SWASFAA · Web viewMembership Fees Receivable - $500. Conference, Boot Camp and Leadership Fees Receivable $18,125 ... A great big “Thank you to Taina Savoit and Shannon Guillory

SWASFAASouthwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

SWASFAA Board MeetingLocation: Harrah’s New Orleans, LA

Date: November 4, 2014 Attendees: Andrew Hammontree, Lisa Hopper, Lori Boyd, Erika Cox, Ginny Meek, Michelle Cordell, Marliss Monette, Mendy Schmerer, Denise Welch, Craig Poleman, Audra Main, Tricia Dubroc, Cindy Perez, Jackie LaChapelle, Janell Valdez, Michael Meherg, Dustin Davidson

Absent:

Agenda Item and Attachment Number

Discussion Action/Disposition

Meeting Start Time On November 4, 2014, President Andrew Hammontree called the meeting to order at 1:12 p.m.

Agenda Tuesday – November 4, 2014

1:00 pm Board Meeting Call to Order

Approval of Minutes from April 2014 Board Meeting and email meetings

Officers Reports: President’s Report Andrew Hammontree

Past President's Report Lisa HopperTreasurer’s Report Cindy PerezSecretary’s Report Ginny Meek

State Reports and Delegate Comments: Arkansas Michelle Cordell, President

Louisiana Jackie LaChapelle, President Taina Savoit, Delegate

New Mexico Marliss Monette, PresidentBrent Small, Delegate

Oklahoma Lori Boyd, PresidentMendy Schmerer, Delegate

Texas Denise Welch, Delegate

SWASFAASouthwest Association of Financial Aid Administrators

Standing Committee Reports:

Finance Taina SavoitAnnual Conference Audra MainBoot Camp Denise WelchMembership Taina SavoitNominations & Elections Lisa Hopper

Other Committee ReportsArchives Ginny MeekAwards Lisa HopperCorporate Relations Craig PolemanElectronic Initiatives Erika CoxLeadership Development Mendy SchmererLocal Arrangements Leatrice LattimoreSite Selection Tricia Dubroc

Old Business1) Blog Policy and Procedure

New Business Mid-Level Training

1) Approve 2015 budget2) Approve 2015 committee chairs3) Long-Range Plan4) 2015 Webinars

Closing Remarks and Adjourn

Minutes : Minutes approved.

Officers' Reports

O 2President’sReportAndrew Hammontree

On September 24-25, 2014, I traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with NASFAA Chair Eileen O’Leary, Past Chair Craig Munier, Chair Elect Dan Mann, NASFAA President Justin Draeger, and the other regional presidents to discuss issues that are facing the regions. We also talked about ways that NASFAA can partner with the regions. During our discussion, NASFAA asked the regional presidents to talk to their respective regions about their NASFAA board tenure. (Please review the document NASFAA Board Tenure for Regional Associations, which I uploaded to Dropbox, for the background on this subject.) The NASFAA board is currently structured so that each region has a representative, usually the regional president, on the NASFAA board for one year. In addition, each region is allowed to send a

