WASFAA 2011-12 Executive Council Quarterly Meeting
April 21, 2012
Benson Hotel, Portland, Oregon
Present: Kay Soltis, Jack Edwards, Sandi Guidry, Ashley Munro, Ashley Salisbury, Peter Miller, Wendy
Olson, Mary San Agustin, Tracey Lehman, Nichole Doering, Adam Hatch, Tami Sato, Steve Herndon,
Mindy Bergeron, Abril Hunt, Leonard Walker, Luhui Whitebear, Judy Saling, Breena Colin, Sun Ow, Jim
White, Scott Nielsen, Darcy Keller
Guests: Pam Fowler and Justin Draeger from NASFAA
Not Present: Elizabeth Ziegelbein, Jennifer Zimmers, Bert Logan, Kevin Jensen, Laura Hughes, Katharine
Baggett, Lynn Fox, Candice Wong, Kim Schreck, Neil Woolf
Call to order: A quarterly meeting of WASFAA’s executive council was held in the Benson Hotel,
Portland, Oregon on April 21, 2012. The meeting convened at 1:03 p.m. with Kay, Soltis, President,
presiding and Wendy Olson as secretary.
MOTION
Approval of agenda: Sun Ow moved to accept the agenda with modifications to assist those with
responsibilities for the conference. MOTION CARRIED.
Conference Committee:285 members are registered for the conference and the committee is pleased
with the number; the 454 room nights meet our room block minimum. Tracey Lehman gave us more
information on the charity we are sponsoring this year.
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NASFAA Guests Report: Justin Draeger, President and CEO of NASFAA, mentioned that NASFAA just
reached an 11-year high in membership. NASFAA has been making a concerted effort to get out to the
regions and states as much as possible. The NASFAA investments in the last year have been flat, but they
are comfortable with where they are. In October they were down, but now they are holding steady. It is
a mid to long term investment strategy. NASFAA has an investment policy that bench marks the type
and level of stocks/bonds investments. Kay Soltis sits on NASFAA’s financial affairs committee. Three
regions are participating in NASFAA’s investment plan. After the end of their fiscal year in June, NASFAA
may allow states to participate, though there will be some limiting factors. The NASFAA conference in
Chicago should be a well attended conference.
States need to have a state representative at the state president’s breakfast at the NASFAA conference.
NASFAA is sending out more items in print these days as members have said they like getting some
printed items. NASFAA dues will stay at the same level again for this year. Finances have been reviewed
to determine what is required of membership dues to cover the core operating expenditures (now at
98%). There will probably be a dues increase in 2013-14. NASFAA University has been rolled out this
year. It is credentialed training, but not a certified training program. Those who are new in financial aid
can go through training and then demonstrate that they have competency in 11-13 core concepts. There
are five pathways to get a NASFAA credential. Experienced FAAs can take the test and get some
refresher experience if needed prior to the test. The test will be rigorous and requires a 90% pass rate.
All of the core competencies are based on NASFAA Core. Here are the five pathways to be credentialed.
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Demonstrate knowledge – with at least 5 years of experience and the test.
Self-study guides – NASFAA core developed for independent study. Two guides are out thus far
and 150 have been sold. PDF or printed versions are available.
 Completion of NASFAA facilitated on-line course – it is not self-paced or independent study but
an on-line learning session with a live facilitator. The person must participate on a weekly basis.
There will be six classes offered this year, 4-6 weeks long. Schools will be able to purchase
bundled sets at the time the NASFAA membership is renewed.
 Completion of on-site training with NASFAA – this will be the more expensive option ($2000).
 States and regions boot camps – using NASFAA core content starting in 2013-14.
There will be a discount to NASFAA members who buy it by bundles, but not for non-members and
individual sales. Credentials will be kept track of at NASFAA as a part of the career center and are
awarded when a person completes the course. It is different than certification in that the process and
the renewal steps would be through an outside agency (like CPA process) were it a certification.
Policy Issue –: The U. S. President will be pushing on the Stafford student loan interest rate issue to keep
the interest rate down for another year. NASFAA wants to see a long term solution, not a year-to-year
battle. The NASFAA board will be talking through this. Concerns have been raised that the subsidized
benefits are going to higher income families with children at high cost schools, all at the time Pell is
being overspent.
