatt , 3) hold a combination of three smaller meetings - 2010 September SWASFAA Board meeting, 2011 January SWASFAA Board meeting & 2010 Boot Camp committee meeting. The board meeting contracts have been signed, which would require the September Board meeting be cancelled with Arlington.
Taina discussed her written report, and thanked all that contributed during her reign as president. All are invited to president’s reception tonight. State gifts will be given at the end of the general sessions. / Taina asked that members be prepared to vote for one of the option tomorrow.
A2
Past President's
Report
David Page / David encouraged others to take the opportunity to serve SWASFAA as he has found the experience very rewarding.
Awards Nominations and Elections Committee
David said over 70% of membership voted in the election. David announced the newly elected board members and the delegates at large. Shannon Guillory made the motion to destroy election ballots. Motion was seconded by Andrew Hammontree. Motion carried.
Award recipients will be recognized during the business meeting. This year the committee received 17 applications for the Logan Ware Professional Development Scholarships. David thanked both sets of committee members. / Election ballots are to be destroyed.
A3
President-Elect'sReport
Lee Carrillo
A3a
Request for Action / Lee apologized for not inviting the President Elects from each state to this board meeting. Some of the names that have been submitted to represent our region on the NASFAA CEO search are: Charlie Bruce (OK), Dr. Eugene Padilla (NM), and David Page (AR). One person will be chosen by Dave Gruen. It’s expected that this person will serve for about six months.
Policies and Procedure Manual - Proposed action requested. Discussion followed: Taina explained that action would be for the future, to provide consistency is not intended to be retroactive. If the proposal is approved, each state can accept as part of their policies and procedures. Karen said in past sometimes presidents were given comp room. Her concern is that if the states have to pick up the room charge there may be the possibility that the SWASFAA president may not be invited as the state organizations struggle to save money. Taina gave the example that NASFAA covers travel, SWASFAA covers fees, and state covers meals. Rick said this is a partnership between organizations. David agreed and wants everyone to consider that some states may be rethinking conference arrangements. In the future more conferences may be held at schools and state organizations will have to absorb some expense.
Rick suggested a task force of State Presidents might be beneficial. Taina suggested delegates also be involved. Louisiana already has a policy. Texas has a policy regarding the order in which rooms will be paid. Laura supports a less restrictive policy. / Lee will rework the proposal and submit at next board meeting.
A4
Treasurer's Report
Cindy Perez / At the January board meeting she will have final numbers for this year's conference. She pointed out the expenses for printer purchase reflected on her written report. She stated the ING account earned $11,000 this year. Lee said the finance committee is looking at some other options for investments. SWASFAA was required to purchase liability insurance this year. Our former insurance company dropped us. We are awaiting a quote for “Dishonesty Bond" insurance on Cindy. David Page asked, if the state organizations had been billed $250 for Philo Brasher recipients. David clarified award goes to school not to the recipient. / Informational item
A5 (No attachment)
Secretary's Report
Judith Sears / Judith Sears, current secretary, could not be present this meeting and Darlene Ellinger (incoming secretary) will be taking the minutes. Taina reminded all members to submit e-mail reports to Darlene. / Informational item
State Reports
A6 Arkansas
President
John Jefferson
Delegate
Lisa Hopper / About 140 people attended AASFAA’s Fall Conference in Little Rock. Fee structure was changed by AASFAA’s Executive Council, October 21st
A one day Spring Conference has been set for April 22nd and a leadership retreat is planned for November 19-20, 2010. John expressed that future conferences would most likely be held at schools rather than hotels for economic reasons. / Informational item
A7 Louisiana
President
Shannon Guillory
(Con't)
Delegate
Gwen Nixon / 175 attended 2009 Fall Conference. The registration fee of $100 was enough to cover all meals. They were unable to break even this year, although the committees came in below budget. Even with 11 exhibitors, income is down from prior years. Forty-three attended the 2009 Fall Mini-Boot Camp that is offered free to members with 3 years or less experience.
