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return to section index Executive Board Meeting Minutes
December 6-7, 2000
Indian Lakes Resort In Attendance Maureen Amos, Nancy Calvert, Doug Carlson, Bob Clement, Rhonda Cors, Janeen Decharinte, Kathy Facenda, Mark Hollis, Paula Luff, Pam Maciulewicz, Roberta McDevitt (nee: Fitt), Dave Peterson, Colby Sellers, Sue Swisher, Michelle Trame, Cheryl Warmann, Eric Weems, Marsha Weiss After a brief tour of the hotel, Cheryl called the meeting to order at 2:14 pm. Secretary's Report - Paula Luff Motion to approve the minutes as amended by Marsha Weiss, seconded by Eric, motion carried. Treasurer's Report - Bob Clement Thanks to Mona for getting the bank address information sent to him. Bob mentioned that he thinks having a treasurer-elect would be a good idea. Marsha mentioned that this was an issue we brought up in the past, perhaps having one every other year. Eric reminded the group that this was also a good idea for audit purposes. The problem seems to be having enough candidates; Eric mentioned that maybe people think the position is long term. Bob is trying to turn around checks in two days. We reviewed the Cash Flow Report as of the end of November: there was $42,489.34 in the checking account, $61,109.92 in the Merrill Lynch account and $73,298 in the Kemper fund. Bob sent Cheryl the latest bank statement. Roberta motioned to approve the Treasurer's report, Rhonda seconded, motion carried. President's Report - Cheryl Warmann Cheryl has been putting out e-mails to the membership to keep them informed. Cheryl mentioned several meetings she attended, including the MASFAA Executive Board meeting. She mentioned that the Finance committee met as well. She is also working on arranging bonding for the association, and was quoted a cost of $400 a year. Bill is working on setting up a sweep account that would put money into our investment fund when the checking account reached a certain amount. Marsha said that Shelia Pruden was working on separate funding for the group that may loose money due to the MAP reformula/payment chart. Several schools have been contacted including UIC and Dave Peterson's school. The program Work and welfare and family (HERO), would target adult students who had need, and would be tied to poverty levels. Cheryl will ask if this is on top of the IIA, or an expansion of the program. Any comments the board has about this project can be directed to Cheryl. Jone Zerien asked Cheryl to pass out the awards for ILASFAA and nominations. ISAC's IT Symposium will be held on February 14 at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Audit Report - Eric Weems Cheryl, Pam and Eric did an audit of the checking account, cash flow, vouchering, etc. In general there were some small findings, but the expense vouchers were very inconsistent. They recommend that the voucher form be reviewed and possibly improved, or that there be better training on this. There were no major issues or concerns. One recommendation was that procedures for conducting the audit be revamped - more detailed on exactly how to conduct the audit. Eric is working with someone in is office to set up a random sampling procedure for future audits. Janeen suggested that the auditor work with the treasurer to resolve discrepancies due to missing records, etc. prior to submitting their final report. She would also like to see the auditors give the treasurer an initial report and allow that person an opportunity to respond to items in question. Program Committee Update - Dave Peterson Dave distributed the tentative program. The conference theme is "The Stars Shine Bright in ILASFAA." The board reviewed the program and some tentative room assignments have been made. The final program should be out on the web during the first week of January. The keynote speaker is a magician who ties his magic act to various professions. Dave saw a videotape of his act and seems to think it was a good program. There will be a talent show hosted by Sam Nelson. Janeen said if anyone has a talent, or knows someone who has a talent - let her or Dave know so they can be in the program. There will be no pajama putt-putt. On Monday, the registration booth will move to be closer to the sessions themselves. The 'Jam Session' is something to get peoples blood moving. Dave reviewed the program and some of the sessions, highlighting several speakers and sessions for the board. One of the proposed lunch guest speakers, Dr. Warrick Carter, would discuss the theories of "Disney management." There will be a General Session/Reception hosted by Dr. Lemuel Watson of Clemson University. Jamie Malone will present at the 10 am SAP session. Marsha brought up the issue of ISAC auditors concept of SAP, she and others at the 4-year public meeting felt that ISAC is misinterpreting the policy. Marsha encouraged Mark to have ISAC auditors attend the session. Colby will forward a list of questions for Jamie to Dave re: SAP. Conference attendees will be given an 8 ½ x 11 bound booklet, instead of the folder. Cheryl asked feedback from the group re: change in vendor recognition policy. Last year, instead of recognizing vendors at every meal, it was done at one meal. Cheryl mentioned that the meals seemed to flow better. Michelle indicated that vendors would like the to have the breakfast last through 9:00 so they could eat