OASFAA Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

Conference Call

February 3, 2006

 

Pamela Arrington

Amy Baker                   

Robin Belleville*

Doran Brock

John Brown

Tina Coulter

Deb Divers*

Kacy Duling

Roger Eldridge*

Steve England

Suzanne Fahrer

Jason Florack

Mary Kay Freshour

Sandy Gilbert

Ann Marie Gruber*

Greg Guzman*

Lee Harrell

Gail Houtz

Angela Johnson*

Betsy Johnson

Jeanette Jones*

Michael Jones*

Kim Landis

Tasha McDaniel*

Jennifer Minyo

Rebecca Moore

Kim Nash-Yore

Melony Ohalek

Mayme Patthoff

Mary Lynn Perri

Faith Phillips

Lisa Pitkin*

Francis Robbins

Wendell Schick

Michiale Schneider

Carmen Sears-Edwards*

Charles Shahid*

Jo Slade

Pam Stimpert

Stephanie Sutton

Emily Swain

Lee Ann Timmerman

Randy Ulses*

Jerry Wade

Michele Wade

Karen Wallace

Claudia Wenzel

Cheryl Willard*

 

 

Absent*

 

 

I.  Announcements and New Business                             Mary Lynn Perri

 

Meeting was called to order at 10:08am.

 

A)      Private Counselor follow-up

 

Follow up from Mary Lynn:  she sent a letter to the private counselor who had inquired and she responded and included the OACAC President.  She understands our position (OASFAA).  Mary Lynn has the letter. 

 

B)      Financial Aid Awareness Month is February.

 

Lisa Mitchell reported that the governor has declared February 2006 as Financial Aid month.  Certificate will be mailed to Mary Lynn.

 

C)      Follow Up Question during Business Meeting, December 8, 2005

 

Where will the funding come from for the initiative presented by Don Chenelle at the December Business Meeting?  (Recommended for meeting by Wendell)

 

Additionally, Don Chenelle reminded us that the Access Programs in Ohio are trying to help the schools increase the college going students within the state of Ohio.  The goal is a 30% increase.  He charged the membership with helping students who are financially struggling and students who are also from socio-economic families that are under-represented.  Don believes the solution is to work with the Access programs and use our Federal Work Study students to mentor these incoming students who may be struggling or are under-represented.  This will help Ohio graduate these students at a more successful rate.  Ohio is ranked 41st in the nation of B.A. degrees received, yet Ohio is the 7th largest in size. 

 

Update from Wendell at the meeting:  The state student advisory council wants to increase the number of college student attending college and university in Ohio.  If there is an increase in the college going rate (w/representation of higher need families), OASFAA needs to help support the ACCESS programs and Ohio Board of Regents in finding ways to fund these students or each institution will need to fund these students more.  Don Chenelle and Wendell want us to show how we can get this additional 10% of high need college students funded.  Wendell suggested that OASFAA create an Ad Hoc Committee or a recognizable effort to address this issue.  Wendell also suggested we formulate our plan to include the combined efforts of many partners in Ohio.  For example, let’s include a representative from GEAR UP, lighthouse community, ACCESS program, Early Awareness, and OACAC on this committee.  In summary…we’re trying to improve the college going rate in Ohio and here’s our plan to fund it.    Additionally, Wendell suggested having a training session at a conference that would address solutions for these students.  OCAN Conference could also be influenced.

 

Claudia had a conversation with the Outreach Chair of OACAC, Mary Grimaldi.  They want to partner with OASFAA in College Goal Sunday and other outreach sessions.  Claudia will connect with Wendell, Mary Grimaldi, and Don Chenelle to coordinate the effort and create an Ad Hoc Committee.

 

Gail Houtz believes that combining the efforts of the above groups is a wonderful idea.  Kim Landis will work on getting contact information of interested OCAN members.

 

D)   Updates to P&P:  Membership review, privacy policy, private counselor participation statements, use of logo policy to be sent out and reviewed and next meeting when we meet in person.  Web Chair job responsibilities (now part of VP for training) to be written by Claudia and also review at next meeting.

