January 26, 2009

12:00 pm – Lunch

Following lunch, President Taina Savoit called the meeting to order at 12:11 PM.

Present:

Taina Savoit, David Page, Lee Carrillo, Cindy Perez, Judi Sears, Gladys Chairez, Janell Valdez, Laura Coponiti, Andrew Hammontree, Lyn Wheeler, Rick Renshaw, Lisa Hopper, John Jefferson, Shannon Guillory, Ron Hancock, Karen Krause, Mark Bandré, Malea Fowler, Scott Deboard, Mary Sue Rix, Sara Elliott, Tricia Dubroc, Carlia Smith.

Absent:

Tamara Tidwell and Gwen Nixon.

I. Opening Remarks

Taina welcomed everyone and stated how much she appreciated their attendance. Gwen Nixon and Tamara Tidwell were unable to make it. At the April meeting, we will be joined by Lisa Griffin, SFGLA, who will be the SCAN Editor.

The board took a moment to introduce themselves. We learned that we have members whose hobbies include preparing a nursery for a new child, cooking, and several who: are serving as chauffeur for children, are learning how to knit, are very active in church, love to read, catalog people, are learning to play pool, and some have no time for hobbies. Others enjoy playing on the internet, crocheting for first grandchild, one who considers his two teenage daughters a hobby (depending on what they like) – including a Wii which will make you sore, spending time with family, gardening and singing, coaching in excess of 30 different sports teams for his children, and working on a doctorate degree. One reported her hobby is being a fan of UNM Lobos men’s Basketball, another is learning to install wood flooring; other hobbies include reading mysteries, sleeping in spare time (when her 7 month-old will allow), floral design, a crazy aunt who enjoys shopping for nieces/nephews and wine tasting, crossword puzzles, traveling, collecting dust, working on and restoring old cars, working in the yard and planting flowers and trees whose outdoor plants do well because her ‘children’ (two male cats) enjoy fertilizing her plants.

Taina covered the contents of the binder that she provided. The binder includes an up-to-date version of the P&P (which is also on the SWASFAA website), the Long Range Plan, an Action Request form, which helps us track Action Items, the 2009 Budget (she reminded us to be mindful of our budget) that was approved in December, an expense form, and a contact list of current board members. There is also an agenda for this meeting.

She pointed out the little ‘Survival Bag’ that she provided and hopes that everyone enjoys it. She said Tricia is working with the hotel to make sure that all who were to be on the master bill are correct.

Everyone is welcome to contribute during the meeting but committee chairs cannot vote. If you’d like to be recognized, the procedure is the stand your name card up and Lee will keep track of who is next. She also asked us to be sure to keep receipts and print out a Map Quest report of mileage if you want to be reimbursed for mileage. There will be 25 plus one guest who can join us from dinner. The hotel has a social hour from 5-7 and we will meet the shuttle at 6:30 in the lobby. We will be having dinner at Humperdinck’s. Tricia is checking with hotel to find a restaurant for our next meeting. Tomorrow morning for breakfast, go through the buffet line, place your order and let them know you are with SWASFAA. We will eat in this room. We will end by noon tomorrow.

II. Approval of December 2008 Meeting Minutes

Lyn Wheeler made a motion to approve the 2008 Board minutes from the December; David seconded.

Minutes approved.