after the first session. Dave said he would talk to Jamie about having a Q & A during the R2T4 funds session. Anyone, who has suggestions or ideas for the program can forward them to Dave or Janeen. Eric suggested a session on reading and interpreting tax returns. FAAM Committee Update - Maureen Amos There will be 45 sites for FAAM this year, but someone is still needed to host a workshop in Springfield. Last year they had 53 sites, so they are looking for additional sites to reach their 55-site goal by the end of December. FAAM committee members are acting as site liaisons re: contacting site coordinators about getting ready for the workshops. They've conducted host site training, including issues such as items to be covered, media kits, how to design their workshops, updates to FAFSA, etc. The committee is encouraging coordinators to have students print the confirmation/signature page. They also sent out host site surveys to get an idea of the host site needs and are in the process of evaluating the surveys. The committee is currently working on their website. The actual site will be launched in mid-December. All FAAM information, including dates and sites will be on the site by mid-January. The committee is also developing a FAAM brochure. CPS support office is looking for bi-lingual presenters for Lane Tech high school from 9-2 - February 17th - a Saturday. Marsha gave some background on this group and their plans. They will be busing people into this presentation; there can possibly thousands of attendees. Maureen will pin them down as to the type of assistance they need and the number of presenters they will need. The group is finalizing site listing and dates and get to the 55 site mark as well as get the website up and running by February. The idea for offering a scholarship to a student to assist in preparing the website fell by the wayside due to time constraints. Currently, a UIC staff member is assisting with this project. Janeen is still working on the Policy and Procedure Manual changes. Financial Management Plan Cheryl reviewed items in the ILASFAA Guide to Financial Management. Some of the ideas in the plan came from the May retreat - especially the investment issues and self-supporting vs. non-self supporting activities. Future boards may want to look at more aggressive investment plans as well as incorporating various audit functions. Some of the items she mentioned included: disaster recovery, bonding issues, audit standards, posting all of the financial records on the association website. Colby asked if other members had reviewed the NASFAA financial report, he found it very interesting. Cheryl mentioned that NASFAA does more investing than ILASFAA does. Cheryl said feedback from other states indicate that ILASFAA is further along on the investing end then they are. The NASFAA monograph about software is on the ILASFAA website. Corporate Support Committee Update - Nancy Calvert The committee met and discussed how vendors were recognized according to the level of support and in a timely manner. So that people that sponsored an event will be recognized at the event. For 2000-01 we would recognize both last years and this years conference vendors, but next year, we will only recognize that years vendors. So this year would be a transition year. During this transitional year there will also be a $1000 level increase as follows: Benefactor - $5500 plus 3 free registrations; Patron - $4500 plus 2 free registrations; Advocate - $3500 plus 1 free registration; Associate - $2500 plus ½ free registration. Vendors at the meeting felt that this was a good change. Next year, the rates will revert back to the old level system. Cheryl asked for a motion to approve corporate proposal for the transition year, Marsha motioned, Kathy seconded, and the motion carried. Kathy pointed out that the boxes on the bottom of the Sponsor Participation Agreement were unclear and may be confusing to vendors. Nancy will review and make the necessary changes. Advertisements for the directory should be sent to Michelle Trame. Transferring funds to the Money Market Account There is approximately $42,000 in the checking account. There are no outstanding debts other than this meeting. The Finance Committee recommends moving $30,000 from checking to money market, moved by Kathy, seconded by Colby, motion carried. Purchasing computers The computer Marsha has died, so we budgeted money for a new one. The new one went to the secretary, and if we purchase another two, it was mentioned that it should go to the Executive VP and the President because that position requires a bit of writing and also to store the Quicken software. Kathy said she didn't need it for her presidency. Marsha suggested we wait to purchase the president's computer until it's needed. Mark suggested that we look into 'renting' the PC's so we could always have the new model. Renting would allow the computer to be a line item in the budget as a rental item, rather than a large purchase. Cheryl will check into this possibility. Higher Education Amendment Act Marian has asked the membership to take a stand and push the legislature to approve the legislation soon. Waiting will make awarding Pell extremely difficult if not impossible. Cheryl would like to send a letter to the legislature from the association. Doug motioned to approve the proposal that Cheryl