MOTION
Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Jack Edwards to approve the minutes of the February 29March 1 meeting. MOTION CARRIED.
Nominations and Elections Committee: Nothing has happened since February other than ballots have
been destroyed. Elections went smoothly and new officers begin in May. Sandi is grateful for people
who were willing to run.
Past President’s Report: Serving on the NASFAA board last happened in November followed by lots of
email and phone conversations. The next meeting will be in 2 weeks in Florida and the final meeting will
take place at the conference. NASFAA policies are decided by the board. Sandi Guidry really worked to
get the website cleaned up where she knew there were errors. The award recipient information is now
accurate. She will send out one complete package of updates to ATAC after the awards are announced
at this conference.
Strategic Planning Committee: Sandi Guidry has been working on getting the goals correctly positioned
and the matrix data updated. Once the matrix is complete she will be sending out the measures tracking
tool. She will be turning it over to Kay Soltis when she has finished updating the tool. Kay Soltis will need
to determine what we need to do for a new plan. It will start with a phone conversation with Gayle
Northrop to see what she recommends for the renewal of the plan. We may be able to get the
assistance of a past WASFAA president for a lesser cost. The data collected and the plan has been really
helpful in making decisions.
State Presidents’ Group: Just two state presidents attended the meeting today. It has been a bit of hit or
miss this year. Mindy Bergeron did survey the presidents and they do think it is helpful to meet.
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Alaska: The conference in March was pretty well attended despite being in the spring and a bit last
minute. They have all of their offices filled.
Idaho: Idaho had a joint conference with Nevada this year and offered a clock hour break out focus for
attendees. Nichole Doering sent a letter to NASFAA about how the membership costs are difficult for
small schools. She received a nice response back, but the situation is still the same.
Nevada: Nevada provides limited services due to a limited budget. A new and full slate of officers is in
place for 2012-13.
PacFAA: PacFAA had their conference in March. Jeff Scofield and Adam Hatch did some pre-conference
full-day training on verification for the Pacific Island schools, some of which have never had to do
verification in the past. The training was well received and very helpful to the attendees. It was noted
that the Department of Education has no money to support training for Pacific Island schools, but there
is funding for audits.
Washington: – Darcy Keller was concerned for the WFAA budget, but the conference did well and the
association’s budget goals have been met. Darcy Keller has created a check list to help the new officers
transition into their positions. WFAA focused on their website this year and better defined its purpose.
They will be reviewing the Bylaws and Policies and Procedures to determine the focus of the website.
Arizona, California, Oregon: These states were not represented at the council meeting.
Rep at Large for Ethnic Diversity and Action: Luhui Whitebear reported that the entertainment for the
president’s reception fell through. EDAC awarded 3 scholarships for the Sister Dale Brown Summer
Institute. A representative from the tribe of Grand Ronde will be here for the conference to welcome
conferees. Doug Severs did some training regarding changes to federal and state student aid as well as
advocating for federal and state aid at the Oregon Indian Education Association Conference this year.
Announcement: The President’s Reception will be the time for the award announcements as well as the
recognition of scholarship recipients
Rep at Large: Sun Ow had nothing to add to her written report.
Fiscal Planning Committee: The committee reviewed some of the action items from the last meeting.
The purchase of a laptop is still in process. The incoming secretary and Fiscal Planning Chair will come up
with a recommendation. The past attorney’s files have been scanned and have been given to the
archives chair electronically and as hard copy. The paper documents should be securely held on to. An
interview for the position of new-attorney-of-record took place with Becky Cady Rude during lunch
today. She would be able to help us with reviewing contracts, etc. She will be reviewing the information
and investigate what she can do for us. We are incorporated in California which may limit who can
represent us. Sun Ow will send a suggestion for an attorney from California who may be a possibility.
WASFAA’s NASFAA investment information was shared with the committee. We have had a modest
decrease in our investment value. The committee suggests that we wait until the fall meeting so we
have a full quarter of information. Peter Miller gave a verbal Treasurer’s report. We talked about the
need to expedite the transition between Peter Miller and Mindy Bergeron, Treasurer-Elect because of
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the burden of his other responsibilities. May 1 will be the target. An external audit will be performed
this summer. We need clarification for the voting rights of the Treasurer-Elect position. It does not
appear to be specified in the bylaws. We may need a bylaws change. No budget expenditure
adjustments were requested and there was no update to the historical archives’ asset inventory.