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representative, usually the region’s president-elect, to observe the board meetings. NASFAA would like the regions to consider making the tenure of the regional representatives a three-year commitment instead of one year. This means that we might have to select someone other than the acting SWASFAA president as the regional representative to serve on the NASFAA board. The SWASFAA president would still be able to attend the NASFAA meetings as an observer.On October 2-3, I traveled to Bismarck, AR, to attend the AASFAA Conference. The following week, I went to Lafayette, LA, to attend the LASFAA Conference, and to El Paso, TX, for the TASFAA Conference. I gave SWASFAA updates at all three conferences, and at TASFAA I participated on a panel that discussed leadership and volunteer opportunities within the professional associations. I had a great time visiting with the Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas members and learning about their state associations. I experienced great hospitality in all three states, and I look forward to attending the conferences again next year.The next NASFAA board meeting is scheduled for November 17-18 in New Orleans. Since I will be handling the SWASFAA President responsibilities for a second consecutive year, we will not have a SWASFAA observer at the fall and spring NASFAA meetings. Janell Valdez will be eligible to attend as an observer starting in July 2015, prior to the NASFAA Conference.The NASFAA Leadership and Legislative Conference and Expo is scheduled for March 1-3, 2015, in Washington, DC. They will send out additional information in the coming weeks.I have been very busy working with Audra Main on the upcoming conference. Our conference numbers are the highest they have been in a long time. The conference has 223 registrants, and boot camp has83 registrants. We had to work with the nearby Hilton as an overflow hotel to accommodate all our guests. These are exciting days for SWASFAA, and I hope to build on this enthusiasm in 2015.I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all the board members and committee chairs who have assisted me in 2014. We’ve had a very successful year, and I appreciate each and every one of you for all your hard work.

03Past President’s ReportLisa Hopper

No report

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O 4 Treasurer's ReportCindy Perez

Membership Fees Receivable - $500 Conference, Boot Camp and Leadership Fees Receivable

$18,125 Federal Tax Return is in progress and will be filed by the due

date of November 17, 2014 See attachment: Balance Sheet & Investment Account

Informational Items

O 5Secretary's ReportGinny Meek

2013 Conference Board Meeting minutes were emailed to Audra Main to be distributed at the 2014 Conference.

Informational Items

S1ArkansasPresidentMichelle Cordell

Delegate

Fall Conference

Our 2014 Fall conference was held at Lake DeGray on Oct 2-3rd. We had 114 registered attendees and 7 vendors. In addition to our regularly scheduled sessions, we partnered with NASFAA to offer two NASFAA core trainings with free NASFAA University testing for those that participated. The two topic areas were the Application and Student Eligibility. We had 33 people attend the Student Eligibility training and 25 attend the Application.The AASFAA Executive Council voted to offer discounted conference registration for presenters beginning with our Spring training. Institutional members will receive a full discount on conference/training registration and Associate members will be discounted at the Institutional member conference/training registration rate.Our 2015 Fall conference is scheduled for Oct 8-9th at Lake DeGray, Bismark, Arkansas.Fall Board RetreatOur fall board retreat will be held in Little Rock on November 17-18th.Spring TrainingOur annual Spring training will be held on April 24, 2015 at Pulaski Tech in North Little Rock.

Informational Items

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S2LouisianaPresidentJacqueline LaChapelle

DelegateTaina Savoit

Informational Items

S3 New Mexico

PresidentMarliss Monette

DelegateBrent Small

Committee Members:Marliss Monette, October 2013 - 2014 NMASFAA PresidentBrent Small, 2013-2014 SWASFAA Delegate-at-Large, New MexicoReport:

I. NMASFAA Board met October 16, 2014 in Albuquerque, New Mexico prior to Fall Training

II. Mini Boot Camp held October 16, 2014 in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Over 20 attended first time NMASFAA boot camp

Sessions included application and student eligibility, customer service and Federal Methodology

III. Fall Decentralized Training: Held October 17, 2014 in Albuquerque, NM

with over 50 attending Topic was NASFAA’s Training on Need Analysis –

presented by Joseph Molina, NMSU State Update from the NM Higher Education

Department Federal Update Kevin Campbell NMASFAA Business meeting

IV. 2014 Elections: Online voting will be held in November Positions on the Ballot are as follows

o President Electo Treasurer Electo Secretaryo Parliamentarian

V. 2015 NMASFAA Annual Conference: Planning continues March 31 – April 2, 2015 Hotel Albuquerque; Albuquerque, NM

Informational Items

S4 Oklahoma

OASFAA President – Lori Boyd

Delegate

Recent Activities

The Fall 2014 Training was held at the Moore-Norman Technology Center on October 24, 2014. Margaret Betts and Linda Good presented training on Federal Methodology.

