NJASFAA Executive Council Meeting Minutes

The White Sands Hotel, Point Pleasant, New Jersey

June 20 – 21, 2006

 

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

 

Attended: Lissa Anderson, Francine Andrea, Karyn Arnold, Sharon Austin, Evelynne Blatt, Catherine Boscher-Murhpy, Kimber Decker, Donna Fojtlin, Gloria Green, Adrienne Hynek, John Iacovelli, Gisele Joachim, Dennis Levy, Woodrow Lewis, Helen Mikulak, Reginald Page, Carmen Panlilio, Maribeth Quinn, Joseph Roberto, Mark Singer, Karen Sokol, Marion Twitchell, Karen Weber, Debra Wulff

 

The meeting was called to order at 10:20 am.  A quorum was established.

 

Welcome:  Helen Mikulak

 

  • Helen thanked everyone for attending.

 

Past President:  Carmen Panlilio

 

  • Carmen gave an update from the recent Board of Directors meeting.

 

  • The Treasurer’s Report showed that the Association is in great shape.  All documents have been sent to the accountant for tax preparation.
    • Our tax returns should be completed by August.
    • All bills are paid to date.
  • Maribeth presented the Long Range Strategic Plan to the Board.  After the LRSP is updated at the June 2006 Executive Council retreat, it will be posted to our Web site.
  • The Wall of Honor is complete.
  • We would like to recognize members of the Board who have left NJASFAA.
  • The Board made the following recommendations.  We should:
  • Send more information to the general membership.
  • Create a training calendar for members.
  • Have an Executive Management Training workshop annually.
  • Expand the President’s Reception at the fall conference to a full dinner to accommodate all conference attendees.
  • Look at New Jersey colleges that are not NJASFAA members, such as Princeton and Camden County College.
  • Create a formal means by which members could contribute to the scholarship (endowment) fund.

 

President-Elect:  Gisele Joachim

 

  • As President-Elect, Gisele will attend at least one meeting of each committee.

 

Secretary:  Evelynne Blatt

 

  • Karen Weber sent out the minutes from the May meeting.
  • Motion to approve the May 16 Executive Council meeting minutes moved by Dennis Levy; seconded by Woodrow Lewis.  Minutes were approved unanimously by a voice vote.

 

Treasurer:  Dennis Levy and Adrienne Hynek

 

  • Dennis voiced gratitude to Helen on behalf of NJASFAA for her great job as Treasurer.
  • Our Federal Income Tax return has a deadline of September 15 and our State Income Tax return has a deadline of October 31.
  • Dennis reminded Council that the roles of Treasurer and Treasurer-Elect are in transition this year.  They are in line with the future roles of the Treasurer and Past Treasurer.  Membership will vote on the change in titles at the fall conference.
  • Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report moved by Karen Weber; seconded by Gisele Joachim.  Treasurer’s Report was approved unanimously by a voice vote.

 

Budget:  Karen Sokol

 

  • Karen circulated the 1981-1982 budget as well as the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 budgets.
  • She gave a report of the projected budget as it stands now.
  • $32,650 was budgeted for College Goal Sunday.
  • The increase in the fall conference budget was to cover projected costs related to expanding the President’s Reception.
  • John suggested changing the name of the “Leadership” line to “Leadership Institute.”
  • Mentoring, Multicultural Concerns and Training and Professional Development Committee budgets were increased.
  • Cathi notified us that the goals of the Association are to promote effective financial aid administration through education and training of financial aid administrators, as well as the public.

 

Policies and Procedures:  Catherine Boscher-Murphy

 

  • Our Policies and Procedures are online.
  • Cathi requested that we review our sections and submit changes to her.  She will consolidate the changes and a new Policies and Procedures will be posted online after the fall conference.
  • Letterhead will be available online for download in PDF.
  • Carmen and Helen requested that letterhead be printed for those who do not have a color printer.
  • Cathi also has the NJASFAA logo in Word.

 

College Goal Sunday:  Maribeth Quinn

 

  • College Goal Sunday plans to expand to three more sites in 2007:  Elizabeth, Paterson and either Asbury Park or Atlantic City.
  • Maribeth gave a history of College Goal Sunday.
  • NASFAA was extremely impressed with New Jersey’s College Goal Sunday numbers, especially since we rescheduled because of snow.  68-70 percent of attendees were in the target audience.
  • Since planning for College Goal Sunday will begin earlier this year, costs will be lower and there will be more opportunities to receive sponsorship.

