2013-2014 Annual Report to the SCASFAA Membership

SCASFAA,

It has been my distinct honor to serve as the 2013-2014 SCASFAA President, and I hope that I have represented each of you with the professionalism and commitment demonstrated by past Presidents who have exemplified true leadership qualities.  We are blessed as an association to have so many outstanding members who agree to offer their time and talent to ensure our success, and this year has been no exception. 

The theme for the year was “Together We Serve.” As the SCASFAA Executive Board strived to follow SCASFAA’s mission of promoting the advancement of financial assistance programs and providing personal and professional development opportunities embracing sound principles, practices, and ethics in aid administration, we certainly discovered that doing so is truly a team effort.  Every single member of the 2013-2014 Board demonstrated dedication to excellence and promoted a true team mentality and sense of togetherness as we worked to achieve our goals throughout the year.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with such a fantastic group of people and will always appreciate their support, dedication, and "Together We Serve" mentality. 

The elected officers for 2013-2014 were:

• President - Katie Harrison, SC Tuition Grants Commission
• President-Elect - Kenneth Cole, USC Lancaster
• Past President - Sarah Dowd, Tri County Technical College
• Vice President - Kevin Delp, Bob Jones University
• Secretary - Ellen Chiles, Clemson University
• Treasurer - Deborah Williams, Piedmont Technical College
• Treasurer-Elect - Melanie Gillespie, Southern Wesleyan University
• Member at Large - Michelle Upchurch, Limestone College

The appointed committee chairs for 2013-2014 were:

• Advisory to CHE – Violette Hunter, USC TRIO
• Annual Conference (Program) – Kevin Perry, Coastal Carolina University
• Communications – Allison Keck, Greenville Technical College
• Consumer Relations – Josephine Brown, Trident Technical College
• Counselor Relations – Donna Quick, Columbia College
• Electronic Services – Missy Perry, Piedmont Technical College
• Financial Planning – Nancy Garmroth, Spartanburg Community College
• Global Issues – Traci Singleton, The Citadel
• Legislative Relations – Ken Bernard, Central Carolina Technical College
• Long Range Planning – Elizabeth Milam, Clemson University
• Site Selection – Carolyn Sparks, Wofford College
• Sponsorship – Nikki Miller, Coastal Carolina University

The SCASFAA Executive Board kicked off the 2013-2014 year at the annual transitional board meeting, which was held June 24-25, 2013, at Bishop Gravatt Camp and Conference Center in Aiken, SC.  The meeting included a wrap-up of 2012-2013 business by Sarah Dowd, transition time for officers and committee chairs, an orientation session for the 2013-2014 Executive Board, and goal-setting for 2013-2014.  In addition, Board members participated in several low ropes and other teambuilding efforts, which greatly enhanced our cohesiveness as a group and led to some fun discoveries about communications styles and the importance of working together toward common goals.  Including the transition meeting, the 2013-2014 SCASFAA Board met a total of five times this year.

Highlights of the 2013-2014 year are outlined below:

Advisory to CHE

Several discussions and an in-person meeting were held with key executive staff members at the Commission on Higher Education in reference to future partnership opportunities, in addition to CHE utilizing SCASFAA as a sounding board for important topics related to aid administration.  Violette Hunter will continue as the Chair of this committee for 2014-2015, and we are looking forward to continuing our work to strengthen and better utilize our association’s relationship with CHE. 

Annual Conference

SCASFAA’s annual conference was held March 30^th through April 2^nd at the Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center in Myrtle Beach.  Kevin Perry served as Conference Chair and did an outstanding job!  He and his committee worked hard to provide a great variety of sessions covering a large range of topics.  A total of 122 members and several guests attended the conference.  We welcomed Rick Renshaw and Wood Mason from the US Department of Education as federal trainers.  Other special guests were Justin Draeger, NASFAA President (his first SCASFAA conference!), Amanda Sharp, NASFAA trainer, Lisanne Masterson, past SASFAA President, Zita Barree, 2013-2014 SASFAA President, and Rachel Cavenaugh, 2013-2014 NCASFAA President.  All session presenters were well-informed, and there was great discussion and idea sharing throughout the conference.  Due to a bit of a scheduling conflict which pitted us against over 30,000 cheerleaders, our Sunday sessions and activities were held at the Breakers resort, an oceanfront property which allowed for a beautiful view of the beach during the President’s reception, where a lot of fun and networking occurred!  Although the cheerleaders had vacated the Sheraton property by Monday morning, the competition was just starting among SCASFAA members, who enjoyed a few rambunctious rounds of trivia at our Tuesday evening social event.  A fun time was had by all in attendance.  We also wrapped up our charity raffle Tuesday evening, in which we raised a total of $1,000 for the SC Chapter of the March of Dimes. 

