WASFAA 2016-17 Executive Council Meeting

WASFAA 2016-17 Executive Council Meeting The Handlery Hotel, San Diego, CA November 14-15, 2016

Members Present: Mike Johnson, Helen Faith, Barb Bickett, Nicole McMillin, Ashley Coleman, Dewayne Barnes, Mindy Bergeron, Shawn Domingo, Kay Soltis, Ashley Munro, Jannine Oyama, Ron Lee, Scott Cline, Dwight Berreth, Jennifer Knight, David Downing, Tami Sato, Steve Herndon, Sun Ow, Leonard Walker, Sandi Guidry, Jack Edwards, Thalassa Naylor, Pat Peppin, Peter Miller, Shauna Grant, Mary Frances Causey, Kelley Christianson, Rick Weems, Melissa Moser

Members Absent: Sarah Everitt, Jack Edwards, Kimberly Wells, Michelle Holdway, Ashley Salisbury

November 14, 2016 Meeting called to order by President Mike Johnson at 12:56pm

Welcome, introductions and announcements – Mike  Quorum of all 17 voting members present  Moving NASFAA update to tomorrow morning on agenda

Review of minutes – Ashley C. Motion to approve June 2016 minutes as edited First – Dwight Berreth; Second – Scott Cline Carried

Review of to do items from last meeting – Ashley C. To Do Items Sandi: Carried forward: Ashley Salisbury – check to see if there is a cost associated with using the voting functionality in ATAC. DONE; There is a cost involved, and it depends on the level we want. We will go with SurveyMonkey this year.

Ashley C: Send old WASFAA welcome letter to Michelle, who will work with David and Pat to recreate automatic email sent from ATAC when creating/renewing membership. Ashley’s part is DONE, Michelle, David & Pat’s part is Carried Forward

Mike: Update committee report template DONE

Mindy: Work on standard refund policy for events Carried Forward

Mindy & Michelle: Work on timeline for paying dues Carried Forward

Michelle, Mike, Barb: Work on proposal for institutional or hybrid membership Carried Forward

Strategic Planning update and discussion – Barb  We are going to split into 4 groups today to discuss the 4 goals that the strategic planning committee has put together and try to create measures from the strategies listed.

Discussion of results from Strategic Planning breakout

Goal #1: Increase WASFAA membership, in both numbers and engagement.  Who are our customers and how can we make our services valuable to them?  Clearly align membership year with events, especially the conference. Confusing for members.  What is the potential for the membership in each sector, especially proprietary?  Clearly defining who a financial aid administrator is. Can we include non-FA admins in membership?  Auto renewal of membership  Segmental-specific training to increase membership (federal relations, conference planning, executive council membership)  Fin Aid-L listserv  Scholarship winners required to participate on a committee  Mentorship program  Auto email renewal notices or auto bill  1st year free to new members  More targeted follow up with members that do not renew  Measure who renewed & who didn’t  Thank you note from state presidents sent to members  Provide conference attendee list  Recruiting for committees should start right after conference  Peer-to-peer discussions  Picking attractive locations, especially for conference  Website needs to be more engaging. More pictures.  Better swag  Letters to school leaders about positives of WASFAA membership  Earlier notifications & scheduling for training events  Marketing plan to increase membership. How to reach non-directors?  Who are our current volunteers? What made them volunteer? How long have they been involved?  Potential discounts for volunteers on membership or events  Training on how to get involved/brown bag lunch  Better descriptions of EC positions  Who’s voting?  Publishing profiles on scholarship winners  Asking new people for articles for newsletter Goal #2: Improve Association infrastructure and monitor and assess fiscal performance.  Understanding that we may lose money on some events, and that’s OK  Having a Dropbox for each event to keep consistent information for new chairs  Analyze new version of online training  Less in-person EC meetings  Make sure changes are recorded in P&Ps  Better documented history of our organization  Stronger transition of chairs  Timeline for all committees  Secretary’s role – all reports sent to Secretary who holds everyone accountable for submitting & posting to website. Too many emails. No report, no attendance at meeting. Why are reports important?  Having new members serve on fiscal planning committee