           

II. Secretary’s Report                                                      Emily Swain

           

One change from December 7th minutes = Next meeting should state February 3rd instead of February 4th.  No other changes.

 

III. Treasurer’s Report                                                     Betsy Johnson

 

Betsy recommended each chair and elected official double checking the budget lines on the reimbursement forms and to look online at their committee’s budget.

 

            $1857 was for folders and postcards.  It goes under the Secretary’s budget.  Betsy will reallocate. 

 

Mary Lynn asked Betsy to send out a reminder on how to access QuickBooks to the Executive Committee.

 

IV. Regional Representatives Reports

 

A.)    Northeast                                                          Jason Florack

 

            Summary of activities:

 

·         Finalized details for Regional Meeting #3 with Kim Nash-Yore, chair of the Need Analysis Committee.  Everything is set and we’re ready to go!

·         Sent College Goal Sunday press release to the College Relations department at my school; they will in turn send it off to all of the major news affiliates in my region.

·         Discussed possibility of having Regional Meeting #4 at Meyers University in Cleveland; initial indications are good, but need pricing information before making final reservations.  Tentative date = 3/10/06.

·         Discussed possibility of having Regional Meeting #5 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton; again, initial indications are good, but need pricing information before making final reservations.  Tentative date = 4/14/06.

 

            Activities planned but not yet completed:

           

·         Will send out first e-mail to region with invitation to Regional Meeting #3 on Monday 1/30.

·         Will send out e-mail to region regarding College Goal Sunday volunteering early in the week of 1/30.

·         Will send out second e-mail to region with final invitation to Regional Meeting #3 on Monday 2/6.

·         Will finalize dates and locations for Regional Meetings #4 and #5; hope to have these by the time we have our phone conference on Friday 2/3.

 

Update at Meeting:

 

The fifth meeting is going to be at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on April 14th. 

 

B.)    Northwest                                                          Robin Belleville

 

Mike Clouse sent an email to NW Region asking for volunteers at Owens Toledo campus. 

 

C.)    Southeast                                                         Jo Slade

 

On 12/13, an email was sent to the regional providing information on upcoming regional events: 

Future regional meeting dates and locations: 1/25 - Franklin University - topic Reauthorization/NSLDS, 2/24 - Methodist Theological - topic Needs Analysis, 4/21 - Ohio University, Zanesville - Consolidation.

A reminder to volunteer for the upcoming College Goal Sunday.  A supply of the extra brochures that I picked up at conference have been provided to the main library in Columbus and distributed to all of the branch libraries. 

A reminder of the upcoming Default prevention workshops hosted by GLHEC

 

The January regional meeting was held Wednesday 1/25 at Franklin University.  There were 18 in attendance and the topics covered were Reauthorization/NSLDS.  Roger Eldridge was the presenter for both sessions and did a great job of presenting both topics. 

 

A request was received from a Columbus high school for an OASFAA representative to provide a Financial Aid Night on 1/12.  A volunteer was requested through the email notice sent above.  Since no volunteer was forthcoming, I personally met this obligation.

 

I will continue to work with Jerry and Greg to push College Goal Sunday to ensure that this is again a successful event.

 

Update:  The press release did go out from OSU public relations advertising College Goal Sunday.  Jo sent out another email asking for volunteers in Central Ohio.

 

D.)    Southwest                                                         Doran Brock     

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

The next regional meeting will be held on February 17th at Edison Community College in Piqua OH. The training will on Need Analysis. The fourth regional meeting will be held on April 21st at The University of Cincinnati - Raymond Walters College.

 

V. Executive Committee Reports

 

A.)    VP for Training                                                   Randy Ulses     

 

1.)     Support Professional Committee

 

No report at this time. 

 

2.)     Need Analysis

 

Winter conference – We were delighted to have great attendance at each session.  Our first session “History of Financial Aid” and “Federal Updates” was very well attended.  Unfortunately we do not have an exact count. We are happy to report that despite many technical difficulties; our attendees felt that the information was helpful and presented effectively. 