The Board and Committee Chairs met on October 9, 2014. A discussion was held on the planning of our Spring 2014

Informational Items

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Mendy Schmerer Conference. Other discussion included information about Cvent Event Management. OASFAA decided to use Cvent to assist with conference registration, communication and collection of conference fees.

Future Activities

The next meeting for Board and Committee Chairs will be in December 2014.

S5Texas

PresidentMelet LeafgreenDelegateDenise Welch

232 attended El Paso Conference

New president will start in December

Informational Items

C1Finance CommitteeTaina Savoit

Conducted and Participated in the Annual Financial ReviewAnnual Financial Review was conducted during the month of October 2014 by Andrew Hammontree, Marliss Monette and Taina Savoit.

Transactions Reviewed:Reviewed 30 transactions from 2013 calendar year

Transactions were randomly selected by President Elect, Joe Pettibon in April 2014

It was determined that once the transactions were selected, then Cindy would scan the documentation for the review team to use

See spreadsheet of transactions reviewed with notes

Findings:Two transactions did not have documentation for debit/credit card expenses and two transactions documentation were off by minimal amounts (see spreadsheet for details)

Due to one transaction being under $10 as indicated in our P/P, page 35, IV.G.2.b.7.e, then Treasurer is seeking written documentation of the expense. Once received, this one will be cleared. There is also guidance on page 51, Appendix C, Letter of Understanding about a lost receipt.

Per P/P, page 31, IV.C.2.h – Debit/credit card charges that are not documented within 30 days of the date of the charge will be billed to the debit/credit cardholder

Comment: The review team is not indicating that we should bill the individual, but would like the board to provide guidance to the Treasurer if she should bill for these two transactions or consider

Informational Items

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other options Per P/P, page 31, IV.C.2.i – Discusses what expenses are

eligible for use with the card Comment: One card was used for several financial

aid professionals outside of our region to have dinner with the intent of seeking NASFAA reimbursement, which has not been fulfilled

Recommendations: Track debit/credit card transactions in a more precise way by

the Treasurer Officers (holders of any SWASFAA debit/credit cards) need to

fulfill their part in a timely and accurate manner to assist the Treasurer with all their expenditures, following the P/P of within 30 days of charge

All card holders must understand what is in our P/P manual and comply, that is why they must sign the Appendix C, page 51 letter of understanding

This committee would like to commend Cindy Perez, Treasurer for a good job, well done of maintaining our association records!

Suggestion for Future Financial Reviews Try to do in conjunction with April board meeting to remain

focused on getting it accomplished in a short time frame All went very well, but there was a lot to scan, share by

email, ensure that everyone is on the same thought process when reviewing, etc.

Review of this Past Year Did not find any past 2014 reports that had been submitted

prior to the vacancy Investments, per a discussion with our Treasurer, we have

earned interest for the year as a whole and that amount will be for review in the Treasurer’s report

2015 Proposed Budget, will be available to assist with preparing if needed

Committee Members:President-Andrew Hammontree, Treasurer-Cindy Perez, Board Member-Marliss Monette, Board Member-Taina Savoit (Chair as of September 2014)

Jacque LaChapelle made the motion if NASFAA is unable to reimburse the funds because we missed the 30 day deadline, then we will write off the debt. Lori Boyd seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

C2Annual ConferenceAudra Main

Committee Members: Audra Main, Chair, Kelli Kelnar, Oklahoma, Shannon Guillory, Louisiana, Mayra Payan, Texas, Joni Beader, New

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Mexico, Toni Carter, Arkansas

Report: The conference is here. As of Thursday, October 30, 2014 there are 222 registered for the conference with 10 late registrations. We have turned in all the meals and counts to the hotel along with all the AV.

We had to add an overflow, Hilton Riverside. This was due to the high volume and running out of rooms at Harrah’s. We have met our numbers for both hotels and have provided all that are at the Hilton with directions to Harrah’s from the Hilton.

