SASFAA UPDATE

SCASFAA,

Please see below for an update on what has been going on with our regional association (SASFAA) so far this year, submitted by SASFAA President Zita Barree:

 

The new SASFAA year began July 1^st and in keeping with our theme for this year, we are “Hitting our Stride by Celebrating our Strengths!”  Key initiatives this year will focus on communications, training and legislative advocacy. 

Although the 2013-14 SASFAA Board had an opportunity to meet at the 2013 Transition Meeting that was held June 1 – 3 in Clearwater, FL, our first official Board meeting was August 3 – 4 in Jacksonville, FL, site of our 2014 Annual Conference.  At that meeting, we passed a balanced budget of $380,125 for the year which includes a $25 increase to our 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 help offset part of those additional expenses as well as to partially subsidize a leadership workshop.  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 Policies and Procedures Manual.  The Board met again November 2-3 in Raleigh, NC and accepted the report from the Nominations and Elections Committee of the slate of candidates for 2014-15 (to be announced at a later date), heard and discussed items from various committee reports and state updates and the Executive Board approved several awards to be presented at the 2014 annual conference.  In addition, we had a lively conversation about the evolving nature of our joint legislative advocacy (DC) Hill visits with other regions and look forward to that event in February 2014 (exact date still to be determined). 

Speaking of the conference, it will be held February 16 – 19, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront in Jacksonville, FL.  Amy Berrier, University of North Carolina – Greensboro is serving as the chair of the conference committee and they held their first meeting in conjunction with the Board meeting in August.  Patrick House, Season 10 winner of the Biggest Loser, will be our keynote speaker and you can obtain more details about the conference by going to the SASFAA website and clicking on “Annual Conference” on the bar of options across the top of the page.  As of November 18, 119 have already registered for the conference!

Due to SASFAA taking over its own web site maintenance using Wild Apricot a little over a year ago, the Nine News blog replacing the newsletter and the increased use of Facebook to promote and publicize SASFAA activities, I created an ad-hoc committee this year called Technology Assessment and Integration, which will be reviewing all of SASFAA’s 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. 

If you are a member of Facebook and have not yet liked our page, please do so by searching for Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (SASFAA) – updates are provided there as well as lots of great photos!  And if you have not signed up to receive notifications when our SASFAA Nine News blog posts a new article, please go to www.sasfaa.org and click on the Nine News block on the top right side of the home page. 

In closing, SASFAA is off to a great start this year thanks to all of our volunteers, elected officers, state presidents and committee chairs for the great work they have done and will continue to do!

Respectfully submitted,

Zita Barree

SASFAA President 2013-2014