and Marian write a letter to the legislature, seconded by Bob Clement. Motion carried. The board will send a get well/thinking of you card to Jack Lyons. Emeritus status Two of the emeritus statuses are expiring this year. John Flynn requested an extension on his emeritus status. Cheryl reviewed the minutes of January 1998, re: the denial of David Sprenkle's request for additional emeritus status, offering him the affiliate status with dues attached. The idea was that consultants must be as affiliates and could not have emeritus status. It was decided that John Flynn will get a similar letter to David Sprenkle, offering another type of membership, if he wishes to pay dues. Colby suggested that the letter include a statement that this decision was based on the policy and procedures manual as well as past precedence. Cheryl will send a letter to both John and Sally letting them know their status is expiring and their options. December 7, 2000
Ballots may be electronic if Bob Anderson can make individual passwords. If this happens, Marsha thinks she may send people a postcard telling them now is the time to vote, and also send them informational booklets. Her main reason for wanted people to vote electronically is because she feels more people would vote. However, if Bob doesn't have the software very soon, Marsha will send paper ballots. Cheryl doesn't know where other states are on electronic voting; ILASFAA could be the first state to go electronic. Marsha will be contacting a few other candidates for the Chicago regional coordinator. Regional Division Changes Marsha will work with Michelle to change the regional make up to zip codes vs. area code, due to the changing nature of area codes. Michelle will work with Bob to see what the breakdown of regions would be with the zip code change. This would be a by-law change, and would need to be voted on at the meeting. If the executive board needs to vote, Cheryl will ask the board to vote electronically. Kathy read the by-laws, and noted that Marsha needs to submit a written proposal 30 days prior to an official meeting. The next meeting is February 9 at Wesleyan College. Formula Committee - Marsha Weiss The committee is meeting on Monday. The main issues they plan to cover is moving to a payment chart, or several payment charts. Using this method would create a loss in aid to primarily independents without dependents. The concept was well received, for a variety of reasons. If there is a way to lessen the impact on a particular group of students, the chart may be implemented. There was talk of 'grandfathering' the new chart in, but the system required to do this is very complicated. Currently, the state is having funding problems due to high Medi-Care claims. However, the base amount allotted to ISAC is still solid. Therefore, ISAC is looking into creating and IIA expansion, so a student who's MAP went down, would get the difference in IIA funds. There will be a discussion of the less than half time demonstration program. Doug Carlson had two comments for the formula committee. He feels that older independents (say 45) without dependents are treated the same as a 25-year-old without dependents. He is concerned that the federal EFC is not the best method to use for MAP grants. Marsha said the students would not have to be Pell eligible for MAP with the payment chart. When Doug reviewed the models from last year, he felt that group was hurt by the change. President-Elect Report - Kathy Facenda Kathy distributed a report of her activities. Her report mirrored much of what Cheryl attended. She did mention that she attended an IGO meeting and that the graduate schools felt distanced from ILASFAA because there wasn't much offered for them at the conferences and/or workshops. Nancy mentioned that they could load the first day with graduate/professional issues to keep them involved. Eric shared the impressions from his staff re: IGO. It's really the only option for them, but ultimately they feel they are being sold on IDAPP. He also felt that if ILASFAA offered the same type of forum, they would be willing to attend that just as readily. Marsha suggested that the program committee and training committee have a professional school member. Nancy talked about the needs and issues of the graduate schools. Ideas for Kathy for next year would be to have someone talking to and working with the professional schools. Nancy suggested getting something out to the professional populations by using the list serves to do a mailing to the schools about the conference. Kathy proposed a retreat every other year (instead of the Leadership Retreat) to have an event targeted to new financial aid managers/supervisions. She would like to see it patterned after the Leadership Retreat, but targeting 30-40 participants who would be managers with no more than two years of experience. Presenters would be experienced managers within ILASFAA, and/or outside people with some outside management experience. She asked for feedback on the length of the program and time of year the program should be held. It was suggested that we should have volunteers instead of nominated participants. Marsha suggested making it like a Winter Workshop rather than the Leadership Retreat. ILASFAA would pay for the food, and schools would pay for transportation and hotel rooms. It was suggested that it be a two-night