NJASFAA Executive
Council Meeting
December 19, 2002
In attendance: Lissa Anderson, Sue Barschow, Ed Gonzalez, Gisele Joachim, Helen Mikulak, Maribeth Quinn, Joe Roberto, David Sheridan, Karen Struthers, Marion Twitchell, Karen Weber.
Meeting called to order at 11:15 a.m.
Quorum was established.
Officer Reports
Secretary: None.
Treasurer: The NJASFAA freestanding checking account has been closed and all association finances have been consolidated into First Union and Morgan Stanley accounts. This has resulted in less fees and charges to the association and the earning of interest on the checking account. Only 4 individuals and one vendor remain unpaid for the fall conference to date. The association received $61,000 in vendor support for the conference. All fall conference bills have been paid except for one. The total Bally’s bill was $45,419.19.
The Treasurer’s Report was approved unanimously.
Treasurer-Elect: None.
Vice President: None.
President: David Sheridan and Debbi Wulff have been selected to attend the annual Leadership Conference on behalf of NJASFAA.
President-Elect: A new committee is being planned for next year to work on a strategic plan for the association. An overnight retreat will be planned for some time in June to begin this process.
Past-President: None.
Committee Reports
Awards & Recognition: Association longevity awards were given at the fall conference.
Board of Directors: None.
Budget: The association budget looks fine with no committee over expenditures.
Conference: 49 conference evaluations were returned. Both the evaluations and word of mouth indicates that association members greatly enjoyed the conference and enjoyed the new facility. Vendors were also quite happy. The annual Spring Conference will be held Thursday, April 3 at the Pines Manor in Edison, NJ and is anticipated to be the same price as last year. Joe Roberto will begin negotiations with Bally’s for the Fall 2003 conference. The preferred dates for the conference are October 28 – 30 (Tuesday – Thursday) or second choice dates November 11 – 13 (Tuesday – Thursday). These dates do not conflict with the New York or Pennsylvania conferences.
Constitution/Bylaws: None.
Development: $61,000 received in vendor support. Vendors enjoyed the new conference site.
Electronic Initiatives: None.
Federal Relations: Committee minutes have been posted to the NJASFAA web site. A NJASFAA Reauthorization “wish” list has been drafted. The committee requested that each member write comments on at least one item. All NJASFAA members are also encouraged to respond. The committee is also seeking input on credit card solicitation policies on campus and polling the membership to find out about community service requirements that students have outside of the FWS programs. The committee hopes to provide insight for legislators to demonstrate that further mandates with regards to FWS Community Service requirements are not necessary. The Chapter 30 VA Benefits issue raised at the conference was discussed in committee and has been placed as a stand-alone item on the Reauthorization “wish” list. The committee indicated that consensus of the full association could not be reached on this or other similar issues, and thus the long-standing practice of not supporting individual issues should not be changed.
Membership: The association currently has 435 paid members. The committee projects 450 paid members by the end of the year.
Mentoring: None.
Minority/Cultural Concerns: None.
Newsletter: The next newsletter will be published at the end of January. Currently the committee is soliciting articles. This issue will be printed and posted on-line. A meeting between the Development, Newsletter and Electronic Initiatives committee chairs will be scheduled to move the newsletter completely on-line.
Non-traditional Concerns: None.
Professional Excellence: None.
Public Relations: None.
Scholarship: None.
Speakers Bureau: The Bureau is up and running. A letter will be sent to Guidance Counselors regarding the issue of helping families avoid financial aid scams.
State Relations: At the most recent meeting the following updates were given to the committee from HESAA. Dana Christmas Scholarship selection has been completed. Grants Correspondence and Notice screens will be added to the Grants E-administrator site. NJBEST will soon be offered as a managed fund and consolidation loans under the name of “Unity Loans” will soon be available through HESAA.
Sunshine: Vera Young (TCNJ) and Dick Solomon have announced their retirements.
Training: The speaker that the committee provided for the conference on ethics was very well received. NASFAA Spring Training will be offered at Raritan Valley College. Verification Training will be offered on April 30 at Raritan Valley College. Gloria Green and David Sheridan will be presenting at this training. Novice certificates have been distributed to all those that participated in this training.
EASFAA: None.
HESAA Update: State legislative update.
Old Business: The discussion of a wall of honor will be moved back to the Board of Directors. Discussions regarding the appointment of a representative to EASFAA will occur between the President and President-elect.
New Business: Marion Twitchell announced that this would be her last Executive Council meeting as she is working on a national initiative in her new position. We will all miss you, Marion!
The meeting adjourned for our annual holiday luncheon at 1:15 p.m.