III. Officer Reports

1. President’s Report – Taina Savoit
   • Written Report
   • The database was extended on our web site through February so that the membership would have time to find out if they are a paid member. Volunteer response has been slow; they had about 14 volunteers. She has made some assignments and will work with the States in order to get more people from the states on committees.
   • Mark has sent out instructions on how Committee Chairs may access the web to list the members of their committee.
   • As SWASFAA President, she sits on the NASFAA Board along with David and Lee is an observer. There is still discussion by that board regarding whether or not to centralize Decentralized Training. Right now, she has asked Carlia to chair both the Decentralized Training and Legislative Issues committees. If NASFAA eliminates Decentralized Training, Carlia will chair the Legislative Issues only. The next NASFAA board meeting will be in May of 2009 in Wyoming. Please be sure to let her, David, Lee or Alvina Thomas (our Representative-at-Large) know if we have any issues that we would like to see addressed.
   • The Regional Presidents are conducting a conference call monthly (there is not enough time for them to discuss issues while at the NASFAA Board meeting) regarding issues that are impacting their associations. They are trying to figure out how to cope with the losses of revenue and how it is affecting their associations.
   • Taina has gotten dates of the state conferences within the SWASFAA region and has posted those dates on the SWASFAA web site. If you see errors, please let her know. State presidents have access to post information, but if it is something Taina has already entered, she will need to edit the information.
   • She’s going to WASFAA in Anchorage, Alaska in April as part of the inter-regional programs.
     
     
2. Past President’s Report – David Page
   • No written report
   • David thanked everyone for last year’s support. He asked that any outstanding bills from the conference be submitted. It looks like we came in under budget for the conference, which he is very pleased about.
     
     
3. President-Elect's Report – Lee Carrillo
   • Written report.
   • Lee asked everyone to review the P&P for potential changes and to notify him if you see items that need to be addressed. He is looking for Committee Chairs for 2010. He was a NASFAA Board attendee as a Peanut Gallery observer in November. He will participate in the monthly conference calls with Taina and other regional Presidents.
   • He is supposed to visit another region (EASFAA) and hopes to visit there, not MASFAA as is in his report.
   • He is not sure if he will attend the NASFAA Leadership Conference. He has been in attendance in the past and wanted to determine if there was a better use of funds.
   • He asked the Board to please give feedback/suggestions on how to reduce budget or anything else they feel is relevant.
     
     
4. Treasurer’s Report – Cindy Perez
   • Written Report
   • We still have not received funds from IRS; she has filed the reports and hopes to get back soon the $10,633.03 that was withheld in error. This report does not include the expenses from the PEABODY; under $60K. She believes that the 2008 budget will come in at zero for which she congratulated David and his board.
   • She informed the members that the policy relating to Travel can be found on pages 33-34 of the P&P.
   • A check in the amount of $2651.00 has been sent to the Autism Society for funds raised at the auction held in December.
     
     
5. Finance Committee Report – Lee Carrillo
   • Written Report
   • It was brought up at the last meeting that we should have an audit and he checked it out and learned that it may cost the association thousands. He said NM conducted a review for that state and the same person could do it for SWASFAA for approximately $500. In the past, Board members have conducted a review.
   • A discussion was held regarding the pros and cons of both procedures; one point was that the internal reviewer could always recommend an external audit if it there is concern. Most of the states in our region use this approach.
   • Following the discussion, it was determined that SWASFAA will have a review conducted, rather than an external audit. Lee will schedule it for September.
   • He needs two Board Members to sit on the Finance committee and asked anyone who is interested to please contact him.
   • He then introduced Gary Rodgers who gave an ING Investment Update.
   • Mr. Rodgers thinks things will improve in the second half of 2009. He recommends that we stay the course because our portfolio is only moderately risky. One recommendation is to put about $3000 (<5% of portfolio) in USO; thinks we’ll get 75% return on investment which may help to recover some of our losses. SWASFAA started out at $97000 and is now at $69000. Recession usually lasts about 9 months (this one began in December 2007) so they expect it to end about the end of 2009. He gave each Board member his card and welcomed calls at any time if questions come up at a later date.
   • ING is projecting that oil will go up to $65-$75 a barrel about the end of the year. That is why they are recommending USO now and he will come back with a recommendation about March on when and where to make investment changes at that time.
   • Rick motions that we accept Gary’s recommendation to move $3000 from Money Market fund to buy USO; second by David. Motion carried.