 

The second and third sessions were also well attended.  Each session consisted of a review of the tables from the Federal Register, one independent calculation, and one dependent calculation.  

 

A big “thank you” to the Regional Representatives for assisting us by agreeing to transport and store the binders for the Needs Analysis presentations at the February regional meetings.  We will hold a meeting on February 7, 2006 at Franklin University to discuss and resolve all issues from winter conference, finalize the regional meetings and thank our members.  All locations have been confirmed for Regional meetings.   February 17 ~ Baldwin Wallace and Edison Community College in Piqua, February 24th  Bowling Green and Methodist Theological School in Ohio in Delaware.

 

Does Mike Clouse need access to send the email to NW region for NA Training?  Betsy said he worked with Robin.  Mary Lynn will have Mike Clouse added.

                       

3.)     NASFAA Training

 

Training completed at conference.  Tight schedule as usual with gloss over of some materials; need to insist on all sessions in a single day to allow for the topic to be covered more similar to drive-in model.

 

Administrative Capability: Campus-Wide Compliance was a much more basic session than it was advertised; materials seemed geared toward new aid administrators rather than keys to assisting offices in carrying our campus-wide compliance issues.

 

Planning for drive-in workshop.  Submitted to Paula for registration update on Website and then notification to association.   Workshop to be held February 23rd at Franklin University.  Scheduling drive-in prior to conference may be more helpful in future though fall is always a scheduling problem.

 

            Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

Finalize meal and other details with registration for drive-in conference.

 

February 23rd is the NASFAA Training at Franklin University.  Randy will send an email out to membership and post it on the calendar.  Mary Lynn will check with Randy.

 

4.)     Outreach Committee

 

The scheduled events in which the Outreach Committee provides financial aid training and materials are now completed for 2005.  The committee provided presentations and presenters for various audiences in Ohio who engage in counseling students and families about federal and state aid opportunities and identify sources of financial aid to pay for higher education. Presentation materials were gathered and assembled from the DOE, OBR, MASFAA, NASFAA, conferences, bulletins and correspondence with other associations and agencies.  A special thanks goes to Lawrence Matthews who put all of the bits of data into an excellent presentation format for all of our events.

 

ü       During September and October, 2005, volunteer presenters gave a financial aid update presentation at three of the regions’ fall meetings.

ü       Committee volunteers and presenters attended the four sites of the 2005 OACAC Articulations held during the second week of September, 2005. Provided a training session and manned an information table at the ED fair at each site.

ü       Participated in the three annual Honda Ed Fairs held for employees and families at the manufacturing plants in the fall.  This was our fourth year and numbers were very low and lots of leftover handouts.  May reconsider our role at these events next year as may have reached most employees who have college aged students at home looking for any kind of financial aid.

ü       Participated in the OCAN Conference that was held in October. Manned a table of financial aid handouts in the display area.  Provided two training sessions: Federal and State Financial Aid Updates and Financial Aid 101

ü        Planned and executed the annual OASFAA Counselor Workshops.  Eleven sites, with one new site at Kent State this year.  Attendance continues to fall for this event even with the addition of another site.  The committee will work on creating a current and comprehensive mailing list and marketing materials to promote this event in future years.  Will also review evaluations at next meeting to determine areas to concentrate on improving or correcting to better serve our clientele

ü       Provided interest session and personal tips on How to Do a Financial Aid Night at the Winter Conference.

ü       Lawrence and several committee members working to develop a “survey” of basic Ohio college information and school codes for use at the College Goal Sunday sites in February.  OCAN will partner to complete the survey by researching and adding cost info midyear.  Survey will be available online at Resources page of OASFAA web site.

ü       Next meeting scheduled for March 17th at the OhioLINK site.

 

5.)     Early Awareness Committee

 

Summary of activities:  No updates to report. 

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:  Get program information on OASFAA website and send letters to all Ohio middle schools.   

 

6)       College Goal Sunday Committee

 

The committee will submit a full report following College Goal Sunday on February 12, 2006.

