LASFAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
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March 25, 2015
Alexandria, LA
11:00 AM
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Minutes by Stephanie Battaglia
Present: Anna Daigle, Jacqueline Lachapelle, Lauren Jackson, Lisa Pickering, Lynette Viskozki, Stephanie Battaglia, Sharon Pollard, Patrick Gorman, Aimee Baxter, Jasheika Dennis, Alan Jackson, Katraya Williams, Allison Dering, Kristi Waters, Rhonda King, Taina Savoit, Erica Lejeune, Shannon Guillory, Rebecca Amy, Amy Cable (boot camp)
Absent: Theodis Wright, Allen Burrell, Jessica Spruel-Smith, Cindy Perez, Kelly Knight
Time / Agenda11:04 am
12:15pm / Call to Order – 2015 President, Anna Daigle
President: President Daigle thanked everyone for being at the board meeting today.
Jacqueline Lachapelle acted as parliamentarian and Allison Dering opened the meeting with a prayer.
As members introduced themselves roll was taken by Stephanie Battaglia, Secretary.
Anna passed out the agenda and asked for a motion of approval. A motion was made by Lauren Jackson to accept the LASFAA 2015 Spring Board Meeting Agenda. Patrick Gorman seconded. Motion carried.
Officer Reports
President, Anna Daigle: Anna passed out the President’s Report. She thanked Lisa Pickering for working so hard on the spring 2015 conference and providing us with a great agenda. She also thanked Allison for keeping our conference budget on track while still providing the members with great meals.
Anna asked how the board felt about using Google Docs rather than printing out reports. Stephanie commented that she was able to open the documents but not edit them.
Anna updated the Policies and Procedures Manual from information on prior minutes provided by Jackie. She also added the year that LASFAA was founded and incorporated.
With Rebecca Amy’s help, Anna updated our website’s scholarship page with a brief description of the history and reason for the Mildred D. Higgins scholarship.
Anna attended her first SWASAA board meeting on January 26-27, 2015 and was excited to see the number of representatives from Louisiana. She also pointed out that Katraya Williams will present at the upcoming mid-level training offered by SWASFAA.
Anna reported that Shannon Guillory should pinpoint a date and location for our Fall 2015 Conference in the near future.
She thanked everyone for serving and hopes we have a great year.
President Elect, Lauren Jackson: Lauren reported that the P&P Manual was recently updated by Anna and Jackie. She asked everyone to review and update their positions, and suggested each chair create a “transitional binder” with information that can be passed from previous chair to current chair.
Lauren was able to attend the NASFAA Leadership Conference and she found the expo to be eye opening with much information. She reported that as an association we have the option to purchase NASFAA credentialing at $1000 for 12 months. We would be able to use the information during our conference or as additional training as long as the person presenting has already been credentialed.
Lauren also learned about IMN Solutions which is a free event management company that will take care of RFP/Location searches. It is something we may want to consider.
She also learned of a website, www.mmpa.com, which offers suggestions for long term strategic planning.
Another topic discussed at Leadership was appointed members vs elected members. Appointed board members should not have voting rights. Elected members do have voting rights and are legally obligated. Also, non-voting board members should not be present during voting so as not to sway decisions. One idea suggested was during the board meeting have all committee reports given, but then hold a vote after the regular meeting ends.
Taina Savoit pointed out that within the last five years NASFAA only allowed voting members to attend their board meetings.
Lauren added that it is possible for LASFAA to change our P&P and allow committee chairs to become voting members.
Jackie mentioned that most of LASFAA’s business was public information.
Shannon suggested we do more research before we make any changes.
Patrick asked if SWASFAA still held their board meetings in the same format as LASFAA and Taina responded yes.
Lauren will further research the material presented by Dr. Michela Perrone of MMP Associates on Governance and Board Members’ Legal Obligations.
Alan Jackson suggested we motion to continue our current process. Jackie Lachapelle motioned to continue the current LASFAA Board Meeting procedures until more research is completed. Jasheika Dennis seconded. Motion carried.
Lauren also attended the NASFAA Round Table discussion where information, updates and suggestions were given.
Second Vice President, Lisa Pickering: Lisa worked late last year with Site Selection on dates and location for the Spring Conference. The main objective was to find a location at no cost. LSUA was willing to host thanks to Gwen Andress and the LSUA staff. They did an excellent job of helping us to set up the conference.
The conference hotel selected was the Courtyard by Marriott for convenience and safety. Lisa also secured Kevin Campbell to present the Federal Update. Programs were printed at the NSU Bookstore and the cost will most likely be under $100. The flowers purchased for the conference totaled $75. Nametags, Evaluations and Volunteer forms were printed at no cost.
Attendance is down from spring last year at 89 to this year at 58. She speculated it could have been related to the conference fee increase along with budget restrictions. Lisa is hoping to get some ideas to attract more attendees next year.
Aimee Baxter said the timing was actually better for them and they were able to send some people to the conference.
Katraya wondered if we should only have one conference a year since some schools have to choose which event they can attend.
Lauren added that at NASFAA Leadership some schools said they went to a spring only conference in order to leave the fall open to attend their regional conference.
Taina remembered Roger Vick stressing how important it was to submit an early agenda.
Patrick and Shannon prefer to keep spring to one day rather than have it end completely.
Anna would like to create a survey on Survey Monkey, for directors only, to get an idea why attending the spring conference wasn’t a viable option for them.
Erica Lejeune noted that some members were asking for an agenda as they were renewing membership, and some also mentioned budgets. She felt there wasn’t much time to troubleshoot since non-current members lose access to the listserv.
Aimee, Shannon and Erica currently have access to Survey Monkey and offered their help to Anna.
