The Event

                Often times we ask how someone became interested in a particular job or how we got into a profession.  When I ask fellow financial aid experts how they got into the profession, I often hear that they just “fell into it”.  Many of us were work-study students or graduate students in a financial aid office and just sort of stuck with it after graduation.  However you got into financial aid, there seems to be that one event/student that helped solidify our love for this noble profession.  We love our jobs because we make a difference to our students and schools, despite not getting enough credit.

                I got into financial aid in 2001 when I became a graduate student in the Office of Financial Aid at the University of South Florida.  At first it was all fun, getting to see the behind the scenes of how college financial aid works, awarding students, talking them through regulations as a peer.  Then comes the day when you move on to a full time position.  That first year as a full time financial aid professional is like basic training just a year in length.

I always say it takes a year in financial aid before you really get a good understanding of how things work.  It’s during that first year that many of us begin to wonder if financial aid was the right choice.  You deal with the first of many irate students; a few helicopter parents, you read several heart breaking SAP appeals, and wonder if this is something you can do for the next “x” years.  You may suddenly realize you are doing seven jobs at once or that staff from other departments do not seem to be as pressured, deadline driven, or as accountable as financial aid staff.  But there is always that one moment when you decide that it was the right choice, that despite the angry students that you face there were numerous other students that you never got to see because they got everything they needed.  Those students were in class, pursuing their dreams of a higher education and you were a part of that success.    

                For me that moment occurred toward the end of my first year as a Financial Aid Counselor.  With the large number of students at USF we would often encourage students to assist themselves.  One of the largest requests we got that year was for letters for proof of aid awards so that students could use that for rental agreements, car purchases, etc.  In most cases students were directed to log into their self-service and simply print off their awards to use as proof.  For most cases when the student did this it would work and be accepted by the entity.  It’s that one time it didn’t that left an impression on me and something that I carry with me to this day. 

                You know that student, the one that seems to come into your office every day to check his aid status for the 30^th time.  Well that student came into the office one day; in fact it was his second trip into the office.  The student was told to log in and print off his award notice just as hundreds of students before him were instructed.  I then overheard him try to explain that his application specifically asked for a signed statement.  When I asked him what kind of application, the student explained that he was applying for a special program for first time home buyers.  Impressed that a college student was looking to buy a house I took him back to my office to learn more.

                During our chat I learned that in his scholarship searches he came across some programs for first time home owners and just didn’t have enough verifiable income without including his financial aid.  Because of the nature of the program he needed more than just a print out, so I made the time to help the student write a letter that would present him in the best light to receive a mortgage.  If he came into the FA office every day to check on things I knew he would be the kind of homeowner that would keep track of his finances and that he would be as successful in home ownership as he was as a student.  The next week the student came in to check on his financial aid as unusual.  I had almost forgotten about the letter and our conversation, until he handed me a letter.   You see, what took maybe 10 minutes out of my day not only affected this  student and his dreams of higher education, it affected his life in ways I hadn’t thought about when I decided to write that letter.  My words don’t do it justice so I will let his words show you:

Not only was he the first in his family to graduate college but the first to own a home.  To this day I have that letter in my desk drawer, to remind me on the bad days that I got into financial aid because I love working on behalf of students.  Being just a small part of that success is worth all the bad days, irate students, helicopter parents and regulation changes combined.

Thank you,

Wayne Kruger, FASFAA President

God Made the Financial Aid Administrator

And on the 8^th day of November, 1965, the U. S. President, Lyndon B. Johnson, signed into law the Higher Education Act of 1965.  And he said, “We need individuals to administer these programs” – so came the Financial Aid Administer.

And LBJ said – “We need people who are willing to get up at 5am – work all day – hobble home tired and worn – eat supper – work at home for another 4 hours – go to meetings at high schools and attend other requests – go back home and sleep for a while – wake in the middle of the night and remember a task that was forgotten – go back to sleep if you can – and then get up the next day and do it all over again.”

“We need people who will work hard understanding multifaceted regulations – understand complex computer systems – award deserving students – only to see many, many of them fail – and then say, ‘Well maybe the next one will succeed. ‘ “

“We need a Financial Aid Administrator who can take an understaffed office – with a meager operating budget – which has staff who are severely underpaid – who is able to endure many audits and compliance reviews – who work alongside other offices who cannot or will not understand we are much more – and we do more – than merely award students.”