 

Update of stats:  An email was sent to Mary Lynn and she is forwarding it to the Executive Committee.  Two or three site coordinators still need presenters.  He’s not hearing from the site coordinators but Mary Lynn encouraged him that the site coordinators will contact them if they need assistance. 

 

Name of Location

01/05/06 VOL

01/05/06 REG

01/18/06 VOL

01/18/06 REG

01/23/06 VOL

01/23/06 REG

01/30/06 VOL

01/30/06 REG

02/03/06 VOL

02/03/06 REG

Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School

4

0

7

2

9

4

14

6

14

8

Belmont Technical College

0

0

0

2

0

2

0

13

0

13

BGSU Firelands

7

8

8

14

9

16

10

31

11

51

Briggs High School

7

1

9

4

9

6

10

8

11

9

Central Ohio Technical College/OSU Newark

15

2

21

6

21

7

25

11

27

29

Cincinnati Youth Collaborative

1

0

3

2

3

3

4

5

4

6

Circleville Bible College

0

0

0

5

CANC

5

CANC

CANC

CANC

CANC

Clark State Community College/Downtown Campus

0

0

0

4

0

4

3

6

3

11

Cuyahoga Community College West

10

5

14

41

16

59

22

85

24

105

DeVry University

8

1

12

3

13

3

14

8

14

17

Gahanna Lincoln High School

9

4

13

13

13

17

13

29

13

36

Hocking College

6

1

7

2

7

2

8

3

9

14

Kent State University

13

1

13

25

13

27

13

27

13

28

Lima Senior High School

14

1

16

2

16

3

16

6

17

9

Lorain County Community College

13

3

14

11

16

17

15

24

14

30

Loveland High School

3

1

3

1

3

1

3

3

4

7

Mount Union College

7

0

7

3

7

5

7

5

7

7

North Central State College

7

2

10

3

10

5

12

12

12

14

Ohio Valley College of Technology

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

Owens Community College

10

3

11

13

11

13

15

19

17

39

Owens Community College/Findlay Campus

11

2

11

6

11

7

12

10

14

11

Raymond Walters/University of Cincinnati

7

3

10

10

11

12

13

18

13

34

Shawnee State University

5

13

7

21

7

26

7

27

10

28

Stark State College

5

2

6

11

6

14

7

19

9

25

Terra Community College

4

5

4

7

4

8

4

9

4

10

Tolles Technical Center

6

2

9

4

12

5

13

11

13

15

University of Akron

24

8

26

24

26

26

27

39

28

53

University of Dayton

16

0

16

5

16

6

19

14

19

26

University of Rio Grande

5

0

6

3

7

3

7

5

8

6

Urbana University

4

0

4

1

4

1

7

2

7

4

Ursuline College

11

2

13

7

13

8

15

11

16

14

Washington State Community College

15

0

17

1

17

10

18

18

18

26

Westerville North High School

5

6

5

11

7

14

8

22

10

27

Wright State University

2

1

2

1

2

5

3

6

3

9

 

Addition:  Briggs HS now has 35 families registered.  “I Know I Can” is staffing this site.

 

Jerry asked each site coordinator to give him the stats information on Feb 13th.  Site Coordinators need to print off evaluations.  It’s on the CD.  Kim Landis will send a copy to Faith Phillips.

 

Student Guides are on back order so some sites are using the guides from 2005-2006.

 

B)      VP for Conferences                                Angela Johnson

 

1.)     Corporate Development

                                   

Summary of activities:

 

For Winter Conference 2005 we had 18 sponsors, 19 Ads and 39 exhibitors for a total dollar commitment of $45,400. We have collected all the commitments except for $1,150 (2 organizations). The organizations have been contacted and are locating check numbers or will submit the funds.

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

Conference Planning Committee meeting January 31 and Site meeting in February. 

 

Update at meeting:

 

Angela and Karen have worked on support grid for Spring Conference.  Will we have entertainment on Wednesday and ticket options for Cedar Point on Thursday night.

