I. Call to order
Erik Melis called to order the
scheduled meeting of the Virginia Association of Student Financial Aid
Administrators (VASFAA) Board of Directors at
II. Quorum
A quorum was established. The following persons were present: Erik Melis, Pat Kelley, Brad Barnett, Jeanne Holmes, Kerrie Roth, Zita Barree, Angie Hawkins, Melissa Barnes and Keith Wellings.
III. Presentation of Agenda
The agenda was approved as modified.
IV. Approval of minutes from last meeting
The minutes from the
V. Reports
a) President – Erik Melis (report on website) Erik did note that Jeanne Holmes would be stepping in to fill the unexpired term of Secretary because of Leslie Thomas’ departure from George Mason and Virginia to accept a new role in Financial Aid in PA.
b)
President Elect – Pat Kelly: Sector
Coordination – the diploma schools of nursing feel that they do not a separate
breakout session from the health professions group; Site Selection – proposals for 07-08
conference were considered: Hilton-VA Beach, Embassy Suites Hampton, Colonial
Williamsburg, the Renaissance in Portsmouth, and the Marriott Newport
News. There was also discussion on a
possible Fall VASFAA conference for 2007-08 to help with planning for the
c) Past President – Brad Barnett: Awards & Nominations – One individual has been nominated for New Professional of the Year to be presented at the appropriate time; Elections – the goal is to have at least a dual slate for each position and they are still working to achieve that.
d) Secretary – Jeanne Holmes: Archives – The committee is charged with working with Daniel to see if the ATAC website has archival capabilities. If so, Holly Rison will be asked to work with Jeanne to catalog what we have to see if we can then determine what needs to be kept for archive purposes.
e) Treasurer – Kerri Roth: The 05-06 audit was completed at a cost of $330. Kerri and Zita were charged by Erik to look at the preparation of the 990 and the collection of data for reporting purposes. They will report on this at the January board meeting.
f) Treasurer Elect – Zita Barree: Zita and Kerri are working together planning and preparing for the year in transition of records and responsibilities. The Budget and Finance Report is posted to the web site, as is the New Century and Sue Ross funds.
g) Professional Development – Michael Poma (in absentia): There was a discussion on the timing of the Federal Update Session. The training committee would like it to be held on Tuesday as a general session, but the preference of the Board is to have the federal update on Wednesday as a last day draw for attendance. It was discussed and decided to move the awards presentations to the Tuesday evening banquet function, and the fact that Harvey Alston was being asked to come back as a repeat “paid” presenter for the Spring conference. The Board had no concerns with a repeat presenter, but noted that in the publicity of the event – it must be noted that his presentation is “different” from what he did in the Spring of 2006. There was also discussion on diversity topics – one that included the introduction of religion/faith differences, but the board felt that this was not a topic to be addressed by VASFAA. It was determined that we may possibly be able to incorporate this into a session on “differences and how they relate to PJ and/or the administration of FA”. Training was charged with how this can be addressed. Finally, there was discussion on the general session presenter for the opening luncheon with a few options for speakers but Vera Riddick (Conference Chair) has a hard fast commitment from Representative Bobby Scott (US House of Representatives) to serve as speaker for this slot – thus the discussion ended.
h) Information Services – Angie Hawkins: All reports are on the website for Electronic Services, Newsletter – which continues to solicit articles and stories, and Public Relations.
i) Outreach Services – Keith Wellings: Awareness – Super Saturday event planning event is underway. Zita will check with Barry Simmons to get a sponsor to have see if we can get an on-going proclamation so that this will not have to be done on an annual basis. Diversity – They are working from the Three C’s: Cross Cultural Communication. There was discussion on the saying of the blessing before the meal and the request to do different “types” to incorporate different religions. The board decided that it will not be dealt with here, but rather incorporated into something in a concurrent (see the section g above under professional development). We also talked about removing the religious aspect out of the blessing completely but no decision was made on this. Membership - To date, VASFAA has 240 members. Erik has asked the membership committee to research and find out what institutions have been previously active and are no longer, and to see if they can find our why. Secondary School Relations – They are working on the coordination of the HS Counselors workshops that are scheduled for this Fall.
