AASFAA TRANSITION MEETING
EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES
Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama
June 9, 2008
Present: President Ben Baker; President-Elect Charkles Markle; Past President Jonna Baker; Vice
President Andy Weaver; Treasurer Phillip Nelson; Treasurer-Elect Ann Campbell; Secretary Ann Little.
Also, present—Joel Parris, Kevin Ammons, Debra Talley, Lora Kiser, Dr. Bill Wall, Amanda Sharp,
Christy Bulger, Wanda Bass, Tammy Spratlin, Clark Aldridge.
I. Call to Order
The AASFAA Transition Training and Executive Board Meeting was held at Samford University in
Birmingham, Alabama. President Ben Baker called the Executive Board Meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.
Secretary Ann Little indicated that a quorum had been established.
II. Minutes
President Ben Baker instructed all who were present to review the minutes from the AASFAA Spring
Conference. Charles Markle made a motion to approve the minutes, with Jonna Baker seconding it.
There being no discussion, the motion carried and the minutes were approved. Secretary Ann Little
indicated that the minutes will be posted on the AASFAA website in a timely manner.
III. Officer’s Reports
President Baker then asked for the officer’s reports. Secretary Little collected the reports and the hard
copies will be retained. Highlights of these reports will be given with these minutes.
President
President Baker gave highlights from his report of his activities as president from the past year. He
specifically referred to a workshop he attended, along with 15 other AASFAA members, at the University
of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on May 1-2, 2008, entitled “Rural America and Student Financial Aid: Toward
an Agenda for Research, Policy , and Practice.” He commented on the fact that this was one of the most
interesting workshops he had attended on the subject of student financial aid and suggested that
perhaps AASFAA could conduct a workshop along these lines in the future. He also commented on the
fact that he attended the SASFAA transition meeting in Tampa, Florida last week along with Charles
Markle, Debra Talley and Clark Aldridge.
President Baker also thanked all in attendance for their hard work and dedication to AASFAA’s goals and
objectives during the past year. He extended his best wishes to Charles Markle, 2008-2009 President,
the elected officers and committee chairs for the upcoming year.
Vice President Andy Weaver
The Vice President had no written report and had no professional development activity at this time. He
did open the floor for a discussion on financial aid for families and the fact that the financial aid
profession has taken quite a public relations hit recently. He highly recommended conducting AASFAA’s
fall training session again and indicated that no topic has been chosen for this. He commented on the
fact that the New Aid Officer’s workshop held during our Spring Conference was a success with 30
people in attendance.
Treasurer
Phillip Nelson indicated that AASFAA ended the 2007-08 year in the black and that our checking account
has been reconciled. He pointed out some corrections on his written report—the second built should
read “AASFAA received $15,925 in registration fees and $34,500 in direct cash sponsorships for total
conference income of $50,425. We spent $40,345.85.”
President-Elect
Charles Markle submitted his report in which he thanked his committee members—Melody Caldwell,
Tammy Spratlin, Sharon Williams and Donna Bass. He also indicated that his goals and objectives for the
2007-08 year were met with the successful arrangements of the Fall and Spring Conferences.
Past President
Jonna Baker announced the newly elected AASFAA Officers for 2008-09 and mentioned that 91-92
AASFAA members voted before the Spring Conference. She thanked Dr. Wall, Buddy Jackson, Dorenda
Adams and Debra Talley for assisting her with the voting booth. She also announced the recipients of
the M. Cecil Padget and John H. Buchanan, Jr. Distinguished Service Awards—they are Carol Supri and
Dr. Bill Wall, respectively. She then thanked everyone for their support and guidance during her three
years.
Treasurer-Elect
Ann Campbell discussed the budget committee’s goals and objectives and that these were met in that
actual income exceeded actual expenses for the fiscal year. She also commented on the budget
committee’s meeting that was held in July, 2007 and the fact that it was extremely helpful to the
committee.
IV. Committee Reports
Legislative Relations (State) Chair Clark Aldridge had no written report but indicated that none of the
seven bills related to financial were passed by the State Legislature.
Fall Local Arrangements Chair Tammy Spratlin submitted her report and wanted to thank everyone for
making the Fall Conference a success, and especially a big thanks to her committee members—Ellen
Canada, Donna Bass and Suzanne Bush, as well as Lora Kiser for assistance with the menus. She also
commented on what an excellent speaker Kay Ivey was at our Fall Conference luncheon—thanks to Dr.
Wall for securing Ms. Ivey for a very entertaining and informative luncheon.
Policies and Procedures Chair Dr. Bill Wall presented his written report. A discussion ensued regarding
AASFAA scholarships, scholarship committees, their requirements and the importance of them. Dr. Wall
mentioned the fact that financial aid administrators should exercise professional judgement when
dealing with these scholarships.
Vendor/Sponsor Chair Lora Kiser had no written report and no comments.
Long Range Planning Committee Chair Debra Talley submitted her written report. No comments were
made.
Two-Year College Concerns Committee Chair Joel Parris submitted his written report. He also brought
before the Board discussion of NASFAA’s College Goal Sunday and possible involvement by AASFAA.
Clark Aldridge brought up cost and attendance issues related to this.
Several Board members not in attendance submitted copies of their year-end reports. The Secretary will
retain hard copies of these reports for further review if needed.
President Baker thanked everyone for their reports and indicated that it was a pleasure working with
the Board for the past year. He expressed a BIG thanks to Dr. Wall for all of his assistance with AASFAA’s
conferences. He also wished Dr. Wall a happy 65th birthday!!