 

2.)     Professional Development

 

Summary of activities:

 

**    Based on the Winter Conference evaluations reviewed, the speakers were highly marked.

 

**    The sessions had great attendance.

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

**    Amy and I met at the end of Winter Conference to put together ideas for the Spring Conference.

 

**    We will be meeting prior to the Conference Planning meeting to discuss the game plan we have put together.

 

**  We have contacted and tentatively scheduled speakers and topics for the Spring Conference, allowing for a successful ending to this years activities.

 

Pamela and Amy updated the committee.  Speakers are different than normal, but the Conference Planning Committee has sketched out 6 sessions for Professional Development in Spring Conference.  Amy said her budget for PD is $3000 for the year.  Can the committee do something for the membership?  If so, is that appropriate?  The speakers haven’t charged anything for speaking.  Suggestions from the committee:  gift card for the speakers.  The excess funds can be used for reserves. 

                       

3.)     Conference

 

Summary of activities:

 

Winter Conference wrap-up:

·         Conference presentations should be on the OASFAA website soon.  At least ten presenters have shared their presentations that will be posted.  Once complete, a notice will be sent to the membership.

 

Spring Conference planning:

·         There was a pre-conference planning committee meeting with the Conference Chairs and the chairpersons of Leadership, New Member/Mentor and Professional Development on January 31 to set in place the preliminary agenda.

·         Thus far, Spring conference plans are:

o        Annual Golf Outing on Tuesday, May 30

o        Possible theme dealing with “Mission Possible”, etc.

o        Opening speaker topic: “Multigenerational Workplace and Students” by the PD Committee with a presenter from Citibank

o        New Member Meet & Greet prior to dinner Wednesday, June 1 – open to all to meet new members.  We will have one drink ticket per attendee as a sponsored item

o        Mystery Dinner Theater will be entertainment for Wednesday

o        Seeking final contact and presenter for a State of the State update to take place on Thursday following the Business meeting; Agenda for this presentation is the state of Ohio with respect to college affordability, access, default rates, graduation rates, and basic trends in Ohio

o        Cedar Point option or Night on Your Our on Thursday, ending the conference day at 3:30pm and Cedar Point from 4pm – 9pm

o        Kim Durant, President of the Michigan Student Financial Aid Administrators will be joining us.

o        Jim White and Support Professional of the Year Awards will be presented

o        Hazel Mingo from The U.S. Department of Education, FSA College Access Division will be going us to discuss Access and Student Success;  This is a follow-up to the Department participating in the Winter Conference to show how the same messages can be delivered up front to prevent default and delinquency and working with college access groups

o        As a continuation from Winter, we will have sector breakouts with respective school leads that have been working with the Department on the Default Prevention project; Getting a school perspective and sharing of information from school

o        Closing speaker topic: “And When You Fall” by the PD Committee with a presenter Stacy Evans

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

·         The Conference Planning Committee meeting will take place on Friday, February 17 at the Sawmill Creek site.  A small group will tour the facility the day prior to the planning meeting.

·         I will be working on sites for the 2007 Winter, 2008 Spring and Winter and 2009 Spring conferences in March and April

 

a.)     Site

 

Update at meeting: 

 

The walk through and conference planning meeting will be February 17th.  Theme option is “Mission Possible” and Entertainment might be a “Mystery Dinner Theater.”  ED will be involved with conference again.

 

b.)     New Member/Mentor     

 

Gail and Jennifer are working on things for Spring Conference.  The New Member Reception (Meet and Greet) will be separate from the President’s Reception.  They found a connection between the new members and the leadership class.  The leadership class could fit in as mentors and use the skills they are learning through OASFAA.

 

c.)     Program

 

Spring Conference, Sawmill Creek 06, themes are being tossed about. 

Please submit any ideas or themes you might have to Lee Ann!

 

Winter conference 2005 programs, quick reference cards, the three daily posters and flyers totaled:  $1547.75 in expenses.

 

d.)     Entertainment

 

Mystery Theater Dinner is set for Wednesday night entertainment.  Thursday night will be Cedar Point?  Lee is coordinating the Golf Outing.  The golf outing will be at the Saw Mill Creek Golf Course.  The price is higher but Lee is working on negotiations.