Unfinished business for the committee is the completion of income tax forms and submission for 2010 &
2011. It needs to be expedited and finished by April 30. The committee is concerned about the penalties
from the federal government for late submission. Some new business for the committee was Sun Ow’s
suggestions to increase funding. We will try to formalize them more with the new 12-13 committee. A
second new-business item was reimbursement of expenses. It was proposed that we no longer use the
GSA model for reimbursement of per diem costs, but rather use an actual expense model with a
maximum of $10 for breakfast/$15 for lunch /$30 for dinner with receipts required. A missing receipt
affidavit would be available for the occasional lost receipt. Meals that are covered by WASFAA will not
be included in a request for reimbursement. Finally under new business, Nichole Doering shared that
she will have a clock hour track for the Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute in 2013. 22% or more of our
institutions in the region are clock hour schools and would benefit from this training opportunity as well
as training through the Training Committee. There will be more schools using the clock hour calendar
that will need this training as well. We may want to consider having a clock hour committee or
representation for WASFAA in the future. The Fiscal Planning Committee was able to get its goals and
activities accomplished. It was a great group to work with this past year.
MOTION
Ashley Munro made the motion that we no longer use the GSA model for reimbursement of per diem
costs, but rather use an actual expense model with a maximum of $10 for breakfast/$15 for lunch /$30
for dinner with receipts required. A missing receipt affidavit would be available for the occasional lost
receipt. Meals that are covered by WASFAA will not be included in a request for reimbursement.
MOTION CARRIED.
Original receipts should be mailed in, but can be faxed to the Treasurer to get things going.
Treasurer’s Report: Peter Miller mentioned that the NASFAA investments went down for the March
statement, but the first quarter for the Vanguard account was up. The full report will be on Tuesday at
the WASFAA Annual Business Meeting.
Awards and Scholarships: Breena Colin passed out the certificates she created for the volunteers that
served on committees. Scholarships for the Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute will be decided next
week.
Bylaws Committee: Jack Edwards reported that not much has been going on but the committee will
review the bylaws and minutes to look for necessary changes. The requirement that elections and by
law changes voting must be by mail will be reviewed.
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Policies and Procedures: Jack Edwards updated the Policies and Procedures to now use the name
Communications Committee and not Newsletter Committee.
Review the Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute section of our Policies and Procedures to make sure that
the ethnic scholarship information makes sense and is properly located.
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President-Elect: Jack Edwards will participate at NASFAA’s board meetings as an observer for the May
and July meetings. State presidents for 2012-13 must keep Jack informed about what is going on in their
states so that he can share the information at the national level.
Electronic Services and Historical Archives: Ashley Salisbury stated that besides her regular daily
processes to maintain WASFAA’s website, an updated version of our Policies and Procedures was
posted, the scholarship application process was opened and closed, and registration pages were put into
place as needed. WASFAA will now be able to accept Discover cards on the website. She has also been
working on a manual for using Go2Meeting. She ordered new ribbons for the conference. Ashley
Salisbury also researched how long the Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute has been in existence. 2014
will be the 30th anniversary. The first summer institute was at Notre Dame College, in Belmont,
California. WASFAA may want to consider having the 30th anniversary at that site.
Federal Issues Committee: No chair was present to report.
Fund Development: Sun Ow has raised $37,750, with 22 vendors participating at our conference. We
have a number of new vendors joining us this year. There has been a change in policy on sponsorships
by vendors to financial aid organizations so conference meals can be sponsored by a donor. Sun Ow
suggested we consider making business solution sessions available during our future conferences and
perhaps offer a silent auction and a large-item raffle (like a vacation cruise). Sun Ow is also looking into
grant writing to foundations. More specifics will be given at the next meeting. One new vendor, FAME,
provides software for clock hour schools. Nichole Doering requested that we be sure to say thank you to
them. During the breaks, cookies will be on each vendor’s table. Raffles are limited to a $10 maximum
value.
Grad Professional Committee: Subsidies for Stafford loans are going away July 1 for graduate students.