 Making fiscal planning information more transparent/easier to access  What are our overall goals? More money in assets? Less? Goal #3: Provide and assess effective training and professional development opportunities that are responsive to member needs.  More webinars  Creating templates for training events  Making sure chairs/EC using survey results from events to improve event in future years  State presidents should be automatic members of the training committee  Track new members based on the type of event they registered for to get that membership. How can we retain those members?  All webinars recorded & placed in library along with conference PPTs/handouts, must be a member to access. Keep old webinars available and charge to view, eventually becoming free to access.  Survey members about what they want to see in training and professional development  Rewards for attending trainings  Using focus groups at live events  Using social media more for quick feedback. Swag offered.  Fall training topics need to be exciting  Better use of scholarship articles. Use snippits in emails to promote events.  Encourage members to give us open & honest feedback  Use research grants from P&Ps to consolidate data  Specific marketing person for each event  Third party to review event results, no bias from event chair – create research committee Goal #4: Consolidate and communicate the public policy positions of financial aid administrators in the Western region, and provide members with the support and education they need to further their own advocacy efforts.  Create templates for advocacy  Track state events, news & laws – better coordination of information  Teach policy ideas  Scholarship to member that wants to go to NASFAA leadership conference with article & pictures required  Region or state-based advocacy  Present advocacy session at each conference  Measure clicks on federal relations letters from our website  “How does this affect me?” basics

Fiscal Planning update and discussion – Steve & Mindy  Treasurer’s Report – Mindy o 2015 taxes filed o Helen Faith will be getting a credit card and new president-elect will be added to Bank of America account after February meeting o Vanguard & Charles Schwab accounts doing well  Adjustments to 2016 budget recommendation from Fiscal Planning – Steve o Change Strategic Planning from $4,000 to $0 o Change Scholarships from $20,000 to $14,050 o Add $7,500 to projected budget of Executive Council 2016 o Reduce our reliance on asset reserves to supplement income

Motion to approve recommendation from Fiscal Planning of changes to 2016 budget First – Dwight Berreth; Second – Scott Cline Carried

 2017 budget discussion – Steve o SDBSI budget proposal for registration of 100, proposed registration fees are $750 resident and $500 commuter o Conference budget proposal for registration of 300, proposed registration fees are $395 member and $445 non-member (which includes $50 membership fee) . Meal costs are very high in Seattle. Possibility of not including lunch for everyone on Sunday, only newcomers, to reduce costs. . Possibility of offering a one-day attendance for Monday.

Motion to approve proposed Conference registration fees of $395 member/$445 non-member (includes $50 membership fee) First – Peter Miller; Second – Jannine Oyama Carried

 Fund Development – Sun o No increase to cost of $1350 vendor tables at conference, but possibility of having premium tables charging $1500 in middle of vendor area o Current prices for ads in newsletter: $1000 full page, $750 half-page, $500 quarter-page. Proposing to decrease these costs to $500/$250/$100 quarterly.

Motion to accept Sun’s proposal of $500 full-page, $250 half-page, $100 quarter-page ads at a quarterly price (if we move to monthly newsletters, includes 3 ads) First – Dewayne Barnes; Second – Dwight Berreth Carried

Motion to accept Sun’s proposal of charging $1500 for premium tables and $1350 for regular tables at 2017 conference, if space allows First – Scott Cline; Second – Mindy Bergeron Carried

State Presidents’ Updates  State Presidents’ Liaison – Sandi o Worked to gather ideas for conference sessions  Alaska – Shauna o State is now allowed to sell bonds to reduce the interest rates on student loans  Arizona – Mary o Addition of sick pay, even including student employees o Use WASFAA as a resource for the states to help them advocate for public policy  California – Scott o CASFAA 45th anniversary in 2017  Oregon – Jennifer o Deciding if Oregon Promise will be continuing for 17-18 school year, funding not guaranteed  Idaho – Dwight

o Web URL will be changing to IASFAAonline.org

Motion to recess until tomorrow First – Jennifer Knight; Second – Dwight Berreth Carried

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November 15, 2016

Scott Cline was not in attendance this morning so CASFAA President-Elect Daniel Reed joined in his place.

Meeting called to order by Mike Johnson at 8:39am

Executive Session for 2017-18 nominations for elected positions called to order by Mike Johnson at 8:41am, session ended at 8:45am.  Executive Session consisted of Nicole McMillin, Ashley Coleman, Mike Johnson, Barb Bickett, Dewayne Barnes, Helen Faith, Mindy Bergeron, Peter Miller, Jannine Oyama, Jennifer Knight, Shauna Grant, and Dwight Berreth  Nominations & Elections Committee suggests the following slate o President-Elect: Ashley Munro/ Kelly Christianson o Vice-President: Phil LeBlanc/Scott Cline o Secretary: Mary Frances Causey/Mary McGlothlan o Rep-at-Large: Shawn Domingo/Leonard Walker

Motion to accept the slate as nominated First – Peter Miller; Second – Mindy Bergeron Carried

Return to meeting from yesterday, 8:50am

Elections & Nominations Update – Barb  Barb will contact the nominees and gather their information  Timeline: Goal to have ballot out first week of December and closed before Christmas, results announced first week of January.  Ashley C. putting together the ballot on Survey Monkey