 

Questions posed:  Should we do another book drive at spring conference or should we take a break?  Claudia suggested that he ask the Conference Planning Committee.  Email John Brown with any suggestions.

 

e.)     Registration

 

Summary of activities:

In addition to 475 registrants there were approximately, 30 speakers, presenters, and special guests that attended specific portions of the conference.  Total conference attendance was approximately 500-505.  There were 19 people who registered after the deadline and were subject to the $25 late fee.  Approximately 11 people cancelled due to illness, family illness, campus issues and two due to poor weather conditions. 

 

Conference Registration Statistics

Total Registrants

475

First OASFAA conference

108

New OASFAA, mentor participants

13

OASFAA members, mentors

16

Complimentary Conference Registration

30

Full Conference Reg. 3 days

390

One Day Only Reg

55

Wednesday only

20

Thursday only

26

Friday only

9

Wednesday Lunch

391

Wednesday dinner

366

Thursday breakfast

396

Thursday lunch

423

Friday Lunch

360

2006 membership

471

Late registration fee

19

Default Prevention Training

100

NASFAA training materials

65

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

Supplies for the upcoming conference:  Ribbons, envelopes, and any additional supplies the Conference Chair requests.

 

Recommended discussion items for the Executive Committee:

 

Items that need to be clearer in registration:  We do not accept credit cards.  Cancellation policy.  Have available the reasons we will accept cancellations and the reasons we will not.

 

f.)       Leadership

 

Summary of activities:

 

The Leadership Class of 2006 took part in a Leadership training program provided during the OASFAA Winter Conference.  The program, titled “Passing the Torch”, was created by the Leadership Committee, and offered presentations on a variety of topics, based on recommendations made by class members during the Leadership Retreat in October, 2005.  Throughout the week, the entire class (a total of nineteen class members) participated in the Leadership training. Topics included an introduction to OASFAA and information on how one may get more involved, Leadership techniques for the office, and networking skills.  Speakers included Wendell Schick, Michele Wade, Terry Everson and Ginny Biada.   Evaluations indicate the program was a success.

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

A committee meeting will be scheduled in early February to discuss the planning of Leadership training to be offered at Spring Conference, 2006.

 

                        Update at meeting.        

 

The committee is meeting next week and they talked with Professional Development about sharing one of their speakers.

 

C.  President-Elect                                       Claudia Wenzel

 

Claudia attended a MASFAA Executive Committee Meeting and she was challenged to encourage OASFAA members to be a member of MASFAA.

 

A possible conference theme is “Putting the Pro back in Professional.”

 

Stephanie and Claudia are registered for NASFAA leadership which is the first week of March.

 

Mary Lynn, Angela, and Claudia will have a conference call with John Pierson, of ED, to discuss the next level of the default prevention for Ohio.  Could we bring it regionally in Ohio for 2006-2007?

 

1.)     Nominations Committee

 

If Exec has suggestions of nominations, please email them to Claudia.  If current Exec members would like to be involved for 06-07, please indicate that to Claudia.  The transition meeting would be early June. 

 

2.)     Finance Committee

 

3.)     Research

 

4.)     College Goal Sunday Corporate Development

 

Summary of activities:

 

During Winter Conference, our committee met to discuss our strategy for contacting corporations for sponsorship of College Goal Sunday.  Those activities are being carried out now.  To date, we have two major contacts made.

 

·         A grant titled “Bridging Access to Degree Completion” was submitted to the Ohio College Access Network.  The grant application states that recipients of these grants will be notified on or after February 15.

 

·         A request for funding has been made to the Cleveland Browns Corporation.  Wendell Schick, our committee member who made the request, has been informed that it is currently in the review process.

 

·         A request for funding has been made to the Honda Corporation.  No word yet from them.

 

·         A contact is also in the works with Bob Evans Farms.

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

Other committee members are working on their contacts and we are awaiting further notification.

