NJHESAA
May 13, 2005
Attended: Lissa Anderson, Francine Andrea, Sheila Attias, Sharon Austin, Catherine Boscher-Murphy, Joan Buttafuoco, Jo-Ann Craig, Vince Davis, Stephanie Fitzsimmons, Gloria Green, Patricia Guli, Jean Hathaway, Adrienne Hynek, Gisele Joachim, Woodrow Lewis, Shirley McFarlane, Helen Mikulak, Carmen Panlilio, Maribeth Quinn, Elizabeth Riquez, Mark Singer, Marilyn Stamas, Steve Tessitore, Karen Weber, Richard Woodland
The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. A quorum was established.
Motion to approve the March 17 Executive Council meeting minutes moved by Helen Mikulak; seconded by Carmen Panlilio. Minutes were approved unanimously by a voice vote.
Officer Reports:
Treasurer:
· Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report moved by Mark Singer; seconded by Karen Weber. Treasurer’s Report was approved unanimously by a voice vote.
President: Maribeth Quinn
· Maribeth thanked everyone for his or her contributions to NJASFAA this year. NJASFAA had a very successful year.
· She was extremely pleased with the Constitution and By-Laws change that was approved at the fall conference.
· The Audit Committee and College Goal Sunday will be ongoing.
President-Elect: Carmen Panlilio
· The 2005-2006 Executive Council retreat will be held June 9 to 10, 2005 at The Inn at Lambertville Station.
· Carmen distributed 2005-2006 committee budget request forms. She requested that these forms be returned to Marilyn prior to the retreat. Our new travel reimbursement policy will be effective on July 1, 2005. Committee chairs should include any travel expenses in their budget requests.
Committee Reports:
Awards and Recognition: Catherine Boscher-Murphy
· The committee distributed longevity awards at the spring conference.
Budget: Marilyn Stamas
· The committee would like to have a balanced budget.
·
Marilyn
requested final expenditures for the 2004-2005 budget year so that a resolution
could be prepared to re-allocate funds from committees that under spent to
those that over spent. After discussion
among Executive Council, Maribeth decided that such a resolution was not
necessary, as long as the bottom line of the budget was not over spent. Maribeth also decided that it was not
necessary to allocate funds to line items for which no budget allocation
existed (such as the $1219 charged to Strategic Planning).
Conference: Gisele Joachim
· The spring conference received good evaluations.
Constitution and By-Laws: Richard Woodland
· Richard thanked Maribeth for his receipt of a President’s Award at the spring conference.
EASFAA Update:
· The EASFAA Conference will be held May 15 to 18 in Atlantic City. Our state gift will be a “Sopranos” gift.
Electronic Initiatives:
·
The NJASFAA Web
site will be offline for a few days while the upgrade is taking place.
Government Relations: Lissa Anderson and Sheila Attias
· The May 11 committee meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for June. Chris Pesotski, the GRC chair for next year, has been invited to this meeting.
· Lissa and Sheila will keep members informed of issues by posting information to our Web site.
· The NASFAA Reauthorization Task Force is asking the membership for comments on two issues that address HEA provisions on School-As-Lender and the Student Aid Reward (STAR) Act. Comments are due by May 18.
Membership: Joan Buttafuoco
· The association has 439 members for 2004-2005 and 266 members for 2005-2006.
Mentoring: Gloria Green
· The committee will visit the Wachovia Processing Center in Delaware on May 25 for a spring loan day, and will participate in Novice training in June.
Multicultural Concerns: Vince Davis
· Vince has secured a $2000 donation for the Multicultural Student Award.
Newsletter:
· The fall conference issue of the newsletter was distributed recently.
· We will produce an annual report, hopefully in July.
Non-Traditional Concerns: Helen Mikulak
· The committee has met quarterly in the past year. Members have been able to network with one another throughout the year.
· The meeting scheduled for April 29 was cancelled because of conflicting dates. Maribeth was going to give a demonstration on ED Express and R2T4 software.
· There was a good response for the above training. Andre Maglione or Steve Tessitore would like to be a member of the committee and assist in training.
Novice Training: Jo-Ann Craig
· Two announcements for Novice training have been posted to the NJASFAA list. Information will be posted to our Web site.
Public Relations: Mark Singer
· Mark still has a large supply of brochures. He would like to distribute them at College Goal Sunday and to high school guidance counselors.
Scholarship: Jean Hathaway
· Four out of the six scholarship winners attended the spring conference.
· The checks and plaques for the other two winners were mailed.
Sunshine: Shirley McFarlane
· Shirley has enjoyed serving as chair of this committee for the past two years.
· The committee will send a donation to Rowan University in honor of Linda Bethea.
Training and Professional Development: Patricia Guli
· A Support Staff workshop was held on April 22.
HESAA Update: Francine Andrea
Fran informed us of items that were discussed at the May 11, 2005 HESAA Board meeting.
· HESAA will review the impact of the new SAT scores on the Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished and Urban Scholars Program and the Outstanding Scholars Recruitment Program. The board will continue to recognize 1600 as the top score and will not recognize the writing section at this time.
· Recently, Acting Governor Codey signed the Voss/Greenstein Bill. This bill provides that a dependent child whose parent is transferred to a military installation in New Jersey will be considered a resident of New Jersey for the purposes of qualifying for a Tuition Aid Grant. This exemption applies only to the TAG Program.
· The board recognized Erin Ferris, the Student Advisory Committee chair, for her outstanding contributions to the committee.
· Fran also informed us that for 2005-2006, NJCLASS fixed rate loans will have a 6.15 percent interest rate with a 15-year repayment term. The interest rate will be reduced to 5.65 percent for automatic debit payments on fixed rate loans in monthly repayment.
Old Business:
· The Audit Committee met with recent and current Treasurers in February. There was unanimous consensus that a detailed audit should be conducted as soon as possible.
· Richard distributed proposals from two accountants, which included an explanation of their services and cost estimates. We discussed whether to use the accounting firm to prepare our tax return, in addition to conducting the audit.
· Mark Singer moved a motion that we empower the Audit Committee, on behalf of NJASFAA, to inquire about the additional cost, if any, on tax preparation, and to select the auditor. Carmen Panlilio seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously by a voice vote.
· We decided to use our current accounting firm to prepare our 2004-2005 tax returns, for the period ending April 30, 2005, and use the accounting firm who conducts our audit for preparation of future tax returns.
· The Audit Committee will provide a final report to membership at the fall conference.
· NASFAA is seeking volunteers to serve on the Local Arrangements Committee for the NASFAA Conference to be held in July in New York City.
New Business:
·
Maribeth distributed NASFAA fall training information
to the NJASFAA Training Committee chairs.
·
The Graduate and Professional Concerns Committee will
be re-established next year. Gisele
will chair the committee. She asked us
for feedback on items of interest.
·
Janet Mariano Merli has accepted the position of
Director of Financial Aid at Felician College.
· Lissa advised us to be aware of scholarship scams.
Motion to adjourn moved by Mark Singer; seconded by Karen
Weber and unanimously approved at 12:15 p.m.