IV. State Reports

1. Arkansas – John Jefferson
   • Written report.
   • AASFAA is being proactive in influencing how to use funds from the newly created state lottery program. It is also petitioning the state legislators regarding the impact of canceling the AR Technical Careers Student Loan Forgiveness program will have on the 11,000 student borrowers who were expecting that the loan would be forgiven.
   • They are busy planning the annually televised Call-In Program (which highlights SFA in Little Rock) as well as gearing up for College Goal Sunday.
   • The spring conference will be a one-day event on April 16th (down from a 3-day). And the fall conference will be Oct. 22nd-23rd (down from 3 days). The cuts are due to reductions in revenues.
   • AR is sending him and Michelle Cordell (secretary) to the NASFAA Leadership Conference March 8-10, 2009 in D.C.
   • They are creating a new membership category for Former Aid Professionals who will pay a $10 annual membership fee and who will have no voting rights.
   • The Student Loan Guaranty Fund of Arkansas will hold a conference on March 10, 2009.
     
     
2. Louisiana – Shannon Guillory
   • Written Report
   • The LASFAA Board has experienced a lot of instability recently as board members where not able to fulfill their full term of office. She recognized Ursula Shorty, their past President for staying the course and keeping LASFAA afloat.
   • 2009 Spring Conference March 18-19; Fall conference & Mini Boot camp Oct 21-23; Upper Management workshop TBA; CGS Feb 15 at 16 sites; Decentralized Training TBA; Financial Aid Support Staff training (F.A.S.T.) TBA
   • Updated Exhibitor Fees/benefits; $1500 exhibitor and $500 non exhibitor.
     
     
3. New Mexico – Janell Valdez
   • Written Report
   • Janell announced the election results for the 2009 NMASFAA Board: Betty Dever President Elect; Malea Fowler, Secretary; Amanda Hammer, Parliamentarian; and Phyllis Henrie, Treasurer.
   • Their first official meeting is slated for Friday, January 31, 2009. The Board will address the possibility of some reductions in funding within the state; $20 million may be cut from higher education funding.
   • There will be 23 sites for CGS in NM; Feb 21 and 22.
     
4. Oklahoma – Andrew Hammontree
   • Written report.
   • The Board held its first meeting on January 23, 2009.
   • OASFAA has scheduled Support Staff Training for March 14 and the Spring Conference for April 15-17. They are raising registration fee to $125. They are in the process of selecting the Philo Brasher, Distinguished Service and Partner Award. They will announce winner at spring conference.
   • OASFAA is considering changing to Institutional membership. He asked for feedback regarding how other states handle voting if they have Institutional membership. All of the states reported that there is one vote per institution except for LA where everyone gets to vote. A discussion was held regarding when membership dues are paid and most associations said they accept dues at any point; people/institutions cannot vote unless dues have been paid.
     
     
5. Texas – Rick Renshaw
   • Written report.
   • The Texas Guaranty Agency conference is scheduled for April 21-22nd; TG cannot waive the $50 registration fee this year. The event will be at the Renaissance in Austin.
   • Rick said TASFAA is considering putting a Legislative Issues BLOG on the website. They think they will have information posted on it around February (through ATAC).
   • They will be exploring that option as a way to react promptly, especially when legislature is in session.
   • The President’s advisory counsel is charged with reviewing the membership structure, in particular the possibility of reversing a constitutional change made a few years ago that added a an associate member with voting privileges to the Board of Directors. The TX Attorney General has declared TASFAA as a ‘lender’ and it is their hope that this change will remove that label from them. The proposed change will require a constitutional amendment.
   • Carolyn Jones is TASFAA President-Elect; VP is David Ximenez; he was elected VP by the board.
   • Cindy asked about the newly created Top 10% scholarship and Rick said it must be awarded and funds drawn down before August 31st (in the current year) for next year. It is a one year grant and he is not sure if it will be funded in future years. There is a lot of uncertainty about the future of this program.
   • CGS is Feb 22nd and we have 31 sites.

