Aasfaa Transition Meeting

AASFAA TRANSITION MEETING EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama June 9, 2008

Present: President Ben Baker; President-Elect Charkles Markle; Past President Jonna Baker; Vice President Andy Weaver; Treasurer Phillip Nelson; Treasurer-Elect Ann Campbell; Secretary Ann Little. Also, present—Joel Parris, Kevin Ammons, Debra Talley, Lora Kiser, Dr. Bill Wall, Amanda Sharp, Christy Bulger, Wanda Bass, Tammy Spratlin, Clark Aldridge.

I. Call to Order

The AASFAA Transition Training and Executive Board Meeting was held at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. President Ben Baker called the Executive Board Meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. Secretary Ann Little indicated that a quorum had been established.

II. Minutes

President Ben Baker instructed all who were present to review the minutes from the AASFAA Spring Conference. Charles Markle made a motion to approve the minutes, with Jonna Baker seconding it. There being no discussion, the motion carried and the minutes were approved. Secretary Ann Little indicated that the minutes will be posted on the AASFAA website in a timely manner.

III. Officer’s Reports

President Baker then asked for the officer’s reports. Secretary Little collected the reports and the hard copies will be retained. Highlights of these reports will be given with these minutes.

President President Baker gave highlights from his report of his activities as president from the past year. He specifically referred to a workshop he attended, along with 15 other AASFAA members, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on May 1-2, 2008, entitled “Rural America and Student Financial Aid: Toward an Agenda for Research, Policy , and Practice.” He commented on the fact that this was one of the most interesting workshops he had attended on the subject of student financial aid and suggested that perhaps AASFAA could conduct a workshop along these lines in the future. He also commented on the fact that he attended the SASFAA transition meeting in Tampa, Florida last week along with Charles Markle, Debra Talley and Clark Aldridge.

President Baker also thanked all in attendance for their hard work and dedication to AASFAA’s goals and objectives during the past year. He extended his best wishes to Charles Markle, 2008-2009 President, the elected officers and committee chairs for the upcoming year.

Vice President Andy Weaver The Vice President had no written report and had no professional development activity at this time. He did open the floor for a discussion on financial aid for families and the fact that the financial aid profession has taken quite a public relations hit recently. He highly recommended conducting AASFAA’s fall training session again and indicated that no topic has been chosen for this. He commented on the fact that the New Aid Officer’s workshop held during our Spring Conference was a success with 30 people in attendance.

Treasurer Phillip Nelson indicated that AASFAA ended the 2007-08 year in the black and that our checking account has been reconciled. He pointed out some corrections on his written report—the second built should read “AASFAA received $15,925 in registration fees and $34,500 in direct cash sponsorships for total conference income of $50,425. We spent $40,345.85.”

President-Elect Charles Markle submitted his report in which he thanked his committee members—Melody Caldwell, Tammy Spratlin, Sharon Williams and Donna Bass. He also indicated that his goals and objectives for the 2007-08 year were met with the successful arrangements of the Fall and Spring Conferences.

Past President Jonna Baker announced the newly elected AASFAA Officers for 2008-09 and mentioned that 91-92 AASFAA members voted before the Spring Conference. She thanked Dr. Wall, Buddy Jackson, Dorenda Adams and Debra Talley for assisting her with the voting booth. She also announced the recipients of the M. Cecil Padget and John H. Buchanan, Jr. Distinguished Service Awards—they are Carol Supri and Dr. Bill Wall, respectively. She then thanked everyone for their support and guidance during her three years.

Treasurer-Elect Ann Campbell discussed the budget committee’s goals and objectives and that these were met in that actual income exceeded actual expenses for the fiscal year. She also commented on the budget committee’s meeting that was held in July, 2007 and the fact that it was extremely helpful to the committee.

IV. Committee Reports

Legislative Relations (State) Chair Clark Aldridge had no written report but indicated that none of the seven bills related to financial were passed by the State Legislature.

Fall Local Arrangements Chair Tammy Spratlin submitted her report and wanted to thank everyone for making the Fall Conference a success, and especially a big thanks to her committee members—Ellen Canada, Donna Bass and Suzanne Bush, as well as Lora Kiser for assistance with the menus. She also commented on what an excellent speaker Kay Ivey was at our Fall Conference luncheon—thanks to Dr. Wall for securing Ms. Ivey for a very entertaining and informative luncheon.

Policies and Procedures Chair Dr. Bill Wall presented his written report. A discussion ensued regarding AASFAA scholarships, scholarship committees, their requirements and the importance of them. Dr. Wall mentioned the fact that financial aid administrators should exercise professional judgement when dealing with these scholarships.

Vendor/Sponsor Chair Lora Kiser had no written report and no comments. Long Range Planning Committee Chair Debra Talley submitted her written report. No comments were made.

Two-Year College Concerns Committee Chair Joel Parris submitted his written report. He also brought before the Board discussion of NASFAA’s College Goal Sunday and possible involvement by AASFAA. Clark Aldridge brought up cost and attendance issues related to this.

Several Board members not in attendance submitted copies of their year-end reports. The Secretary will retain hard copies of these reports for further review if needed.