 

Update at meeting:

 

We received $1000 from the Cleveland Browns and Honda has also been contacted.  Other letters are being sent.  Mary Lynn just gave an update of TIAA CREF likes to sponsor events and Mary Lynn emailed them asking for $25,000 for College Goal Sunday support.  Lumina asked us for a report for how we used our money from last year.  Mary Lynn sent it to Marsha.  Mary Lynn will include the stats from College Goal Sunday 2005 although we used the funds for our reserves.

 

The PPT sponsor presentation now includes the Cleveland Browns.  It was resent to the site chairs.

 

D.       Past President                                      Wendell Schick

 

1.)     Association Governance Planning

 

Update at meeting:  Wendell is meeting with Mary Kay about updating the P&P Manual with Private Counselor information and logo information. 

 

Mary Kay will send an email to each member of the Executive Committee asking them to revisit their section of the P&P manual.  She needs the revisions by the last meeting, May 30th.

 

2.)     Membership

 

Summary of activities:

 

                  There are currently 542 members.

 

Activities planned but not yet completed:

 

Going to be sending out letters to MASFAA and NASFAA members that are not members of OASFAA.

 

There will also be an e-mail sent out this month reminding people to renew their memberships for 2006.

 

Update at meeting:  Mary Lynn will email Kacy asking when we’ll send an email to people who didn’t renew their membership for 2006. 

 

3.)     Communication –

 

Update at meeting.  Another issue of the Gazette will go out soon.  A reauthorization review will be included.

 

4.)     Regulatory Committee

 

a.)     State Issues

 

Michelle contacted Charles about the video conference.  It will be scheduled after Feb 15th. 

 

Michelle met with Tally and Wendell about OASFAA support for a scholarship database.  That committee has revised their request to OASFAA.  Michelle will bring it to the next meeting.

 

Did we get the Charles Shahid PPT from Winter Conference?  Angela is coordinating the PPT presentations from winter conference.

 

b.)     Federal Issues

   

c.)     Reauthorization Issues              

 

A REAUTHORIZATION AND BUDGET RECONCILIATION

 

Reauthorization required every 5-6 years. Last full reauthorization was 1998. The next reauthorization should have been completed in 2004 but was postponed. Since then the existing law has been extended numerous times and last December was extended again until March 31, 2006.

 

Reauthorization is the process which not only renews the law but allows changed to be made to meet new needs, i.e.… increasing loan limits. As a result, it becomes a very political process.

 

In 2005 the House took up reauthorization and passed House Bill 609 in July, 2005. There was also a Senate version (Senate Bill 1614) that has stalled.

 

Then in the late summer and early fall of 2005 Congressional leaders got the idea to tie reauthorization together with a Budget Reconciliation bill that was being developed as a budget deficit reduction measure. This caused a lot of debate and it was ultimately decided that the full reauthorization amendments would not be included in the budget reconciliation bill(s) but certain proposals that would result in spending cuts would. Those cuts are mainly in the Student Loan program. Therefore, two reconciliation bills were introduced, House Bill 4241 and Senate Bill 1932. Both bills differed slightly with the House bill containing more cuts than the Senate. The House passed its version on December 19th with 212-206 vote that along party lines. The Senate passed its version on December 21st with 50-50 vote and Vice President Cheney casting the tie breaker.

 

The Senate bill was basically a compromise bill between the House and Senate conference committees and it contains approximately $12.7 billion in cuts from the student loan programs. However, because there were some slight changes added to the bill by the Senate it must go back to the House for another vote. That vote should take place somewhere around February 1st.

 

A lot of advocates for lenders, schools and students have come out against the bill because they feel the provisions will result in increased costs to students and families and that the bulk of the savings will not used to improve student aid benefits but will be used mainly for deficit reduction. Therefore, you’re seeing a lot of correspondence going out the schools urging you to contact your representatives and ask them to vote “no” on the legislation. However, it is likely to pass and the President is likely to sign the bill into law.