President Baker then asked if there was any “old business” to come before the Board. Secretary Little
brought up for discussion eligibility of elected officers. Charles Aldridge reported that changes at
TASFAA required that officers be school financial aid administrators. This was approved by their
Executive Board and will go to the membership. Ann Campbell and Dr. Wall disagreed with this idea
and a lively discussion ensued. Issues regarding levels of participation among both financial aid
administrators and vendors were discussed, as well as the issue of some vendors not paying exhibitor
fees but coming to our conferences anyway—the consensus was that this is an issue everywhere and is
hard to police. Jonna discussed her feelings as a vendor and indicated she has always brought aid
administrators into her decisions, but also said that aid administrators don’t always step up for a variety
of reasons. Ann Campbell suggested that the Nominations Committee think this whole issue through
before anything is proposed on it. At this point, President Baker yielded the podium to Vice President
Weaver for the remainder of the discussion, in which he took the lead. He basically said that lenders
and guarantors have been a vital part of our organization and that they have a wealth knowledge, e.g.
Clark Aldridge, Jonna Baker and Dr. Wall, and that these folks cannot be excluded from the decision
making in our organization—we look to our officers for checks and balances and they are a valuable
resource to us. At this point, Phillip Nelson made a motion to vacate this discussion with Andy Weaver
seconding it. The motion carried and the discussion ended. Another area of discussion involved legal
issues affecting our organization. Charles Markle commented on the fact that we need to be sure of
what we’re about, at which point Clark Aldridge pointed out the perception issue and the Slate Act in
NY—if you got money from lenders, you became a lender. Dr. Wall indicated that he had called the
Alabama Attorney General’s Office and that Troy King basically knows nothing about financial aid and
that this is not an issue we should worry about. Ann Campbell commented on this and Andy Weaver
suggested studying the issue. Dr. Wall suggested tabling it or voting on it. Phillip Nelson moved to table
it, with Ben Baker seconding it. The motion carried and there was no further discussion.
At this point, President Baker returned to the podium and asked if there were any other old business.
There being none, he then asked if there was any new business.
The new business to be discussed and reviewed involved changes to the Policies and Procedures
Manual. The first item brought up for discussion was Section 4.4—Membership. A discussion ensued
regarding deleting Article A. 4. Andy Weaver moved that it should be deleted, with Phillip Nelson
seconding it. There was no discussion and the motion carried. The next item involved Section 5.5—
Treasurer. President Baker entertained a motion to add “ATAC” under “f” of Article 5.5.1, number 4.
There was no discussion on this matter. Phillip Nelson moved that it be added, with Ann Little
seconding it. The motion carried. Up next involved Section 6.1—Committees. Jonna Baker moved to
add “Electronic Services” to Article 6.1.2 under Standing Committees. There being no discussion, Ann
Little seconded it and the motion carried. Next, Dr. Wall brought up for discussion whether or not to
delete number two of Article 6.20.1. He suggested naming Kevin Ammons as our vendor liaison and to
come back with proposals at the Fall Conference and to revise this. Wanda Bass suggested revising
Article 6.20 in its entirety. Andy Weaver brought up for discussion revising 6.19 as well but President
Baker indicated that this should be left as is and that Donna Bass will check on it. President Baker also
said that we should revisit Section 7.2, regarding annual business meetings, in one year. He then called
for a break.
After the break, the meeting was resumed. At this point, Tammy Spraitlin discussed changing the term
“vendor” in all areas of the Manual. Kevin Ammons suggested it be changed to “exhibitors” in all areas.
This was tabled for a later discussion. The next item to be discussed was Section 8.4—Advertising.
Charles Markle made the motion to delete Article 8.4.5.2 regarding Solicitation of a Single Sponsor.
Jonna seconded this and there was no discussion. The motion carried.
President Baker then opened for discussion changes in the Policies and Procedures Manual in regards to
vacancies in the Treasurer and Treasurer-Elect positions. He said that if the Treasurer were to vacate
the position, the Treasurer-Elect steps in and a new Treasurer-Elect will be elected. He indicated that
this issue will be discussed in depth at the next board meeting. One more issue he wanted to discuss
was over spent items and whether or not to transfer them to another category—the consensus was to
not transfer the item and to let it stand.
Charles Aldridge brought up taxes and what we are doing about them for discussion. Charles Markle
said that we have no tax liability but that we need to be careful about web-related issues. He also
indicated we need line items on our budget for tax preparation and expenses—we need to check with
our CPA. Ann Campbell said that this should be discussed by the new incoming officers.
The next item for discussion involved the Fall Conference and the expectation of declining attendance,
as well as a decline financially. Charles Markle had some thoughts on this and indicated we will
probably lose money on the conference and suggested combining training and federal updates, as well
as perhaps increase registration fees. These was also some discussion by Clark Aldridge about
negotiating our food and beverage budget with the hotel, as well as having more of a food commitment
as opposed to more rooms. Phillip Nelson agreed with this. Joel Parris wanted those in attendance to
recognize various budget cuts at schools and President Baker indicated that further study is warranted
regarding this issue.
The final item of business was the introduction by President Baker of Charles Markle, along with the
responsibilities of the President. At this point, President Baker thanked our hosts at Samford University
and passed the gavel to President Charles Markle.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Little
2007-08 AASFAA Secretary