V. Committee Reports

1. Conference Committee Report – Mary Sue Rix
   • Written Report
   • Carlia reported that the 2008 committee has been working to wrap things up for that conference. She said the sessions were very highly rated. General evaluations were extremely positive. Some positive suggestions include: agenda changed quite a bit and people asked that an updated agenda be placed on the web site to provide them prior notice. She didn’t think about parking problems that people who drove may encounter. There was plenty of parking options available but her committee didn’t get that information out to those in attendance. Since both she and Karen are from LR, they may not have thought of providing those options. There were some negative comments about the food but there were more that were positive. There were a few negative comments about having auction in the middle of the day on Thursday. The reason it was held at that time was because there was not a nightly function to hold it after. The negative comments were that because of the time of the auction, the sessions were shortened but in reality that was not the case. The sessions had been moved back to accommodate the auction schedule. Attendees liked having the Feds and NASFAA leadership doing sessions. It was noted that we didn’t have a session on Verification.
   • She said that she thinks that we had 8 individuals with billing errors which they are yet trying to straighten out. Apart from that they have had good results in getting billing information. She has hopes that the conference itself will be within budget.
   • Karen is working to get the presentations on our web site; two are on already. The cost for the event at the Clinton Library was $8870 (of which $4200 was food).
   • Mary Sue mentioned that the 2009 Conference committee will meet in Dallas on February 8-10. They will be going through the evaluations from the 2008 conference. She is interested in hearing suggestions for interest sessions. She will put something on the web site for members to propose sessions.
     
     
2. Boot Camp – Sara Elliott
   • Written Report
   • There were 70 pre-registered for Boot Camp (most had prepaid) and 61 actual attendees. Cindy said there is a $50 cancellation fee which she does not automatically return the funds. Members must request it. Over 90% of attendees surveyed reported that it was above average.
   • The 2009 Boot Camp still needs committee members from all states.
     
     
3. Membership – Nora Cargo
   • Written Report
   • Nora provided an update of current membership status. Currently there are 1628 individual members and 1306 (235 institutions) which will expire on February 28th. She still needs committee members from NM, OK and TX.
   • She is planning to send the paper membership flyers to state conferences so that they can put it in their packet at the State conferences.
   • Some suggestions were to: have the membership committee chairs from the states serve on the SWASFAA membership committee; have ATAC send an invoice to paid members every January reminding them to pay current year’s dues; send an automatic reminder through list serve; send a reminder to those who have been a member but who have not paid their dues.
     
     
4. Nominations and Elections – David Page
   • Written report.
   • For 2011 we will vote for President Elect, Secretary, and Delegates from OK and TX. He asked us to encourage members to step up and serve. We want a good mixture of new and old members.
     
     
5. Long Range Planning (LRP) – Karen Krause
   • Written report.
   • She has comments of the 2008 updates to the plan. She said to make it meaningful, it needs to be tied to something. For committee chairs, she made a cursory exam of which goals go to specific goals. Some committees have no tie to the LRP. She needs to do some work especially since this plan is for 2005-2010 and recommends that Lee name a person to serve on the committee this year who will be the chair for next year. She believes there are 4 major goals and we may need to expand a bit.
   • Some recommendations are: to include a time frame for activities that are not done every year or for one-time-only activities; hand out any updates to boards on a regular basis; committee chairs should share with the LRP Chair things that they think their committee does; and to attach it as an Appendix to the P&P so that every board member will have access to the information.
   • Action item: Taina has charged the 2009 Committee Chairs to get a report at the end of the year to LPR which will determine how the work of their committee met the goals of the association. The Chairs will need to turn in their reports for the December 2009 board meeting. Taina said that she attended an interregional meeting at which the Chairs provided a summary at the final meeting of the year on how the committee had met their goals during that year as related to the LRP.
   • Action Item: Karen will send a summary which relates various committee ties to particular goals.
   • Action Item: Karen will send out the original LPR as well as the suggestions that have been made to update it. (There is no record that she can find to determine if the suggestions were approved.)
     