My committee has worked hard and hopefully this will be a great conference and everything will go off wonderfully.

C3Boot CampDenise Welch Committee Members:

Denise Welch, ChairBrent Small, New Mexico, Co-ChairMendy Schmere, OklahomaJana Hart, ArkansasSarah Webb, Texas

Objective:Have a well-organized and attended Boot Camp 2014

Goals:Complete the Boot Camp in Nov.

Committee Activities:

Our Boot Camp is upon us and we are ready. Our theme this year of course is Mardi Gras parade. “Throw me something Mister”. Our agenda is set and we have 2 activities for team building ready for our Boot Campers. We have 83 registered. We have 53 that have paid and 30 that have not. We anticipate their payments either this week or at the Boot Camp. We will offer 2 sessions for NASFAA certification. A great big “Thank you to Taina Savoit and Shannon Guillory for being willing to present our SAP and PJ sessions for us at such short notice.

Our projected expenses should come in around $20, 000.00. Our

Informational Items

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income should come in $20,000.00. We should break even on the cost.

We are excited about our Boot Camp and are looking forward to a great time in New Orleans.

C4MembershipTaina Savoit

Statistics on our Membership

As of Oct 28, 2014 As of Nov 1, 2013

Total Association Members

1,463 1,054

Institutional Memberships

175 137

Number of Institutional Members

1,274 N/A

Associate Memberships

29 N/A

Number of Associate Members

188 N/A

New Members 344 N/ARenewal Members 1,119 N/A

Cleaning up continues on the membership database Working on the individuals that are not connected with an

institution Working on connecting new institutions to their institutional

membership Monitoring new members if selecting the correct

membership type, have had to work through a few issues, but all are resolved as of now

New Venture at Annual Conference Thank you to Cindy Perez and her idea, we will be

distributing institutional staff rosters from our membership database at the registration table when institutions are picking up their name tags along with an instructional sheet of how to update their institutional members

Informational Items

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We are hoping that this will attempt to assist with cleaning up our database even more

Topics that Need Clarification When individuals from outside of our region applied for

membership in order to attend bootcamp, they were made to join as associate members.

This would not allow them voting rights as an associate member, but they did not qualify as an individual membership since they are employed at a higher education institution.

Do we want to continue that same aspect or possibly create another category of membership?

If more research is wanted, then the 2015 committee can do research to bring to the board for the upcoming year and how that would impact our bylaws, add to our P/P manual, etc.

Committee Members:Arkansas – Amy Neathery, ASLALouisiana – Erica LeJeune, McNeese State UniversityNew Mexico – Marliss Monette, New Mexico TechOklahoma – Susan Prater, University of Central OklahomaTexas – Beth Reid, University of Texas at ArlingtonChair - Taina Savoit, McNeese State University

Nominations & Elections CommitteeLisa Hopper

As reported for the September Board meeting by conference call, elections were held online September 2-11th. Election results were confirmed by Andrew Hammontree. The fact that only voting members could actually vote was confirmed with Erika Cox. The elected positions are below:

President Elect- Janell Valdez

Arkansas Delegate-at-Large: Jennifer Williams

Louisiana Delegate-at-Large: Katraya Williams

New Mexico Delegate-at-Large: Michael Meherg

I have notified the candidates of the outcome of the elections, but asked everyone to keep the results confidential until the SWASFAA Conference Announcement (sometimes things change between election and conference).

I have asked the current members of the NEC and Awards Committees to serve again in that capacity during 2015 and I thankfully I believe all

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have agreed to do so.

Awards CommitteeLisa Hopper Years of Service Awards

I emailed each of these recipients to let them know they will be receiving a service award at the conference. I did this as a courtesy and to generate interest in attending the conference. A few will be in attendance or will have someone pick up the pins for them. We have plenty of pins in stock.

