ALABAMA STATE REPORT

AASFAA held its 2011 Fall Training Workshop on October 14, 2011 on the beautiful campus of Auburn University-Montgomery.  Michael Roberts, U.S. Department of Education Title IV Training Officer joined us for our fall training.  This one-day training featured a federal update on hot topics that included Gainful Employment, SAP and 2012-2013 Verification.  Mr. Roberts fielded questions from the AASFAA members during our “Ask a Fed Session”, that included taking questions back to verify the correct answers.  He contacted Vickie Adams with the responses from these questions that were to be provided to the members. 

Ms. Sharon Williams, President-Elect took time to pass out volunteer forms to our members and discussed the importance of serving on committees and getting plugged in to our great association.  We also included, in the training workbook, a list of the 2011-2012 Executive Board and Committee Chairs along with the committee name and email address of each.  We felt this would be helpful information for any new member if they had questions about a committee.  A very special “thank you” goes out to Phillip Nelson for serving as the 2011-2012 Fall Local Arrangements Chair and Anthony Richey for hosting the workshop at AUM. 

Alabama again hosted numerous College Goal Sunday locations during the month of February.  This was a great opportunity to bring together financial aid professionals that were more than willing to assist parents and students with the FAFSA process.   AASFAA’s own Stephanie Miller and Fred Carter were the coordinators for the State of Alabama for the 2011-2012 year.

The 2012 AASFAA Spring Conference will be held at Lake Guntersville State Park again.  The management has agreed to keep the same low room rate that we have had for the last two years.  Working with the staff at the Lodge has proved to be a very relaxing experience for our Local Arrangements Chair, making sure we had everything we needed to make the conference an exciting experience. 

Vickie Adams-President

Treasurer’s Report

$$$ Treasurer’s Report by Nancy T. Garmroth, SASFAA Treasurer $$$

Thank you for the opportunity to serve the Association as your Treasurer, and I am very appreciative to Jeff Dennis for his patience and training. What a challenge! It is almost April, and I finally feel like I am getting a handle on things – it only took me 9 months!! In addition to receipting payments for our conference, New Aid Officer’s workshop and membership, I also stay busy making payments and doing general accounting functions like bank account reconciliation.  But did you know the Treasurer also handles our insurance policies, credit card statements, BMI and ASCAP music licenses/reports, filing for refunds in tax exempt States, reporting and paying for our Georgia Incorporation license and preparing documentation for our tax returns?

SASFAA is having a great fiscal year. We have exceeded our budget in our income categories of membership, the annual conference and sponsorships. We also received $11,407 in tax refunds dating back to 2007. In addition, we have set aside $10,000 for our 50^th anniversary celebration in Atlanta in 2013. The entire Executive Board is to be commended for working diligently to make the best use of our resources.

I look forward to working with Vice President Runan Pendergrast and her New Aid Officer’s staff in June as we conduct the New Aid Officer’s training at North Carolina Central University. Then we transition, and I also look forward to working with Jeff Dennis and the rest of the 2012-2013 Executive Board. Happy Spring and almost Summer!!