Summary of Activities:

• I attended the NASFAA Board Meetings in Austin, Texas and in Seattle, Washington. I was unable to attend the meeting in Portland, Maine due to a family illness. These meetings were very interesting and allowed me to continue to broaden my understanding of the relationship between NASFAA and the regional associations.
• I was honored to visit the SWASFAA regional board meeting in Dallas, Texas. It was enlightening to hear how other regions approach some of the same issues we have discussed here in MASFAA.
• The NASFAA Leadership annual conference was held in Washington, DC this past March 5-7 and was an amazing experience. A visit to the Hill was included and the discussions held with our representatives and their aids were very informative. I was fortunate enough, along with the Michigan delegation, to actually have a few moments with Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-MI and she was able to give us some examples of what types of information are most helpful to her as she advocates for higher education. We also had 45 minutes (which is a long period of time to have allocated) with the educational aid to Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI). While Representative McCotter is not a strong supporter of Title IV funding for higher education, I believe that we were able to provide him with some statistics, giving him food for thought and we were able to establish a contact within his office that may help in the future. His aid was a recent graduate with a fairly substantial loan burden, so she was very open to what we had to say. A few interesting points came to light, and were shared with those we met with on the Hill, as a result of the research completed prior to this visit. For example, in 2003-2004;
  • 20% of the nation’s Pell Grant recipients attended an institution within the MASFAA region.
  • 26% of the available Perkins Loan dollars were distributed to students within the Midwest.
  • The Midwest represents 17% of the entities enabled to distribute Title IV dollars, so clearly we have a strong investment in the allocation of Title IV funds.
• I assisted the State Representatives by coordinating the State Representative’s exchange program, a program similar to the NASFAA regional exchange; several states were able to participate in this year’s exchange. This program has been in existence for 4 years, following the recommendation of the state representatives under the leadership of Lois Mullbrook, made to the 2002-2003 Executive Council.
• The State Representative Resource Page on the MASFAA website, a resource available specifically for state representatives, went live. This resource contains information that needs to be passed from one state rep. to another and provides a central location so that it isn’t overlooked in transition. Items such as NASFAA CORE support and individual conference scholarships are included.
• The committee chairs were selected and confirmed. All State Representatives for the 06-07 year as well as all committee chairs and elected officers were invited to attend the President-Elect’s retreat at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, WI. The retreat was held August 3-4 and was a very productive time for those who were able to attend.
• I participated in the long-range planning meeting, led by Past-President Howard Thomas, held at the Osthoff Resort on August 1-2. The information coming from this retreat will be instrumental in the goals and committee work done in the next year, and beyond.
• I attended a Local Arrangements Committee meeting on September 15, 2006 in St. Louis. This committee is charged with energy and I have no doubt that we will enjoy our time in St. Louis next year, as we celebrate our 45th anniversary.
• I have been invited to the Michigan conference (June 24-27, 2007), the West Virginia Conference (Oct. 25-27, 2006), the Minnesota Conference (November 15-17, 2006), the Illinois Conference ( March 18-20), and the Missouri Conference (March 7-9). My regional exchange will be with the SASFAA Conference, February 11-14, 2007.
• Board Meeting dates have been set as follows: January 20-21, 2007; April 14-15, 2007 and October 5, 2007.

In closing, this has been a year of trepidation, learning, and excitement. I have been fortunate to be on the receiving end of some wonderful mentors, particularly Dan Mann, Howard Thomas, and Zina Haywood. This year has been filled with challenges and offerings, I’ve had the opportunity to become acquainted with very gifted financial aid professionals who are dedicated to our students and I am looking forward to more of the same in the future year.

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