NASFAA update and discussion –  A WASFAA focus group has been working on institutional membership model, we are not ready to have discussion yet, but expected to discuss at February EC meeting  NASFAA board meeting this week, there are some proposals that will be discussed o NASFAA conference start time change to start at 4pm the first day o NASFAA attendance at state conferences may change, now it’s within 3 years, but changing to “as feasible based on time since last visit”  National Chairs & Past Presidents are creating a scholarship in honor of NASFAA’s 50th anniversary o 6 regional scholarships for deserving student that is a full-time working financial aid administrator, based on need

. $2,750 scholarship o Awards & Scholarships Chair will work on this, need nomination by April 1, 2017 . Application will be created, possibly use Google Forms or existing ATAC scholarship application . Required to be a WASFAA member is a suggestion, possibly waiving the membership fee for one year

Training update and discussion – Thalassa  PPY fall training: conflicting information & PPY, mapping the course timeline, professional judgment NASFAA U course, professional judgment & PPY o NASFAA professional judgment credential offered o Hawaii had 17 attendees o Nevada had 21 attendees o Looking at offering a 2 or 3-hour long web training in January or February  Spring training: looking at offering a soft skills training

Annual Conference update and discussion – Kay  Justin Draeger and Lisa Blazer will be there from NASFAA  Jeff Baker is expected to attend, too  Youth Care is charity, assistance to homeless youth but no Presidential Auction

Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute update and discussion – Ashley M.  Proposing $750 residential/$500 commuter’s registration price for 2017  3 tracks: beginner, intermediate, advanced  All tracks will be held Monday-Friday. No longer start on Sunday. o Advanced: topics such as gainful employment, FISAP, cash management

Motion to accept Ashley M.’s proposal of $750 residential/$500 commuter’s registration price for members, extra $50 for WASFAA membership for 2017 SDBSI First – Peter Miller; Second – Mindy Bergeron Carried

Selected officer, committee, and liaison reports  Communications report – David o Can help advertise events and trainings for your committee o Email David pictures to post to social media, especially pictures of events o Purchased Issuu to make newsletter more electronic, but having some issues with user friendliness o Proposing monthly newsletter starting in January, about 3-4 pages in place of quarterly newsletter  Ashley C. reminds you to post your committee reports to website if you haven’t already  Get important dates to Nicole to post to website  Dewayne still working on EDAC survey  EC will be in Reno back-to-back for meetings o Transition meeting is February 15-17, 2017. . Current EC will meet Feb. 15-16, 17-18 EC will meet Feb. 16-17 o Summer Institute is June 5-9, 2017 and EC will be meeting June 8-9

 Pat reminds everyone to email potential volunteers that she provided you with and update your list of volunteers on the website Chair actions TO DO o Let her know if you have any volunteer success stories  Idea for membership: reach out to non-participating schools from list of schools from Dept. of Ed.  Please send list of incoming Presidents to Sandi for transition meeting bookings  MLI had 18 attendees, should just about break even on budget

Other Business  Mike is proposing adding a formal Travel Committee to the policies & procedures o Mike will send out more information via email for a vote

To Do Items Michelle, David, Pat: Carried Forward: Recreate automatic email sent from ATAC when creating/renewing membership

Mindy: Carried Forward: Work on standard refund policy for events

Mindy & Michelle: Carried Forward: Work on timeline for paying dues

Michelle, Mike, Barb, Dwight: Carried Forward: Work on proposal for institutional or hybrid membership

All Chairs: Update your list of current volunteers on the Chair actions of the website

Motion to Adjourn Executive Council Meeting – 11:14am First – Nicole McMillin; Second – Jennifer Knight Carried

Vote by Email, January 24, 2017: Motion to accept the results of the 2017-18 Executive Council voting and destroy the ballot results – President: Ashley Munro, University of Alaska Fairbanks Vice President: Scott Cline, California College of the Arts Secretary: Mary McGlothlan, Concordia University Portland EDAC: Shawn Domingo, Chaminade University Honolulu First – Dewayne Barnes; Second – Dwight Berreth Carried

Vote by Email, January 25, 2017: Motion to approve talking points document for use by WASFAA members on their Washington, DC visit associated with NASFAA Leadership Conference – First – Scott Cline; Second – Kelley Christianson Carried

Vote by Email, January 27, 2017: WASFAA’s recipient for the 2017 NASFAA Regional Leadership Award selected by the majority of executive council members voting – Mindy Bergeron, Director of Financial Aid, John F. Kennedy University

Vote by Email, February 8, 2017: Motion to create a WASFAA Travel Committee with description provided – First – Dewayne Barnes; Second – Jannine Oyama Carried