The committee will be sponsoring a round table discussion for one of the sessions.
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Membership Committee: Membership has peaked at 722 for the 2011-12 year. That is a 30% increase
over the prior year. 91 of the new members can be attributed to participation in a training event. There
will be a newcomers session tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. with EC members and NASFAA guests
participating. Abril Hunt submitted an article for the newsletter and year-end statistics from ATAC were
included. Inactive members were sent a special message about the conference. We now have QR codes,
for cell phone apps, that will be on the WASFAA table. It will take them directly to Facebook, LinkedIn
and Twitter for WASFAA. Abril Hunt’s ongoing goal is to clean up the database. She needs to give access
to members of her committee so they can help clean up the records.
Ashley Salisbury will have ATAC give access to Membership Committee members to the data base.
Invite high school counselors and ILP (Independent Living Program) people to be a part of WASFAA.
Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute: The 28th annual Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute has 54
beginners and 11 intermediate track participants registered currently. Jim White asked state presidents
to send out a message about it to their state members. Participation goals are 100 for the beginners
track & 25 for the intermediate track.
Jim White will post information about the Sister Dale Brown Summer Institute on NASFAA’s and IFAP’s
calendars to get some out of region participants.
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Newsletter: The very last printed version of the newsletter is in our conference packets. Judy Saling
asked us to take lots of pictures at the conference for the newsletter. Judy Saling is working with Zach
Duffy to organize the committee and transition leadership responsibilities. This is Judy Saling’s last
executive council meeting; she said that it has been great working with everyone.
Jerry R. Sims Management and Leadership Institute: Laura Hughes’ written report has the latest
information. She was not at the meeting as she was working on conference registration.
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Site Selection: Our next meeting will be at the SunCoast, in Summerlin, Nevada, on June 28 and 29 with
room rates of $45 per night. The November meeting will probably be in the Las Vegas area as well. For
the Arizona conference, Leonard Walker is still getting bids with pretty good room rates. Either Tempe
(Mission Palms) or Phoenix will be the location. WASFAA executive council will decide on the Arizona
conference location at our next meeting. If the conference is in April it will be more costly, so May will
be more likely. We are able to have more hotels accommodate us for our conference with our smaller
numbers of attendees.
Add Sandi Guidry to the committee for all of the travel arrangements she does for WASFAA
Training Committee: Adam Hatch reported that the committee had a good year with some new
members serving on the committee. The spring training with Jim Briggs focused on tax information.
There were 56 registrants and 208 attendees participating. The committee was more than able to cover
the costs for the training and added 33 new or returning members to our current membership numbers.
The committee may offer it again next year. Adam Hatch said that he plans to have in-person training in
the fall once again. He wants to see about recording sessions and archiving them for people to see later.
This year there was a good hybrid of offerings between in-person and webinar style training. Another
idea the committee is considering is to have an advanced session with Jim Briggs. Veri-tax is interested
in doing a session or presentation about taxes as well. The IRS may provide training at a future
conference.
The Fiscal Planning Committee needs to determine what amount of the training budget should be
subsidized in the WASFAA budget.
Volunteer Development Committee: Tami Sato has been busy getting ready for the conference. There
were a total 120 committee members this year with 57 of them being new members.
Vice President’s Report: Bags and plastic name tags were ordered. The new style of name tags saved
WASFAA $1000 and can hold a mini version of the conference schedule. Ashley Munro did an insurance
survey to see what other organizations’ coverage is like. She feels that the vice president position could
take on more responsibilities in the future, like help with some of the other fiscal duties. She reviewed
the monthly bank statements up through February.
President’s Report: The NASFAA investment is taken care of. The signature privileges for our bank
accounts have been updated. Peter Miller, Mindy Bergeron, Jack Edwards, Kay Soltis and Frank Green all
have signature authority for our accounts. Kay Soltis or Jack Edwards will sign the SunCoast contract
soon (depending on whether it is before or after May 1). She is prepared for the upcoming NASFAA
board meeting.
Unfinished Business: None
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New Business: None
Announcements: None
MOTION
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:16 with a motion by Adam Hatch. MOTION CARRIED.
_______________________________________ ____________________________
Secretary of WASFAA
Date of approval
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