A Spring Conference is being planned with a Board Meeting the day before and the Business Meeting the last day of the conference. Membership fees will probably increase due to the loss in exhibitor fees. There may be a basic vendor fee for space rent. They plan to create awards/honors link on LASFAA website. Shannon expressed that she was honored to serve on SWASFAA and had learned much. / Informational item
A8 New Mexico
President
Janell Valdez
Delegate
Gladys Chairez / A new board position, Treasurer Elect, was approved. NMASFAA Spring 2010 Conference will be held in Roswell, NM, March 31- April 2. Janell gave a brief update about New Mexico’s budget cuts. She expressed concern, that much needed financial aid staff will not be replaced when vacancies occur. She encouraged members to make sure legislatures know the importance of financial aid people and to make your voices heard.
Gladys Chairez, NM Delegate at Large, welcomed all to New Mexico.
A9 Oklahoma
President
Andrew Hammontree
Delegate
Laura Coponiti / Last board meeting was November 13, 2009. They are looking at the Tulsa area for next year's conference. Suggested dates for Support Staff Training are February 22 or March 1, 2010. Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program (OGSLP) developed a new outreach program to replace College Goal Sunday. The new program is targeted at high school students and possibly middle school students. It called Ucango2 and the website is Ucango2.org.
A10 Texas
President
Rick Renshaw
Delegate
Position is vacant / Contracts for two more conferences have already been signed - Galveston next year, then Arlington the year after. TASFAA expects to lose money for the 2010 conference. Last year no exhibitor fees were charged. TASFAA will be looking more at whether exhibitors fit in at the conference, and less as a revenue source. They may have a networking session instead for interested vendors. Rick set up a facebook for TASFAA’s President’s Advisory Council (PAC) - he’ll share how that materializes.
Lee stated that he had been part of a networking session and perceived it to be very successful. He described the session; vendors were set up and at timed intervals the members moved to the next vendor’s table.
NASFAA
Interim President
Joan Crissman / As interim president for NASFAA, Joan is open to communication and believes NASFAA is first and foremost a leadership organization. Decisions are made with the best interest of the membership involved. She was aware of how important flexibility is, as she listened to reports. Changes have been made and more changes are coming. Last year, they lost seven staff members. Over the last three years 1.2 million dollars was lost from exhibitor and sponsorship revenues. She advised organization not to expect any revenue from exhibitors. The desire is to have registration fees cover cost of conference. They have a very tight conference budget. The conference will be in Denver. Sessions will be pared down from 160 sessions and the focus will be back to basics. The Long Range Planning Committee will be sending a survey out in Spring to assess membership desires. NASFAA will then structure a long range plan (5 year) based on values and the mission. At times, in the past, consultants were hired and other times they have utilized representatives through retreats. It depends on budget, as retreats are expensive.
NASFAA has been involved in legislative initiatives and advocacy efforts with respect to budget reconciliations. The legislative team is working hard to stay informed at a time when it is very confusing and attention demanding. The Private Student Loans bill is expected to pass the house finance- this will require school certification of all private loans. NASFAA has several negotiators and alternatives for Negotiated Rule Making.
Joan stated that the SWASFAA region always had a strong training component. NASFAA decision to do fall training as fee based webinars was an unpopular decision. Timing of regulations was part of the problem. Three webinars have been conducted and to date about 1000 sites have been reached. Not sure how many people that have been reached. They prefer not to do this again. In the future, a combination of decentralized and centralized trainings. President's goals of having more graduates for 2020 - Was the assumption that an increase in aid would increase graduates? Joan said it would be wise for us to understand what goal the president has for financial aid. She advised caution and to make an effort to figure out what our own administration is up to. / Informational item
Committee Reports:
A16
Sara Elliott / Boot Camp
Sara chaired the committee along with three other committee members. They were able to provide dynamic training for the 24 participants. She stated that participants have been enthusiastic and many positive comments were made about the Boot Camp. / Informational item
A11
Lee Carrillo / Finance