“We need dedicated individuals who work their 40 hours a week by Wednesday and then work 40 more before the week has ended.”

“We need individuals who are:   dedicated, determined, diligent –

who are often:   abused verbally, ridiculed, diminished, and misunderstood –

who are often called:   insensitive, uncaring, cruel –

who will:   read, study, comprehend, understand, plan, award, counsel, meet, listen, smile, laugh – and yes, cry – with others who struggle to achieve a treasured educational goal – even amid ever changing processes – with seemingly ever diminishing resources – in a country that somehow has lost control of the message about the importance of higher education – especially affordable higher education for the most disadvantaged – with elected individuals who appear at times to be more interested in agendas than our country’s most treasured national resource – our students.”

“We need you more than ever – those wonderful financial aid professionals – who are true change agents – affecting the future in a very positive way.”

So yes – you and the profession – were asked and you have stepped up to the challenge.  You are true professionals – and I say without hesitation – “God truly made a Financial Aid Administrator.”

Mr. Ron Day:  NASFAA Chair, SASFAA Speaker, GASFAA Colleague, Director of Financial Aid at Kennesaw State University, but most importantly Our Friend

Federal Shutdown Effects

Financial aid administrators should be aware of how the federal shutdown is affecting their students.

For example, at medical schools, students have been told their living expense stipends for the Health Professions Scholarship Program will be delayed.  Other students receiving the National Health Service Corps Scholarships may have living expense disbursements from their scholarships delayed.  This comes at term-end and is stressful for the students involved, to say the least!  Financial aid offices should expect get loan requests and, possibly requests for short term loans from the school to help fill the gaps.

Here's a link to an article that discusses other ways higher education is affected by the shutdown:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/03/shutdown-effects-on-colleges/2915629/

And here's a link to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (ifap) website and a Dear Colleague letter that discusses the effects of the shutdown:

http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/092713PotentialGovernmentShutdown.html

Monitor Cohort Default Rates Year Round
Inceptia’s Free Cohort Default Rate Reporting Tool Provides Real-Time Data

As financial aid administrators process the impact of their newly released 2- and 3-year cohort default rates from the U.S. Department of Education, Inceptia is making its proprietary Cohort Activity Report freely available to any school that wants to monitor their default rate.

Administrators can use this report to receive updated data on open cohort default years and monitor borrowers so that they can actively help student borrowers while lowering their default rate.

“The Cohort Activity Report gives schools the power to see what’s happening right now with their borrowers,” said Dave Macoubrie, Inceptia vice president of repayment solutions. “By proactively addressing the cohort of student defaulters, they can take steps to remove them from the list and make a positive impact on the trajectory of their school’s cohort default rate helping to save those student borrowers from default.”

Sign up for the Cohort Activity Report by visiting Inceptia.org/CDR-tracking.

Once registered, upload your School Portfolio report to the Cohort Activity Report system. The data from the School Portfolio report will be analyzed and organized into a simplified report for you to gain updated insights in real time.

This report can be used to monitor:

·         number of borrowers in repayment

·         number of borrowers in default

·         impact one default borrower has on their rate

·         number of rescued borrowers needed to reduce the rate by one percent

·         open and closed cohort year comparison data

You may also download a list of loan details on each defaulted borrower.

With cohort default rates on the rise, schools need to proactively monitor cohort default rates year round in order to gain the knowledge required to lower their rate and help student borrowers. The details in this report can help you closely monitor default borrowers so that you can proactively work to correct defaulted loans prior to closing years.

“We want to show every school the impact they can have on their rate, simply by lowering it by even one percentage point,” Macoubrie said. “For some institutions, that may be as few as five borrowers. But lowering the rate over time can have a significant impact on a school and is good for student borrowers.”

Inceptia’s goal is to help students borrow wisely, resolve their delinquency issues and guide them to successfully repay their student loan obligations; while also helping schools reduce their cohort default rates. Find out more about Inceptia’s default prevention services by contacting Inceptia at 888.529.2028. 

 

Sample Graph

 

 

 ABOUT INCEPTIA

Inceptia, a division of National Student Loan Program (NSLP), is a non-profit organization providing premier expertise in default prevention and financial education. Since 1986, we have helped more than two million students achieve their higher education dreams at 5,500 schools nationwide. Annually, Inceptia assists more than 150,000 delinquent borrowers in repaying their student loans. By using practical tools of cohort analysis, financial education and repayment outreach, Inceptia educates students on responsible personal finances and loan repayment counseling and provides default prevention strategies and services to schools. More information at Inceptia.org.