Retirements

We have six retirees this year understandably none of them will be attending. Andrew and I discussed the cost of mailing clocks to them and possibility of the clocks getting broken, etc. He and I together decided that since we changed the P & P so that is doesn’t specifically state “a clock” that we will do certificates and mail those to them. Much less expensive and not breakable and really it’s the thought that they were remembered in their retirement and not the clock itself.

Logan Ware Professional Development Scholarship The recipients chosen by the committee are:

April Herring, Phillips Community College of Arkansas- DeWitt, AR

Jashawnna Barfield, Southern University-Shreveport, LA

These recipients have been notified and their two nights rooms will be paid and their registration fees waived. I have shared this info with Audra and Cindy.

Philo Brasher Emerging Leadership Award (Confidential until SWASFAA conference announcement)

Oklahoma: Marilyn Schwarz, Murray State College

Texas: Jennifer Zettler Nanni, Texas Christian University

Arkansas: Leanne Johnson, Harding University

New Mexico: Jan Terry-Sanchez, Eastern New Mexico University

Louisiana: Kristi Water, Northwestern State University

Framed signed certificates will be presented to each of these recipients during the lunch on Thursday.

Informational Items

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Leo Hatten Distinquished Service Award- to be announced by Andrew at the Thursday awards portion of the lunch meeting.

NASFAA Regional Service Award- Recipient-Lisa Blazer, University of Texas- San Antonio. This award to be presented by NASFAA representation during Thursday’s lunch/awards ceremony.

C9Archives CommitteeGinny Meek

Committee Members:

Ginny Meek, Chair, Northwest Arkansas Community College (Arkansas)Marilyn Schwarz, Murray State College (Oklahoma Rep)

Joni Leggio, Louisiana Education Loan Authority (Louisiana Rep)Virginia Tucker, New Mexico State University (New Mexico Rep)

Raul Lerma, El Paso Community College (Texas Rep)Report:

The Archive Committee is looking forward to providing a pictorial report of the 2014 SWASFAA Conference! Joni Leggio, Louisiana representative, will be taking pictures at Boot Camp and throughout the Conference. I will be taking pictures at the Leadership Workshop and also at the Conference.

If you have pictures you want to put on the SWASFAA website please upload in DropBox/SWASFAA Photos folder/2014 SWASFAA Conference folder by November 10th. I will then forward all the photos to Paula Gordon with ATAC Corporation to be uploaded to the SWASFAA website photo galleries.

Informational Items

C10Training CommitteeDenise Welch

Informational Items

C11Corporate RelationsCraig Poleman

Committee Members:

Carin Kruger, Wells Fargo; Beth Zachary, Discover; Paige Hendricks, EdFinancial, Craig Poleman, Inceptia (NSLP) (Chair)

REPORT:

I am pleased to report that SWASFAA has the following vendors for the 2014 Conference:

College Board Discover Student Loans ECMC

EdFinancial Financial Aid Services Financial Aid TV

Informational Items

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First Marblehead Great Lakes Inceptia

LELA LendKey Navient

Nelnet Postletwaite & Netterville SOCLE

Student Aid Services USA Funds Wells Fargo

Even though we have the same number of vendors as last year, 10 of our vendors are new this year! This is a huge accomplishment considering many vendors are not exhibiting like they used to. Please be sure to stop by and not only visit with the vendors but be sure to thank them for their participation.

I would like to thank Kelli Kelnar at OCAP and Tricia Dubroc and Joni Leggio at LELA for the assistance with getting all of the vendor information ready for the conference program and the rotating slide presentation that will be seen during lunch.

I wish to say thanks again to Erika Cox for her assistance in helping to spread the word about SWASFAA to schools as well as vendors.