Alan suggested that we first look at the date. We should then look at normal recruitment strategies such as sending a letter saying we missed you at the conference this year and hope to see you next time.
Anna said she hesitated to begin before January because that’s when she officially took over as President. She brought up that we will have to be more proactive and even start during the fall conference by having the current membership chair talk about next year.
Taina mentioned that this will go hand in hand with what Lauren said about the P&P. Updating the P&P and having a binder will help future board members with challenges that may come up during their year of service.
Lisa thanked everyone for their help and said she would be available to assist the President and First Vice President for the remainder of the year.
Lunch 30 minutes
Past President, Jacqueline Lachapelle: Jackie thanked Shannon since she was able to follow in her footsteps.
Nomination forms are printed and will be available at the conference. They are also online thanks to Rebecca. For those who will not attend the conference we plan to notify members through the listserv that the forms are available.
The following positions will be up for election:
1st Vice President/President-Elect
2nd Vice President
Delegate-at-large for LSU, US, LAICU and Graduate/Professional
The deadline for nominations is May 1, 2015.
The Mildred D. Higgins scholarship application is available online at the LASFAA website as of 3/23/15. An email was sent by listserv to notify members. Four non-renewable scholarships in the amount of $500 will be awarded to high school students who plan to enroll fulltime in a post-secondary institution. The deadline to apply is May 30, 2015.
LOSFA was contacted to help reach high school guidance counselors so they could get the information out to students.
Executive Secretary, Stephanie Battaglia: Stephanie handed out the following minutes to be reviewed by the board:
LASFAA Fall Board Meeting, October 7, 2014
LASFAA Fall Business Meeting, October 10, 2014
LASFAA Board Meeting, Conference Call-December 11, 2014
LASFAA Board Meeting-Action Item/Proposed Budget, Email, February 5, 2015
LASFAA Board Meeting-Action Item/COA. Email, February 10, 2015
Lauren Jackson voted to accept the minutes submitted and Aimee Baxter seconded. Motion carried.
Treasurer, Lynette Viskozki: Lynette submitted the Treasurers report on green paper. The report showed reconciled balances of all LASFAA accounts as of March 25, 2015 totaling $75,978.56. The breakdown included a checking account in the amount of $12,518.49, a savings account in the amount of $17,556.05, a 9 month CD in the amount of $15,179.48 and a 13 month CD in the amount of $30,724.54.
Financial Activity since the fall conference included a $250 contribution from LASFAA to the Philo Brasher Rookie of the Year Scholarship, renewal of the General Liability insurance policy, and other annual expenses including a storage unit, PO Box, Music License fees and ATAC renewal.
Lynette is working to find a place to invest our reserves and earn income. She is talking with someone from New York Life.
She also reported many requests to pay dues and fees by credit card. She experimented with quick books to pay her registration fee of $40. There was a fee of $1.62 to use the service.
Taina noted that we should post on the website that we do not accept credit cards.
Erica also had a few emails asking about using a credit card for payment.
Lauren mentioned that many states are investing funds at a reduced rate by piggybacking off of NASFAA. There are guidelines and a minimum is required.
Lynette will research investing via NASFAA.
Delegates-At-Large
Graduate/Professional, Allen Burrell: Not present, no report submitted.
LAICU, Theodis Wright: Not present, no report submitted.
LCTCS, Sharon Pollard: Sharon had no written report. She did introduce herself to her colleagues by email and looks forward to working with the board.
LSU System, Patrick Gorman: Patrick contacted LSU Financial Aid Directors by email but only received one response. He asked the following 4 questions:
What are your front-burner issues, federal, state, institutional and office management, and what can LASFAA do through training, advocacy, professional networking and other interventions to help you manage these issues? One item mentioned was the college rating system, but there is not much any of us can do about it. Another comment was made in references to changes to Unsubsidized Loan Limits for Graduate/Professional students under the FAST Act.
LASFAA could help by being more aware of how changes in federal programs impact graduate/professional programs, advocating for graduate/professional students and encouraging LASFAA undergraduate student financial aid offices to offer financial planning presentations.
Do you anticipate the looming state budget cuts will affect your office and your ability to serve your students? In what ways? How do you plan to cope? Cuts to travel will limit staff training so more online training will be needed. Also, staff may seek other employment because of spending cuts and possible job losses.
What is the status of the LSU 2015 initiative? Has it had any perceptible impact on your campus or your office? How do you anticipate it will progress in 2015 and the coming years? At LSUHSC New Orleans we have not seen any impact of the 2015 initiative. Longer term goals may include a single or common student administration software system.
What should LASFAA do more, new, and/or better to serve you, your staff and your institution? Allow online payment for conference registrations and membership dues.
In terms of LSU 2015, Lisa Pickering has aligned their school calendar with the calendar of the LSU main campus. Their colors are also coordinated now.
Proprietary Schools, Jessica Spruel-Smith: Not present, no report submitted.
Southern System, Jasheika Dennis: Jasheika reached out to all campuses in the Southern System, but had no response back. She reported growth in the College Connect Program with a representative assigned to each campus. She also reported more activity with state, regional and federal associations. Concerns continue to be reduced funding in state aid and programs as well as limited travel due to budget cuts. She also thanked Katraya for giving her that push to become active in LASFAA because she knows it will be very beneficial.
ULS, Aimee Baxter: Aimee reached out to several school representatives and asked if they had any concerns or questions. Some wanted to know how other schools were handling staff shortages and budget cuts. One representative wanted to know how schools were handling part-time student budgets for various budget items. Another topic brought up was the time consuming task of correcting COD loan rejects.