event with different topics and sessions going on at the same time. Kathy will work with the training committee to plan the event for June. Eric suggested that the workshop have at least a 100 people. If ILASFAA paid for the food, estimated at $150 per person, we would need $15,000 to fund the event. Attendance would be limited to 75 - 100 participants. Communications report - Pam Maciulewicz Bob Andersen is working on passwords and a way for everyone to have a user id for the login. He needs a new code but thinks he can send out user names with id's possibly before the holiday. Once the passwords are in place it will make on-line elections a possibility. This will also eliminate the chance for people to vote more than once. Using the on-line directory members can conduct searches via name, etc... And committee members can update the minutes. Past committee members are now available online. Click on Tweety's eye to view membership database. There is a separate list for unpaids. A rough draft of a brochure explaining to potential new ILASFAA members who we are, what we do, etc. has been put together. The brochure outlines what ILASFAA is, what benefits members receive, training opportunities, how to become a member, how to become involved, etc. There may be an insert added which would include current committee members or contact person. The brochure will include graphics, which are not on the draft. Everyone likes the look of the brochure and once it is finalized she will run it through her local publications office for grammar, etc. The Committee asked if committee chairs would like to use disposable cameras to post pictures to the website. Winter workshop and FAAM would like cameras. Linda Dersch said her committee has already met and doesn't need any. Marsha will buy a camera for her meeting on Monday and send the film to Pam for processing and posting to the web page. Communications committee will work on putting the procedures and policy manual on the web page. They would like to have conference materials to post the information to the website, program, handouts etc. As soon as handouts are available they can be posted. They would also like to have the volunteer form available on-line next year. Regarding lender links to our website, the committee talked with Nancy regarding her input since she is on corporate support. She is thinking about this and she and Pam haven't talked any further. Issues to be considered are: How much should we charge, how elaborate should the links be? Should the type of link be associated with how much they pay? Eric asked of the links will be a separate page that will take you to the links or will it be spread throughout the website. Pam indicated that it will be a separate page on the website. Cheryl mentioned that other states within our region, such as Minnesota have a menu within their members only sections and Missouri is in the process of doing the same thing. Iowa will be discussing at their next meeting. Cheryl is passing around examples. The committee also needs to review the cost involved and hasn't really come up with a number yet. Eric reminded the board that this issue this was previously discussed when the newsletter went away. Currently cost for ads in the director are based on size of the ad. It was questioned how we would we do this on the web. Some of the advantages to vender advertising on the web are, being nice to lenders and raise more money. Vendors have been told no advertising on the web at this point. Cheryl has talked with them about just giving them a link and she believes they would appreciate this. States who are doing this are using the funds to keep their websites up. Kathy recommends charging a flat rate for anyone who wants to be on the site. May want to give them the option of having their logo included. Kathy said we could rotate the order of the list every time the site is hit. Missouri proposes charging $250 a quarter to have a link on the web. We charge for a directory ad $250 for ½ page and $500 for a full page. Minnesota does it complimentary if you do other services for the association. Should we charge high to keep it more elite? Will this take away from the sponsorship for other activities for the conference? Does it really matter since we still get the same amount of money or more? Marsha indicated that $1000 feels like a lot. Kathy and Eric suggested a $500 fee. Kathy motioned that it be $500 and Marsha seconded. Nancy questioned if we should ask for a logo. Cheryl answered no, just ask how they would like their name typed out and what do they want it linked to. Eric and Kathy like the logo. They need to send an electronic file with an approved logo. Finally, it was decided that we would first ask the vendors if they want to advertise on the web for $500 per year. Nancy will send out the letter. She will follow up with a second mailing in the spring asking that the information be sent to Bob Andersen. Nancy will do a separate mailing. Conference fee - Janeen Decharinte The conference fee that will cover cost per individual is about $210. Janeen recommends a fee of $175, with the rest coming from the reserve. It will cost $200 a person to feed people at Indian lakes. Monday meals would cost $70 and Tuesday $40. For one-day registration she would recommend $50 per day plus $35 membership dues. $20,000 - $30,000 more than we