 

FedLoan Servicing’s At-Risk Delinquency Resolution Contest

Beginning in May 2013, FedLoan Servicing held an At-Risk Delinquency Resolution Contest for schools.  Participating schools were provided with a listing of delinquent borrowers, serviced by FedLoan Servicing, who would impact their 2011 or 2012 Cohort Default Rate, if their delinquency was not resolved.  The contest ended on August 28, 2013.  Here are some highlights:

·        350 Schools Participated (55 schools from SASFAA region)

·        7,356 Cured Delinquencies (1623 from schools in SASFAA region)

Congratulations to all participating schools in the winning region – WASFAA! Schools within the Western region cured 31% of their loan delinquencies.

FedLoan Servicing extends a special thank you to all participating schools for the assistance provided to your alumni! Winning schools were provided a customized poster, congratulatory letter, and the option to participate in our FedLoan Servicing FiveStar Training webinar on default prevention or a spotlight in an upcoming FedLoan Servicing Quarterly Bulletin.

Congratulations to the winners!!!!

Tiers	Winning School	Sector	% of cures
NATIONAL WINNERS
< 50 borrowers	Bryan College (CA) Plaza College (NY)	Proprietary	100%
51 – 250 borrowers	Howard Community College (MD)	Public	53%
> 250 borrowers	Herzing University (WI)	Proprietary	37%
PUBLIC SECTOR WINNERS
< 50 borrowers	City College of Chicago (IL)	Public	80%
51 – 250 borrowers	Howard Community College (MD)	Public	53%
> 250 borrowers	University of North Texas (TX)	Public	31%
PRIVATE SECTOR WINNERS
< 50 borrowers	Resurrection University (IL) Sharon Regional Health System (PA)	Private	100%
51 – 250 borrowers	Robert Morris University (IL)	Private	45%
> 250 borrowers	Remington College (TX)	Private	29%
PROPRIETARY SECTOR WINNERS
< 50 borrowers	Bryan College (CA) Plaza College (NY)	Proprietary	100%
51 – 250 borrowers	Vista College (TX)	Proprietary	43%
> 250 borrowers	Herzing University (WI)	Proprietary	37%
GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL SECTOR WINNERS
< 50 borrowers	Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (MO) Eastern Virginia Medical School (VA)	Graduate	100%

 

Passing of a Colleague

The following message was sent out Monday afternoon on both the TASFAA (Tennessee) and SASFAA listservs and was also posted to SASFAA’s Facebook page:

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the loss of one of our colleagues.  Clyde Walker, a long time TAFSAA member and friend to many, passed away suddenly today, September 23, 2013.  Please keep his wife, Joanie, and their family in your thoughts and prayers.  We will provide details of the arrangements as soon as they are available. 

If you wish to send a card their address is 121 Pebble View Drive, Franklin, TN  37064.

Jeff Gerkin
TASFAA President

Today, the following message has also been sent:

A Memorial Service for Clyde Walker will be held at 5PM, Saturday, September 28th at Gateway Community Church, 584 Franklin Rd. Franklin, TN 37069.  A reception will follow at the church.

Please continue to keep Joanie and the rest of the family in your thoughts and prayers.

Jeff Gerkin
TASFAA President

On behalf of the SASFAA Board, we send our deepest condolences to Clyde’s wife, Joanie, a long-time SASFAA friend and colleague and to all their family and friends.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers during these difficult times.  Clyde served on the SASFAA Board previously and was always known for his great smile, big hugs, his love for his family and friends and for the gentleman he always was.  Prayers are also sent to his Vanderbilt and TASFAA friends and colleagues. 

Zita Barree
SASFAA President

August SASFAA Board Meeting Review

The SASFAA Executive Board met August 3^rd – 4th for our first official Board meeting of the 2013-14 year in Jacksonville, FL, site of our 2014 Annual Conference.  If I had to sum up our weekend in a quote, it would be “None of us is as smart as all of us” by Ken Blanchard.  The Board had a few challenges to face but we did so by working together as a team and by appreciating and considering all input provided.    