j)
Organizational
Services – Melissa Barnes: Melissa noted that she had not received a report
from Federal Relations but she did see a reminder of the December 6
Charlottesville HERA training that was posted by this committee. The Research Committee did not report. State Relations did not report, although
Yvonne Hubbard did want to know about Legislative Day at the General
Assembly. This was deferred to New
Business. It was noted that Erik met
with
k) SCHEV Update – Melissa Wyatt: Melissa updated the Board on the Council’s recommendations to the Gov. for 07-08 (ask Melissa for report to post to website). Some of the highlights included $3500 for undergraduate and graduate TAG; $4.4 million for CSAP; and VSAP – complete the 4 year phase in with an annual $43k increase each year. There are no recommendations on graduate funding increases. Erik asked Angie (Information Services) to have Daniel/Jane have the SCHEV liaison added to our website.
VI. OLD BUSINESS
How do we want to utilize the committee descriptions? This question ties in with some of the goals identified by the Public Relations Committee. Erik and Jeanne with work with Daniel and Jane to see how to best use this information on the website. We also discussed how to promote Committees and descriptions to the general membership, and how to distribute information to the body via newsletters, list serve, directors, etc.
My Rich Uncle – There was much discussion on this topic and their recent media issues, and as such, Erik has asked Kerri to have an attorney look at our bylaws just as a review to make sure that we are legal in any decisions that we make in reference to their conference participation as a vendor or sponsor. This led to a discussion on Association/Board Insurance, which is a topic under New Business. he Board furthered this discussion to Board Liability Insurance – Do we need this? Erik also charged Kerri to research this also, and suggested that she look into RUST insurance out of DC as a starting point.
Conference first day timing of Vendor/Sponsor area: This is to be determined. Erik passed on to Melissa to follow up on the survey to vendors to solicit their input on this issue.
Closing of CAP Account – It was reported that this has been done.
SASFAA Conference Update – Brad Barnett is
the SASFAA 2008 Conference Chair and Erik and Michael are his co-chairs for
local arrangements. It was noted that VASFAA will begin looking for volunteers
for the ‘07 SASFAA to man the booth to help promote
VII. NEW BUSINESS
Community College Transfer Scholarship – VASFAA was
asked do we have an opinion on this. A
student will graduate from the CC with a B or better – transfers to a 4 year
and would receive a scholarship to fund the difference in tuition between the
CC and the 4 year institution. The major
question was: who/where is this funding coming from? No opinion was noted.
Super Saturday and College Goal Sunday – Lee shared
that NASFAA is now willing to host this on a say other that Sunday and wanted
to know if VASFAA was interested. The
discussion was such that because of
Association/Board Insurance – See comments
referencing this in Section VI, paragraph two.
General Assembly visits/interactions – By consensus,
VASFAA decided that they were not getting “the bang for the buck” in this
effort any more, therefore decided that there will be no General Assembly visit
this year. The Board noted however, that
VASFAA will remain legislatively conscious on all issues that relate to higher
education in VA.
ECMC Foundation Training Partnership – ECMC offered
VASFAA the opportunity to partner with them on this effort. The Board said no, at present, and wanted to
first evaluate how this ECMC training effort will impact our current HS
Counselor workshops.
There was additional discussion on LCD projectors in
reference to insurance coverage, are they in working order, do we have enough,
and are we still spending too much in equipment rental at our conferences and
event. Kerri will examine the Spring
2006 conference bill and see if she can see how much was spent for AV rentals
and if we can get a breakdown on what was covered.
VIII. Adjournment
The meeting
was adjourned at
Respectfully
submitted: Jeanne Holmes – VASFAA Secretary