C12Electronic Initiatives & CommunicationErika Cox

Committee Members: Erika CoxReport: The mini-site has been updated with all pertinent information for the conference. I will begin to update the site with new board information and commitee chairs so that it's up to date before the next board meeting.Blog Updates:942 visits total. Looking forward to seeing a nice conference summary with pictures!Social Media:Facebook page has 143 likes up from 128. Twitter: 87 followers up from 83Scheduled Social Media Posts:None pre-scheduled, but I plan to tweet from the account and take pictures throughout the conference. If you tweet, please us #swasfaa.Recommendations/Motions/Actions:

For future discussion, the board will want to decide on whether members will be allowed to submit blog articles and how that process will work. Particularly, guidance on blog articles submitted by associate members.

Banner ads are currently not up on the web. How should we proceed with this endeavor?Taina Savoit made a motion to no longeroffer banner ads. Lisa Hopper seconded the motion.The motion was approved.

Informational Items

Leadership Development Committee Members:

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Mendy Schmerer Mendy Schmerer, Chair, OklahomaMichelle Cordell, ArkansasCraig Poleman, LouisianaJanell Valdez, New MexicoLisa Blazer, Texas

Leadership Workshop

Registration for the Leadership Workshop closed on Friday, October 24th, with 20 registrations. Of those 20 registered, 4 of those are the Philo Brasher award winners from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico. The Board had previous agreed to waive the registration fees for the Philo Brasher recipients, which leaves 16 people paying the $75 registration fee.

Andrew had decided to use the Workshop as a kind of retreat for the Board members and Committee chairs who are not otherwise committed to conference duties. Of that group, 11 people should be able to attend, or at least attend a portion, of the Workshop. By adding the 5 committee members, Sarah Webb as a presenter, the 20 registered attendees, 11 Board members and Committee chairs, and Justin Draeger and Eileen O’Leary, this first year of the Leadership Development Workshop should prove to be an engaging one!

Conference Leadership Sessions

The Leadership Development Committee coordinated 2 leadership-geared sessions for the conference. During the Workshop, the 2 sessions, “Advocacy and You” and “True Colors: Brightening Your Colors” will be touted and Workshop attendees will be encouraged to attend.

C13Legislative IssuesMichael Meherg

Informational Items

C14Local ArrangementsLeatrice Latimore

Committee is busy making final arrangements and tending to last minute details for the Conference and the Mini-Mardi Gras and parade!

Informational Items

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C15Long Range Planning

Informational Items

C16Site SelectionTricia Debroc

See attachments:November Site SelectionSite Selection Capacity Chart/FloorplanSite Selection SWASFAA Group Sales Agreement

Marliss Monette made a motion to amend the 510 room commitment to 400 prior to accepting the Sandia Resort agreement for the 2015 Conference. Denise Welch seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

Informational Items

OLD BUSINESS

1) Blog Policy & Procedure

Table until January Board Meet

NEW BUSINESS1) Mid-Level Training

Change to offer a Leadership track at next Conference

Bring back mid-level training to make Boot Camp smaller and less seasoned

Offer mid-level training in conjunction with April Board meeting to save travel expenses

New ways to engage membership

2) Approve 2015 budget

See attachment – Proposed 2015 Budget

Taina Savoit made a motion to accept the 2015 Budget. Jacque LaChapelle seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

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3) Approve 2015 committee chairs

See attachment – 2015 Board & Chairs

Jacque LaChapelle made a motion to accept 2015 Committee Chairs. Lisa Hopper seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

4) Long-Range Plan

Expires at the end of 2015.

Andrew appointed a Task Force: Cindy Perez, Janell Valdez, Taina Savoit, and Andrew Hammontree

5) 2015 Webinars

Denise Welch, Training Chair

3 webinars budgeted

Publicize in January scheduled webinar for March

Topic: Best Practice - Verification

AdjournJacque LaChapelle made a motion to adjourn. Taina Savoit seconded the motion. Motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m.

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Documents

SWASFAA · Web viewMembership Fees Receivable - $500. Conference, Boot Camp and Leadership Fees Receivable $18,125 ... A great big “Thank you to Taina Savoit and Shannon Guillory