NJASFAA Executive Council Meeting Minutes

Mercer County Community College

August 19, 2004

Attended: Lissa Anderson, Sheila Attias, Catherine Boscher-Murphy, Joan Buttafuoco, Vince Davis, Gloria Green, Patricia Guli, John Iacovelli, Dennis Levy, Manny Loera, Shirley McFarlane, Helen Mikulak, Reggie Page, Carmen Panlilio, Maribeth Quinn, Larry Sharp, David Sheridan, Mark Singer, Karen Weber, Debra Wulff

The meeting was called to order at 9:40 a.m. A quorum was established.

Motion to approve the July 15 Executive Council meeting minutes moved by David Sheridan; seconded by Dennis Levy. Minutes were approved unanimously by a voice vote.

Officer Reports:

Treasurer: Dennis Levy

· Dennis has received all of the books from Debra Wulff.

· He will now receive all expenditure forms submitted by members.

· The NJASFAA accountant has prepared our 2003-2004 federal and state tax returns. Maribeth signed them today. Dennis will file them before the federal deadline of September 15 and the state deadline of October 31.

· He thanked Debra for her great job as Treasurer last year.

· As suggested previously, we need to explore implementing a periodic internal audit.

President: Maribeth Quinn

· Maribeth contacted a few Past Presidents after reading recent articles about HESAA. She drafted a letter to HESAA, on behalf of NJASFAA, in show of our support of the agency.

· Motion to approve this letter moved by Dennis Levy; seconded by Karen Weber. The letter was approved unanimously by a voice vote. Maribeth will send the letter to HESAA next week.

President-Elect: Carmen Panlilio

· Carmen distributed procedures on how to set up an endowment fund, along with “A Draft Resolution to Establish an Endowment Fund.”

· Vince Davis and Margaret McGrail will serve on the Endowment Fund Committee.

Past President: David Sheridan

· NJASFAA was the recipient of a NASFAA State Award. David displayed the banner that the association received at the NASFAA conference in July.

· We will decide what to do with the $500 that accompanied the award and report back to NASFAA.

Committee Reports:

Conference: Manny Loera

· The first committee meeting was held on August 5. The theme for our fall conference is “I’ll Take Financial Aid for $…”

· Manny is program chair of the committee. He and Gisele are reaching out to speakers for concurrent sessions. He requested feedback from the group with any ideas for concurrent sessions.

· Dinner on Wednesday evening will start with a “Jeopardy” game show. Catherine asked us to submit to her questions and answers for the game show.

· The spring conference will be held on April 13, 2005 at the Bridgewater Manor.

Development:

· Maribeth distributed the 2004-2005 Levels of Sponsorship, which lists benefits of each level of sponsorship.

· Jim Anderson and Kimber Decker put together guidelines for the distribution of materials by vendors at NJASFAA sponsored events.

Electronic Initiatives: Larry Sharp

· Larry distributed recent design examples of ATAC Corporation’s state association Web sites. He asked us to review the Web pages and let him know our top three preferences, along with any other features of the sites we like.

· He reviewed new enhancements to our Web site. It will have a new architectural design. Pages will be more fluid. Enhancements include text links on all pages; updated graphics; new management features with a new membership system, event management, officer and committee management, and payment system.

· Banner ads can be placed on selected pages.

· He discussed creating a portal on our Web site, which would include hot links to other important sites that we visit often.

· He suggested having articles with timely updates scrolled into the bottom of the site.

· He would like to put our pictures on the site.

· A suggestion was made to post conference handouts on the site.

Government Relations: Lissa Anderson and Sheila Attias

· The first committee meeting was held on August 10.

· Lissa and Sheila will work with ad hoc committees, which will be ongoing.

· Jim Anderson will chair an ad hoc committee for lender concerns.

· Evelynne Blatt and Ninfa Mueller will serve as state liaisons. They will work with HESAA staff to keep members current with state regulations.

The committee will:

· Continue its partnership with PASFAA and expand to include NYASFAA.

· Work with the recent Department of Education guidance on tax issues and resolving conflicting information.

· Post the following to our Web site: state bills and a link to the New Jersey Legislature; information regarding the DYFS Scholarship for students in foster care; and Reauthorization updates.

· Present one session at the fall conference. The session will discuss how financial aid administrators bring information back to college campuses.

Long Range Strategic Plan:

· Michael Bennett provided Maribeth and David with a final draft of the Long Range Strategic Plan. This will be distributed to us next week.

· He will attend the September 17 Executive Council meeting.

Membership: Joan Buttafuoco

· The association has 292 active members.

Mentoring: Gloria Green

· The first committee meeting will be held in mid-September.

· Gloria sent letters to directors asking if they have staff who want to be mentored. She received responses and has five potential new members to mentor.

· New members and Mentoring Committee members will be seated together for lunch at the fall conference.

Multicultural Concerns: Vince Davis

· Vince is looking into two events for the fall conference. This committee may partner with the Mentoring Committee at the fall conference.

· He has contacted Tom Joyner, a radio personality who raises money for endowment funds.

· Wachovia will donate $2000 as a start-up of the endowment fund.

Non-Traditional Concerns: Helen Mikulak

· The first committee meeting will be held on September 10 at Somerset County Technology Institute.

· Helen sent letters to all institutions that responded to the Clock Hour training.

Novice Training: Debra Wulff

· Debra has a tentative agreement with Drew University to host this training.

· It will be a four-day three-night residential program to be held in mid-June 2005.

· She will contact members to be trainers.

Public Relations: Mark Singer

· Mark purchased a media guide for distribution of press releases.

· The NJASFAA Hotline will be held in January 2005.

Speakers Bureau: Reggie Page

· Reggie attended the session on College Goal Sunday at the NASFAA conference in July. NJASFAA wants to get involved with this program. HESAA will work with us on this.

· He would like to send a letter to high school guidance counselors, along with the Speakers Bureau brochure, to promote the Speakers Bureau to the high school community.

· He distributed a draft letter that he would like to send to parents to educate them about financial aid consultants.

Sunshine: Shirley McFarlane

· The committee has received positive feedback from members regarding recognition of life events.

· Shirley would like to recognize the front line staff in financial aid offices.

Training and Professional Development: Patricia Guli

· The first committee meeting was held on August 18.

· The committee discussed topics for the fall conference, training sessions for this academic year and the development of a two-year calendar of events.

· Ideas for the fall conference include a session on FERPA and a professional development session.

· Training topics for this year include a one-day workshop with Jim Briggs, NSLDS, support staff workshop, loan workshop and one-stop shopping.

· Ideas for other workshops include Professional Judgment, resolving conflicting information, Satisfactory Academic Progress, SAR C Codes and Verification.

HESAA Update: John Iacovelli

· Michael Angulo, the new Executive Director of HESAA, will attend the September 17 Executive Council meeting.

· HESAA will provide three training sessions to assist county colleges with implementation of the NJSTARS program.

· HESAA plans to improve service on its hotline for next year.

Old Business:

· At the September 17 Executive Council meeting, we will discuss whether associate members of NJASFAA should have the right to vote. Council members and committee chairs should put proposals in writing and submit them to Carmen for distribution prior to this meeting.

Motion to adjourn moved by Helen Mikulak; seconded by Mark Singer and unanimously approved at 12:25 p.m.