President Baker thanked everyone for their reports and indicated that it was a pleasure working with the Board for the past year. He expressed a BIG thanks to Dr. Wall for all of his assistance with AASFAA’s conferences. He also wished Dr. Wall a happy 65th birthday!!

President Baker then asked if there was any “old business” to come before the Board. Secretary Little brought up for discussion eligibility of elected officers. Charles Aldridge reported that changes at TASFAA required that officers be school financial aid administrators. This was approved by their Executive Board and will go to the membership. Ann Campbell and Dr. Wall disagreed with this idea and a lively discussion ensued. Issues regarding levels of participation among both financial aid administrators and vendors were discussed, as well as the issue of some vendors not paying exhibitor fees but coming to our conferences anyway—the consensus was that this is an issue everywhere and is hard to police. Jonna discussed her feelings as a vendor and indicated she has always brought aid administrators into her decisions, but also said that aid administrators don’t always step up for a variety of reasons. Ann Campbell suggested that the Nominations Committee think this whole issue through before anything is proposed on it. At this point, President Baker yielded the podium to Vice President Weaver for the remainder of the discussion, in which he took the lead. He basically said that lenders and guarantors have been a vital part of our organization and that they have a wealth knowledge, e.g. Clark Aldridge, Jonna Baker and Dr. Wall, and that these folks cannot be excluded from the decision making in our organization—we look to our officers for checks and balances and they are a valuable resource to us. At this point, Phillip Nelson made a motion to vacate this discussion with Andy Weaver seconding it. The motion carried and the discussion ended. Another area of discussion involved legal issues affecting our organization. Charles Markle commented on the fact that we need to be sure of what we’re about, at which point Clark Aldridge pointed out the perception issue and the Slate Act in NY —if you got money from lenders, you became a lender. Dr. Wall indicated that he had called the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and that Troy King basically knows nothing about financial aid and that this is not an issue we should worry about. Ann Campbell commented on this and Andy Weaver suggested studying the issue. Dr. Wall suggested tabling it or voting on it. Phillip Nelson moved to table it, with Ben Baker seconding it. The motion carried and there was no further discussion.

At this point, President Baker returned to the podium and asked if there were any other old business. There being none, he then asked if there was any new business.

The new business to be discussed and reviewed involved changes to the Policies and Procedures Manual. The first item brought up for discussion was Section 4.4—Membership. A discussion ensued regarding deleting Article A. 4. Andy Weaver moved that it should be deleted, with Phillip Nelson seconding it. There was no discussion and the motion carried. The next item involved Section 5.5— Treasurer. President Baker entertained a motion to add “ATAC” under “f” of Article 5.5.1, number 4. There was no discussion on this matter. Phillip Nelson moved that it be added, with Ann Little seconding it. The motion carried. Up next involved Section 6.1—Committees. Jonna Baker moved to add “Electronic Services” to Article 6.1.2 under Standing Committees. There being no discussion, Ann Little seconded it and the motion carried. Next, Dr. Wall brought up for discussion whether or not to delete number two of Article 6.20.1. He suggested naming Kevin Ammons as our vendor liaison and to come back with proposals at the Fall Conference and to revise this. Wanda Bass suggested revising Article 6.20 in its entirety. Andy Weaver brought up for discussion revising 6.19 as well but President Baker indicated that this should be left as is and that Donna Bass will check on it. President Baker also said that we should revisit Section 7.2, regarding annual business meetings, in one year. He then called for a break.

After the break, the meeting was resumed. At this point, Tammy Spraitlin discussed changing the term “vendor” in all areas of the Manual. Kevin Ammons suggested it be changed to “exhibitors” in all areas. This was tabled for a later discussion. The next item to be discussed was Section 8.4—Advertising. Charles Markle made the motion to delete Article 8.4.5.2 regarding Solicitation of a Single Sponsor. Jonna seconded this and there was no discussion. The motion carried.

President Baker then opened for discussion changes in the Policies and Procedures Manual in regards to vacancies in the Treasurer and Treasurer-Elect positions. He said that if the Treasurer were to vacate the position, the Treasurer-Elect steps in and a new Treasurer-Elect will be elected. He indicated that this issue will be discussed in depth at the next board meeting. One more issue he wanted to discuss was over spent items and whether or not to transfer them to another category—the consensus was to not transfer the item and to let it stand.

Charles Aldridge brought up taxes and what we are doing about them for discussion. Charles Markle said that we have no tax liability but that we need to be careful about web-related issues. He also indicated we need line items on our budget for tax preparation and expenses—we need to check with our CPA. Ann Campbell said that this should be discussed by the new incoming officers.

The next item for discussion involved the Fall Conference and the expectation of declining attendance, as well as a decline financially. Charles Markle had some thoughts on this and indicated we will probably lose money on the conference and suggested combining training and federal updates, as well as perhaps increase registration fees. These was also some discussion by Clark Aldridge about negotiating our food and beverage budget with the hotel, as well as having more of a food commitment as opposed to more rooms. Phillip Nelson agreed with this. Joel Parris wanted those in attendance to recognize various budget cuts at schools and President Baker indicated that further study is warranted regarding this issue.

The final item of business was the introduction by President Baker of Charles Markle, along with the responsibilities of the President. At this point, President Baker thanked our hosts at Samford University and passed the gavel to President Charles Markle.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Little 2007-08 AASFAA Secretary