Lee presented his proposed budget for 2010 and asked for suggestions since expected expenses were more than expected revenues. Taina said we need to have a balanced budget before approval. One suggestion was to have committee chairs attend board meetings once or twice a year. Because New Orleans was able to do conference for $30,000, Lee hopes that may be an indicator that next year's SWASFAA expenses could be lower. Another suggestion was to base membership fees on the number of financial aid staff per office rather than on size of enrollment. Currently membership is institutional. Karen asked - what is the goal to increase revenue and has any research been done to see if the change in membership fees would increase revenue? Lee answered no, but the committee may be tasked to do the research and that they may find there will be no monetary difference. Lee noted some suggestions at the bottom of his report. Mark suggested we go ahead and increase conference fees. David said we could possibly save shipping charges for awards if Taina takes them with her to the conference next year. Nominations and elections this year was totally e-mail. Lee said look at conference and boot camp expenses. Rick said his state has struggled to balance budget he put in an income line “transfer from reserves as needed” that way no latter board action was required, Rick said this method provided for a more realistic picture of the budget. Carlia asked where we are at - based on paid attendees because some participants will come and not pay (e.g. dept of Ed, guests, etc.) still have expenses for the attendees. She says we have to look at increasing membership dues or reducing services – realistically. Membership committee will be asked to survey and see if increase in membership by $50 is realistic. Oscar asked if teleconferencing or video conferencing may be more economic than meeting in person. Taina said the conference committee met twice and bootcamp met once last year. Karen said that might not result in much savings. Tricia said maybe the timing of our board meetings – like maybe one day board meeting –there is some value in face to face communication – that could be lost. Carlia said at one time SWASFAA coordinated board meetings with state board meetings. John suggested three meetings a year vs. four meetings, and teleconference as needed. Tammy’s idea is - try not to conflict SWASFAA dates with FSA in winter. Taina reminded us that last year the committee did survey the membership and November was the preferred month. Also we must watch conflicts with state’s spring conferences. Lee said this is most likely to happen in 2011 since 2010 is on contract. Laura said we are trying to move to November and with new officers in office January, having SWASFAA in April would be tough. Tricia said February is difficult for motel occupancy & weather. Tricia asked what numbers are for this conference. Last year 132 this year about 130 after cancellations. Booked 2010 with 560 nights. Lee said we must contact motel and negotiate. Karen said let the committee chairs see if they can reduce their expenses -conference calls usually cost about $25.00. The board agreed to allow for conversation this evening. / Informational item
Discussion to be continued tomorrow.
A13
Nora Cargo / Membership
Membership is up in almost every category. She is hoping to get membership reminders out in December. Because of the timing no change in membership fees will be made until 2011. Current membership expires 12/31/2009. Nora will make sure web page is ready for 2010 membership. Cindy says schools have had a lot of trouble updating their information – and schools do not know who is their voting person. Karen made the point that we only have 5 new institutions and that is the membership. / Informational item
A17 (no attachment)
Scott DeBoard / Continuing Education
Midlevel training had 12 attendees down from about 20 last year. The training is almost self-supporting. The committee has been very conservative. Scott expressed uncertainty about the future of a mid-level workshop? His feeling is, FSA is pulling the target participants and next year we may not want to have mid-level, David stated – maybe we need to do another survey asking about preferred dates for SWASFAA because we are competing with FSA. Participants want the most bang for their buck and we are held accountable to DOE not SWASFAA. Cindy said FSA is too big and we need to have Feds at SWASFAA. Karen said any time there are a lot of new federal changes, technical sessions are the popular ones. She said we must find an identity – at state level they have the obvious with state specific information, but with regional organizations there is no special niche. Cindy feels like people are expected to attend FSA. Carlia applauds the discussion on this topic of - Why people are not coming to SWASFAA. Rick said he was at FSA and did not have an opportunity to network. - Professional Development – that is what SWASFAA can offer. He says we may need to distance ourselves from FSA. John said letters to presidents from SWASFAA do not carry the weight that letters from FSA have. Tricia said we could market the point of smaller groups. Lee said it comes down to choice because he knows we can get the same training at SWASFAA. Every training from FSA is online. The training we offer at Boot Camp is better – people can ask questions. Lee said directors and leaders need to make the choice to go to SWASFAA. David said the decision has been made – we just are not listening. Nora said there is a difference in purpose and what is expected from training -they serve different populations. FSA is the more technical and SWASFAA is more people orientated. Lee said he has a technical person in Bootcamp and is learning there. Taina said we have a vision and the last 5 -6 years SWASFAA has had less than 200 participants. This is not a new phenomenon. / Informational item