NJASFAA Executive Council Meeting Minutes

Raritan Valley Community College

January 15, 2004

Attended: Robert Alston, Francine Andrea, Dennis Levy, Audrey Loera, Helen Mikulak, Jim Owens, Carmen Panlilio, Maribeth Quinn, David Sheridan, Karen Weber

The meeting was called to order at 10:45 a.m. A quorum was established.

Motion to approve the December 19 Executive Council meeting minutes moved by Helen Mikulak; Seconded by Audrey Loera. Minutes were approved unanimously by a voice vote.

Committee Reports:

Electronic Initiatives: Jim Owens

· David would like all committees to be active on the NJASFAA Web site. He wants committee chairs to post meeting minutes and keep the calendar up-to-date.

· We would like to add a link to our Web site that lists descriptions of the NJASFAA awards. Award and scholarship recipients are listed on the site. The President’s Awards for 2003 have not been posted yet and should be as soon as possible; recipients were Debra Wulff and Maribeth Quinn.

· We would like to add a job posting system to our Web site and encourage members to use this in place of the listserv. Jim was asked to contact ATAC to begin the arrangements for this.

Government Relations: Carmen Panlilio

· The committee collected 392 postcards at the fall conference. The postcards addressed the issue of increasing loan limits. These were sent to legislators.

· A one-day hearing, to be conducted by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, will be held in Washington, D.C. on February 5. It was decided that NJASFAA will pay the travel expenses of one active member of GRC to attend the hearing and report back to Executive Council.

Membership:

· The association has 400 members.

Multicultural Concerns:

· The sub-teams of the committee, corporate sponsorship and Award will be meeting with Derek this month to finalize financial support for the Multicultural Student Award.

Newsletter:

· The second issue of the Newsletter has been posted to the NJASFAA Web site.

· The deadline to submit articles for the next issue is March 19.

Nominations and Elections: Audrey Loera

· Audrey will send an e-mail to the NJASFAA listserv in the end of January to solicit nominations for Executive Council and NJASFAA Service Awards. Pictures will accompany the names of all members on the ballot. David reminded everyone that it is the responsibility of all members of Executive Council to help get people involved and interested in running for office. Phone calls have a lot more impact than listserv e-mail announcements.

Scholarship:

· Jim has updated all the materials from last year.

· A mailing will be sent this month to Directors of Financial Aid to solicit submission of applications.

Training and Professional Development: Robert Alston

Robert informed us of workshops that were held this academic year. He thanked his outstanding committee members for their contributions. A majority of the feedback on the workshops was very positive.

· Verification training was held on October 3, 2003 at Rutgers University, Camden campus.

· NASFAA Student Eligibility training was held on October 16, 2003 at Raritan Valley Community College.

· A Clock Hours workshop was held at the fall conference.

· A Professional Judgment workshop was held on January 13, 2004 at Union County College.

· A Support Staff workshop will be held in the spring. This may include the FISH workshop that was presented at the fall conference.

HESAA Update: Francine Andrea

· HESAA has a $1.1 million appropriation for the Part-Time TAG Program for County Colleges.

· Fran will review the education-related bills that were worked on by the Legislature last week.

Old Business:

· Robert will see if he can reserve a room at The College of New Jersey for the May 13 Executive Council meeting.

· NJASFAA is required to retain Executive Council meeting minutes for seven years. Jim will make sure they are archived on our Web site.

· David is preparing an entry for the NASFAA State Award. He will submit our public awareness campaign to educate students, families and high school guidance counselors of the differences between financial aid professionals and financial aid consultants.

Motion to adjourn moved by Maribeth Quinn; Seconded by Audrey Loera.

Time 12:10 p.m.