 

So what are the major provisions of Senate Bill 1932? Below are the ten most recognizable ones:

 

·         Raises loan limits for freshmen and sophomores to $3500 and $4500;

·         Reduces origination fees over the next five years;

·         Creates a new (temporary) grant for students with a 3.0 GPA and/or majoring in Math, Science and certain foreign languages;

·         Allows the interest rate on Stafford loans to become fixed at 6.8% on July 1, 2006;

·         Raises the interest rate on PLUS loans from 7.9% to 8.5%;

·         Allows PLUS Loans to be taken out by graduate students;

·         Requires student’s pay a 1% guarantee fee, but would allow lenders to pay the fee to guarantee agencies on behalf of the student;

·         Closes several loopholes related to the amount of subsidizes that lenders receive from the federal government between the amount of interest that the student pays vs. what lenders are guaranteed to receive;

·         Reduces the amount that the government reimburses lenders on defaults from 98 cents per dollar to 97 cents;

·         Many of the provisions that would have changed the consolidation program that were passed in the House version were not included in the Senate or Compromise Bill. The most important ones was to change consolidation from a fixed to giving borrowers a choice between a fixed or variable rate. The Compromise Bill doesn’t include that language. So as it stands consolidation will still be at a fixed rate and after 7/1/06 that rate on Stafford loans will go to 6.8%.  

 

The bill contains many more provisions but those mentioned above appear to be the 10 most widely debated.

 

So if the Budget Reconciliation Bill is passed and signed into law where does that leave Reauthorization? That’s the million dollar question!

 

There are several possibilities, following three seem most likely:

 

1.       The House and Senate could agree on and pass a full-blown bill that contains all the provisions not include in the reconciliation bill;

2.       They could put together a much smaller piece of legislation that would include only selected parts of the HEA and also attempt to add measures that fix flaws in reconciliation bill;

3.       Congress could do nothing more than just continue to extend the existing law that wasn’t affected by budget reconciliation for another 1 to 5 years.

 

Politics and political intrigue may come into play as well. This is an election year in congress and there is a lot of political wrestling going on in Washington. One major factor might be that Rep. John Boehner who is head of the House Education Committee wants to become the House Majority Leader. Since he has been the driving force to keep reauthorization moving if he leaves to play a bigger role in the overall operations of the House, reauthorization may lose a lot of steam. Also if the Democrats see and opportunity to make advances in both the House and Senate they may fight any bill that they don’t like thinking that they might shape a better bill in 2007. On the other hand Republicans may rush to push reauthorization legislation to show that they are taking action on matters that involve education.

 

Basically at this point it’s anyone’s guess what will happen. We will just have to keep watching the news. However, I would expect the budget reconciliation bill to pass and those changes should be implemented in the near future, although I don’t have any official effective dates.

 

VI. Liaison Reports

 

A.)    OBR                                                           Charles Shahid

 

No report at this time.

 

B.)    Great Lakes                                                Lee Harrell

 

Mary Lynn said we are cleaning out the closet at Great Lakes during the next meeting.  The conference room is being remodeled (Feb – June) at Great Lakes.  The large conference room will not be available for meetings during this time.  Lee and John are securing a meeting place for March 31st.  Michelle Wade said that we can use a facility at OSU and food can be supplied.  There will be internet access as well.

 

Tasha McDaniel left Key Bank and has joined Great Lakes as an internal and external trainer in reference to regulatory and financial aid.

 

C.)    OCAN                                                         Mayme Patthoff                                                

 

They are focusing on eight GEAR UP programs in the northwest portion of the state.

 

OCAN Conference is scheduled for October 25-27, 2006. 

 

VII. Old Business

 

Francis asked for clarification on the report from Roger in reference to Stafford loans.  Origination phase down begins in 2006-2007 from 4% to 1% over time.  John confirmed there is a schedule in place.

 

Jason Florack also asked about PLUS loans for graduate students.  Who is the borrower of the graduate PLUS loan?  The student is additional funding to SUB/UNSUB.  This is for 2006-2007.  John asked if there is a prom note out yet?

 

Motion to close by Claudia, second by Amy Baker.  Meeting was adjourned at 11:32am.

 

Next Meeting is March 31st