spend is brought in each year. This year we will spend between $10,000 - $15,000 on the conference and workshops. With the new workshops we will spend an additional $15,000. We can increase our annual spending by $20,000 and still keep our reserve of $200,000. She indicated that we should note with the registration materials that we are reducing the conference fee in order to spend some reserves. Marsha made a motion to approve $175 for the full conference including the $35 membership fee. Eric seconded. Cheryl motioned to amend the motion to include a $50 one-day fee and an additional $35 membership fee. Discussion followed as to whether or not the $50 is high enough, would people attend and not be a member and pay only $50. Marsha and Eric agreed with the amendment to the motion. One-day memberships will be $85 whether or not they chose to become a member. The motion was voted on and approved by all members. Colby motioned motion to submit the financial plan as submitted yesterday. Bob seconded, motion carried with no discussion. ISAC update - Mark Hollis ISAC conducted a MAP summer demo project survey and had a good response rate of 67%. A summary of the survey will be posted on the web. Letters of intent to participate in the Summer 2001 demo project have been sent via email this week. Mark will find out if you need a new letter if you participated last year. $2,000,000 is the initial allocation for this year's summer project, which is much higher than last year. The Formula committee is meeting on Monday, December 11. Discussion items include: allowing for 4% tuition and fee increase, increasing max to $4968, extending continuing award to August 31, and increasing the living allowance. IBHE is meeting on December 13th. Tomorrow is the deadline for schools to submit the Quern IT Program participation addendum. January 15th 2000-2001 is the priority application deadline for the grant. Initial certification forms should be sent out in the beginning of January. February 15th is the deadline for the initial certification. Applications for 2001-2002 will be available on March 1st. ISAC has already received and processed over 300 applications. 78 applicants already have a bachelor's degree. ISAC extended it's hours for phone coverage to 6:00 p.m, however the use during this time was very limited. Therefore, they are looking at limiting the extended hours to three weeks in January. Mark asked the members if this was useful or not. It was suggested to only do this in the fall. Illinois report card received top national rating based on the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education survey of students that covered several items. Illinois average score was first in the nation. Mark has a copy of the report and the grades. ISAC's technical symposium will be on February 14th. The focus is on how everyone can work together to keep Illinois students in Illinois to work after college. Speakers are still tentative. A letter will go to university/college presidents to invite attendees. The keynote address will be on how education needs to change to attract new students and preparing for generation "D" students. VP Four-year public report - Colby Sellers At his last sector meeting, there was a request by the directors to present their concern to ISAC regarding the audits. There are three issues:
Colby and Marsha will draft a letter to ISAC that will be signed by Cheryl. Mark will check with John to see if he is available to meet on February 8th in Bloomington, the day before the next executive board meeting. He will ask him to meet with the five VP's and the three presidents. Southern Regional Coordinator - Rhonda Cors So far there has been no organized meeting. Rhonda did attend the Private School meeting and the FAAM committee meeting. Site Selection - Rhonda Cors The committee is looking at a site South of I-80 in Morton. They are working with Don Taylor from International Media Network. The committee will meet again in February or January. Award Nominations - Jone Zieren The nominations form is on the web and Jone is collecting nominations. Rules/Operations - Linda Dursch The committee met on September 11th and talked about the Quern IT and STS grant. Legislative - Marian Smithson Doing a great job. Diversity - James Mendez The committee hasn't had much of an opportunity to meet much, they have some goals to do some workshops in the spring. Training - Joanna Dill The committee will offer a NASFAA 1 day training on FERPA, Packaging, and PPA's as well as a session on these topics at the annual conference. Rhonda Cors and Roberta Fitt have been recommended as presenters. 150 schools are in the membership. The training committee will purchase one packet per school of the FERPA and PPA's. The training will be on February 3rd or 4th. There are 26 ILASFAA trainers this year. 1217 participants at 14 sites at the high school nights. Total registration is 586 for remaining seminars. The Winter Workshop will be held February 22 and 23rd. The agenda is geared for newcomers and the cost is $75.00. The committee would like to do online registration for the winter workshop and add a link to the ILASFAA webpage that would link to ISAC's page for the registration. Eric motioned to have a late conference fee of $225. Doug seconded. It was approved. The meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m. |