Update from President Basford

Dear SASFAA Members & Friends:

I want to share with you a brief update on last week’s travels of our Immediate Past President (Zita Barree), our President-Elect (Amy Berrier), and me as President.

It is very difficult, and impossible at times, for a SASFAA representative to be able to attend all of our nine states’ conferences.  This past week was a fine example of such when we held three state conferences that overlapped each other:  Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi.

I had planned to attend both the Georgia and Mississippi conferences, and Zita was scheduled to attend the Florida conference.  We know that change is something to which we daily adapt as financial aid professionals.  Due to FASFAA honoring me with the Distinguished Service Award, I felt that I should try and attend that Association’s meeting.  Before making the final decision, I received support from Zita and Amy letting me know that they would help in any way needed to ensure that each state conference was covered by someone to give the SASFAA update as well as to present sessions.

I would like to extend my appreciation to Zita and Amy for the support, dedication, and commitment to SASFAA.

Hearing about how many of you came together to attend the conferences last week makes me proud to be in this profession:  a profession that positively changes lives every day.

Below are my comments about each conference and its theme from last week.

FASFAA Conference

St. Augustine, Florida / May 19-22, 2015

Honoring the Past, Shaping the Present, and Treasuring the Future

As members of our associations, we must make sure that we honor our past and are grateful to those who worked with commitment and dedication to create each of our associations.  They may have not done everything right, but, in most cases, their hearts were in the right places—just like our hearts and minds today.  By shaping the present, we create, we improve, we influence in a formative way. We do this by thinking outside-the-box and look at new ways for our association to move forward.  We must continue to treasure the future. Cherish it, and hold it dearly.  As members of our associations, we must strive to keep the history while we cherish the present, and ensure the future is filled with many treasures for those after us to build on and share.

Georgia Conference

Peachtree City, Georgia / May 20-22, 2015

Lights, Camera, Action, GASFAA!

Sounds like we are making a movie, and, in many ways, we are.  We deal with students and their families, daily, on issues and the concerns that they present to us:  How can we afford to send our child to your institution? Where do I get the money? Are there scholarships available?  We pull out our script:  the state and federal guidelines, institutional policy and procedure manuals, our methodology of awarding financial aid, and begin to look for the right scene that will solve this chapter so that the students and families can complete their movie by achieving their educational goals.  Each of us must continue to be a part of the action that allows our students to achieve their educational goals, and then hold to that action ‘til the goal is reached.

Mississippi Conference

Biloxi, Mississippi / May 19-22, 2015

Turning the Tide!

When you hear the word tide, what is your first thought?  I think of the beach. As the tide comes in, it washes away our foot prints or the sandcastles we have built or the names of our special loved ones written in the sand.  As the tide goes back out, we rebuild our sandcastles. We make our footprints in the sand again, and we write our loved ones’ names in the sand once more—proving that things are good again.  Can’t we relate to this image in our workplaces?  Yes, we see students rush in at high tide—wanting questions answered, documents reviewed, and funds disbursed. In getting these requests completed, we sometimes encounter waves that will cause us to have to go out and seek additional information in order to complete the student’s high tide request, but we do. We find the answers. We explain what needs to be done, and then we see the tide begin to go back out—all is calm.  I encourage each of us to continue to be a part of Turning the Tide.  You may ask yourself how it can be done.  We help turn the tide by riding the waves that we may encounter—those waves being the students and families who seek information to achieve their educational dreams. We can provide correct and valuable information on what financial aid is available while ensuring the process is completed and that the students achieve their educational dreams.

Final Comments

As you can see, I may not have been at your specific conference in person, but I was there in spirit and in full support!  I appreciate all that each of you do for your state as well as for SASFAA.  

Because of each of you, we continue to Uncover our Purpose, Power, and Passion.

Nathan Basford

SASFAA President, 2014-2015