 

Leadership Institute:  John Iacovelli

 

  • John noted that the Leadership Institute had a very successful inaugural year.  The committee received positive feedback for its work at the fall conference.  It will distribute the Pyramid of Success at guidance counselor workshops.
  • The Institute is exploring topics/issues for a concurrent session at the fall conference.  It will elicit input from seasoned NJASFAA members on the types of professional development issues they want the Leadership Institute to pursue.
  • Maribeth announced that EASFAA is planning on doing a leadership session at the NJASFAA fall conference.

 

EASFAA Update:  Maribeth Quinn

 

  • The Department of Education will do fall training on HERA, so NASFAA has considered moving its fall training to spring.
  • EASFAA will do two modules of a Leadership Institute.
  • EASFAA is working on a second Long Range Strategic Plan.  The first one has been completed.
  • The EASFAA conference will be held May 20 to 23, 2007 in Niagara Falls.
  • EASFAA will submit position letters to encourage Congress to level the Direct and FFELP PLUS rates at 7.9% instead of meeting in the middle at 8.2%.
  • Logo and trade marking will done by Franklin Pierce College for only the cost of filing – the logo, NJASFAA, and New Jersey Association of Financial Aid Administrators will be trade marked.
  • Cathi presented a draft policy for using the NJASFAA trademark and logo.  This will be posted to our Web site.
  • Motion to approve the NJASFAA Policy on Use of Name and Logo moved by Gisele Joachim; seconded by Dennis Levy.  NJASFAA Policy on Use of Name and Logo was approved unanimously by a voice vote.

 

Morning Session Wrap-Up:  Helen Mikulak

 

  • Helen distributed the Executive Council meeting schedule for the 2006-2007 year.
  • She requested that if anyone cannot attend a meeting, he or she should send a committee report to the Secretary before the meeting.  The Secretary will distribute the report at the meeting.

 

Committee Discussions:

 

  • Attendees broke out into groups to discuss committee goals and objectives.
  • The finance group reported back to everyone with several budget changes.  They suggested a proposed budget of $196,000.
  • Once the budget is completed, committee chairs may request an increase in their budgets with an approval from Executive Council.

 

The meeting was recessed at 4 p.m.

 

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

 

Attended:  Lissa Anderson, Francine Andrea, Karyn Arnold, Sharon Austin, Evelynne Blatt, Catherine Boscher-Murhpy, Kimber Decker, Donna Fojtlin, Gloria Green, Adrienne Hynek, John Iacovelli, Gisele Joachim, Dennis Levy, Woodrow Lewis, Helen Mikulak, Maribeth Quinn, Joseph Roberto, Mark Singer, Karen Sokol, Marion Twitchell, Karen Weber, Debra Wulff

 

The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m.

 

Committee Discussions, continued:

 

  • The groups presented a summary of their discussions:

 

  • Kimber distributed the 2006-2007 Levels of Sponsorship and indicated that there is an increase for each level.
  • The Government Relations Committee should use the NJASFAA listserv to communicate important legislative issues to members.
  • We would like to use the listserv to direct members to our Web site.
  • The Leadership Institute would like to recruit Work Study students for potential employment in the financial aid field.
  • A suggestion was made to produce the NJASFAA Journal annually instead of twice per year.
  • The Membership Committee can recruit new members through coordination with other committees, such as Leadership, Mentoring and Training.
  • Novice Training will hold a residential program this year.
  • Mark would like to distribute more press releases to local newspapers.
  • We discussed the purpose of the NJASFAA brochure.  We may add more information to the Speakers Bureau brochure and use the NJASFAA brochure in future years.
  • We discussed whether the hotline is cost effective.  Students have information available online, at College Goal Sunday and at financial aid offices.  Only a small percentage of members volunteer for the hotline.  We decided to eliminate the hotline.

 

Budget:

 

  • We reviewed each line item on the budget and made adjustments to balance the budget.
  • We created a new line item for special projects that are paid for using reserve funds, not operating funds, such as the Executive Management Training workshops.

 

  • Motion to approve the budget moved by Dennis Levy; seconded by Karen Sokol.  Budget was approved unanimously by a voice vote.

 

New Business:

 

  • The Board of Directors recommended that the Budget Committee create a policy and procedure for procurement for all future purchases.  This will be submitted to Executive Council for approval, and then posted to our Web site.

 

Motion to adjourn moved by Gisele Joachim; seconded by Dennis Levy and unanimously approved by a voice vote at 11:45 a.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Evelynne Blatt

NJASFAA Secretary