The following is a summary of some of the highlights from the meeting.  This is not an all-inclusive list of everything that was discussed.  You will be notified when the minutes from our meeting are posted to the SASFAA website and they will contain all the details about our discussions as well as all actions taken by the Board. 

·         Based on a recommendation from the Nominations and Elections committee, the Board approved deleting the sentence “The electronic voting site shall be staffed continuously by members or designees of the nominations and elections committee during the posted times.” from section 6.13.3 of the current SASFAA Policy and Procedure Manual (see page 34 online at http://www.sasfaa.org/Resources/Documents/Governing%20Documents/Policies%20and%20Procedures/SASFAA%20PP%20-%20090313.pdf ).  The committee was charged this year with evaluating the most recent elections process and determining if it would continue going forward in the same fashion.  The process that was used for the 2013 election was voted on by a prior Board as a one-time trial.  This will mean the elections process will go back to how it was executed the year before last with voting being opened 10 calendar days prior to the initial business meeting at the annual conference and will close at 3 pm on the last full day of the conference.  The Nominations and Elections chair will report the results of the election at a business session at the conference following the completion of voting.

·         The Board reviewed reports from the various SASFAA committees regarding their work so far and plans for the near future.  Our organizational chart for 2013-14 can be found at:  http://www.sasfaa.org/Resources/Documents/Governing%20Documents/SASFAA%202013-14%20Organization%20Chart.pdf.  In addition to the customary ad-hoc committees, I added an additional one this year called Technology Assessment and Integration which will be reviewing all of our communications as well as our website and making recommendations to the Board throughout the year about how we can more effectively keep in touch with our members. 

·         The Board approved a budget for the 2013-14 year which includes a $25 increase to the annual conference registration fee (from $250 to $275) due to increased hotel/food expenses but also allowed for $31,500 to be transferred from assets to the current year budget to help offset part of those additional expenses.  SASFAA uses a zero-based budgeting model which means our expenses in any given year cannot exceed our projected revenues.  That being said, the Board recognized that SASFAA has now made up for the money lost during the financially challenging years and that our reserves more than meet the requirements set forth by our P & P Manual.  Therefore, it felt very strongly that part of the revenues that have been collected above expenses in the prior year should be used to benefit our members this year.  Additionally, a Leadership Workshop or Management Institute is being discussed for this year which would also be partially subsidized by SASFAA. 

·         The Board approved a location for our November Board meeting – the Embassy Suites near Brier Creek in Raleigh-Durham and a location for the 2014 Board Transition meeting to be held June 8 – 11 at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Beach, FL.

·         Eight of the 9 SASFAA states provided a report to the board of what is happening in their states and with their associations.  The state presidents will also be working on a joint project this year to help better prepare state presidents-elect for their year as state presidents on the SASFAA Board by evaluating the state presidents-elect workshop coordinated by the SASFAA President-Elect at the annual conference and the Board transition meeting agenda to see if there are any opportunities for enhancements.  They will also be producing a handout to be shared with incoming state presidents-elect to inform them in advance of their SASFAA responsibilities. 

·         The Board also approved committee members for the 2013-14 year as well as goals that I added to those that had already been recommended by last year’s Governance and Strategic Planning (GAP) committee.

The Conference Committee met during the same timeframe as the Board and ended their meeting on Monday, August 5^th.  Amy Berrier has posted a SASFAA Nine News article dated September 10^th outlining all of the tentative plans for the 2014 annual conference and we anticipate that the conference registration process will open sometime in October.  Our theme this year is “Hitting our Stride by Celebrating our Strengths.”  We hope you will be able to join us in Jacksonville, FL February 16 – 19, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront for what I know will be a fantastic conference!

If you are not already receiving e-mail notifications from SASFAA Nine News, you can subscribe by going to www.sasfaa.org and clicking on the SASFAA Nine News box on the right hand side of the page.  Then enter your e-mail address in the box in the upper right hand side labeled “Receive Updates by Email” and submit.  Additionally if you belong to Facebook and have not liked our page yet, please search for us at Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (SASFAA) – we update our status frequently and also post photos of many SASFAA, NASFAA and state association events. 

One of the quotes I use often is from T.S. Eliot:  “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”  The SASFAA Board is here to serve you so please let us know how we may help you and SASFAA find out how far we all can go!

Zita Barree

SASFAA President