     
6. Awards Committee – David Page
   • No written report
   • He has not sent out the awards for people who haven’t picked them up at the conference but plans to do that soon.
   • Shannon asked if the states need to notify SWASFAA of members who were recognized at the state level; David said that is not necessary. The awards that he is working on are for SWASFAA.
   • Ron noted that the Emerging Leader Award certificate still reads ‘Rookie of the Year’. It was agreed that the certificates will be corrected and mailed to the 2008 recipients (and David joked that the recipients will need to use the same frame!).
   • There was quite a discussion on how to get information from the membership regarding years of service, etc. Some suggestions are to: 1. Set the default to the year they first registered as a member and the person would need to update it if it is incorrect. 2. Make fields on the website mandatory in order to complete the membership form.
   • Nora asked if there are any specific awards for a SWASFAA member whose nomination comes from the membership. The discussion revealed that there are no specific awards made by the general membership. There is a Past President award where the outgoing president is recognized at the Conference. The selection of the Emerging Leader Award recipient is made by the states and in some states they may go through a process of membership nominations for the award.
   • The President always has the prerogative of asking for nominations for the Leo Hatten award even thought they are not required to do so; Board approval is not required.
   • Action Item: David will make sure that the Emerging Leader Award certificate information is corrected and will send new certificates to the 2008 recipients.

The meeting recessed at 5:28 P.M. and reconvened at 8:30 A.M.

7. Decentralized Training – Carlia Smith
• No written report
• Decentralized training is currently on hold from NASFAA. SWASFAA will wait to hear from NASFAA before we determine how we will respond. We have not asked for volunteers to serve on the committee for this point.
  
  
8. Legislative Issues – Carlia Smith
• Written Report
• The house is expected to vote tomorrow regarding the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 which may impact Title IV.
• In addition to the items in her report, funding for AmeriCorps includes a proposed increase of $200 million in this bill.
• HEOA – even though there are recommendations for changes to simplify the application for TIV Aid, they cannot be implemented without changes to current law. The new concept would tell recipients how much aid they would be eligible for rather than the EFC.
• GEN-08-12 includes a list of selected provisions by effective dates.
  
  
9. Electronic Initiatives – Mark Bandre
• Written Report
• Mark asked the Board members to please let him know if there are problems accessing the SWASFAA web site as we all have access and should be updating information that falls under our area.
• Action Item: Mark will meet with ATAC to discuss making mandatory responses on the application for membership (see discussion under Membership report).
• Taina provided a handout (Attachment Q) regarding Upgrading information on the web site. The discussion was that the expense seemed too high for the minimal changes that were noted. Right now ATAC is not requiring the upgrade but we wonder if it may be required in the future.
• Action Item: Mark will visit with ATAC to determine if SWASFAA will be required to make the changes in the future.
• The current monthly maintenance fee is $300 plus there is a fee for any changes we make (especially if the changes are requested to be done in a speedy manner). Mark reiterated that there is not a charge for putting things like the 2009 membership form on the site (since we are just changing 2008 to 2009) but if we wanted a new form posted, there is a fee.
  
  
10. Continuing Education – Scott Deboard
• Written Report
• This is the first year that we broke away from joining with SASFAA to do this presentation. Twenty-seven registered but only 19 showed up. Income was $2400, expenses were $998, but that doesn’t include hotel expenses. He saved money by meeting through conference calls.
• Some of the feedback received indicated that the sessions were not at the appropriate level. The committee will review future sessions more closely to get them up to mid-level. Most indicated they liked having the Mid-Level Training run immediately prior to the conference. It was a money-saving factor for the attendees.
• He is still looking for committee members from each state. The plan is to continue to hold it in conjunction with the conference. Tricia said we should have enough room in Albuquerque if we want to hold Mid-Level Training prior to the 2009 conference.
  
  
11. Corporate Relations – Ron Hancock
• No written report
• Thirteen exhibitors were at the 2008 conference. He tried to determine the break even cost and thinks we would need 6 more if we dropped the fee to $2000. Based upon that analysis he recommends leaving it at $3000. He estimates we’ll have 10 exhibitors in NM.
• He thinks we should send a ‘missed you in LR’ message to Lenders who did not attend in 2008 and also try to find out why they didn’t exhibit in AR. He will try to gauge what they are planning for exhibitor participation in NM. We didn’t have a lot of participation by charging $450 for those Lenders who attended but did not exhibit. He doesn’t think we will have huge numbers that will attend and not exhibit anyway. He had to explain to those who were charged the $450 that there is value in attending and having access to the membership; saves them from traveling to individual schools.
• Taina reported that the SASFAA’s regional conference will be held in February; they normally have 60 exhibitors and so far have 20. She noted that all regions are experiencing a drop.
• A discussion was held regarding ways to generate more interest in exhibiting. One suggestion is to give a first-time introductory rate to try to get someone new to exhibit, just to see if they would like to be future exhibitor. Ron is unsure of how current or long-time exhibitors would feel about that strategy. Taina thought we might not give that person the choice location.
• Tricia thinks it’s a good way to bring in more exhibitors. Ron is thinking about expanding this beyond lenders to software vendors and Tricia thought that perhaps that would not be a direct competition with lenders. Some ideas are to place that type of exhibitor in a separate room and/or allowing the vendor to host a demo for 30 minutes and then be open for Q&A. Another idea is to charge a vendor to present a session.
• Action Item: Ron will explore that aspect a little further including trying to determine if there are new/different vendors who are exhibiting at conferences of other regions.
  
  
12. Local Arrangements – Malea Fowler
• Written Report
• They will be inviting Mayor of Albuquerque to speak at the conference. She has 4 committee members and would like to increase that number. Tricia informed Malea that the hotel contact person is Malita Martin.
  
  
13. Site Selection – Tricia Dubroc
• Written Report
  She has been busy trying to renegotiate the dates/room blocks with hotels, but it did not work out. There are no changes in the dates, but she is still exploring reducing the room block (562 in LR). The options offered by the hotel weren’t really that favorable.
• Action Item: Cindy will get a breakdown of the costs for Little Rock to Lee/Tricia within the next 2 to 3 weeks so that they can have more information before they meet with the hotel.
• Action Item: Lee will visit with hotel regarding these issues for Albuquerque as Tricia thinks a personal meeting will be more helpful.
• For 2010, she thinks we might have better luck. For 2011 we need to be more conservative and also hold it in November to avoid competition with FSA. One suggestion was to go up on the food and beverage (from $25000 since we normally pay at least $30000) and to hold an event on site. The strategy could save money overall.

VI. Old Business

None

VII. New Business

• NASFAA’s Dallas Martin Endowment
  Taina reported that NASFAA has set:
  1. Goal to raise $300000 and are
  2. Encouraging every member of NASFAA to donate $25 plus
  3. Trying to get 100% participation from current NASFAA board members and might
  4. Then try to get 100% participation from the regions and states
• Taina says the regional presidents are bringing it forward to their association. A discussion was held regarding the approach SWASFAA will take. Laura suggested that we make it our charity for this year. Mary Sue has a problem because part of the funds is to hire a staff member at NASFAA. Nora thought that we could put a link on our web site. Malea likes the charity at our conference to be more local. Taina said there is a mix among the directions that other regions are taking; one region will donate; one had voted against it; the others said they will bring it before their boards but didn’t think they would fund it. For our region, she believes we should continue to focus on the scholarships that our region supports.
• Judi proposed a motion that we post information about it on our web site with a link to the NASFAA site. Shannon seconds. Motion carried.
• Action Item: Mark will make the changes to the web site.

VIII. Announcements:

• February 27th is deadline for submissions to NASFAA for State Awards.
• Taina will meet with executive board for submissions for State & Regional Leadership Awards. She encouraged the board to go to the web site to review the other awards that are up.
• Volunteers for NASFAA committees are taken in April. Travel is covered by NASFAA.

Motion to adjourn by Lee; seconded by Gladys. Motion Carried.

Meeting adjourned at 10:15 A.M.