During the annual conference, the following awards were bestowed:

• SCASFAA Emerging Leader – Ken Bernard, Central Carolina Technical College
• SCASFAA Achiever – Kevin Perry, Coastal Carolina University
• Fearless Nine Service to SCASFAA – Nancy Garmroth, Spartanburg Community College
• Distinguished Service Award – Justin Draeger, NASFAA President

Nancy Garmroth and Kay Walton were also recognized as Quarter Century members of SCASFAA.  A number of retirees were also announced and thanked for their support of SCASFAA throughout the years.   

Another tradition during the conference is the Student Success Scholarship drawing.  All SCASFAA members who have volunteered for the association in some capacity during the year are entered into a drawing.  This year, Violette Hunter and Ted Cheadle had their names drawn for their work as Advisory to CHE Chair and Professional Development committee member, respectively.  As a result of their contributions to SCASFAA this year, USC Columbia and Bob Jones University have each received a $1,000 scholarship to award to an enrolled student. 

Budget

SCASFAA had a terrific year financially, thanks to the hard work by Treasurer Deborah Williams, Treasurer-Elect Melanie Gillespie, Financial Planning Chair Nancy Garmroth, and all the members of the Executive Board who took their roles as fiduciary agents of the association very seriously.  As a result, our bottom line is that we ended the year under budget by over $7,300, which means we did not have to rely on nearly $5,000 in contingency funds that had been approved at the beginning of the year. A number of individual line items did go over their budgeted allowance, but did not require approval by the Executive Board because they were within the threshold allowed by the SCASFAA Policies & Procedures.  This information will be used by the 2014-2015 Budget committee in drafting a budget that is more realistic and representative of the association’s needs while still representing fiscal responsibility to the membership.     

By Laws

Ellen Chiles, Secretary, did a fantastic job getting meeting minutes out quickly and updating the SCASFAA Policies & Procedures Manual each time the Executive Board voted to update it.  In addition, the By Laws Committee recommended a needed change to the By Laws concerning the protection of SCASFAA assets through the bonding of Board members related to the association’s insurance policy. This By Laws change was presented to the membership in conjunction with the annual election of officers and was passed by the membership.   

Communications

As Communications Chair, Allison Keck maintained primary responsibility for the SCASFAA Scoop (SCASFAA’s blog) and the SCASFAA Facebook page, making sure both were kept up to date as appropriate.  She also assisted in posting announcements to the membership, such as job postings and registration information for workshops and events.  Allison has also recommended some exciting suggestions for the future of SCASFAA communications, so stay tuned!

Consumer Relations

Josephine Brown headed up our College Goal SC efforts this year in partnership with CHE and the site coordinators who comprised the Consumer Relations Committee.  Their efforts resulted in College Goal SC events being held at 35 locations throughout the state.  A total of 325 volunteers assisted over 700 students with the financial aid application process.  Over 300 FAFSAs were completed during these events.  Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make College Goal SC a success!

Counselor Relations

Donna Quick and Chair-Elect April Baur participated in a series of conference calls concerning financial aid training for the high school guidance counselor community.  This year, changes were made to the state’s guidance counselor associations and their associated list serves, which caused some difficulties in communicating directly to the counselors.  Although we were not able to provide a formal training for the guidance counselors this year through SCASFAA, it was discovered that we could pursue alternate training methods in the future, such as agreeing to be available as presenters at the statewide conferences geared toward them. 

Electronic Services

In her role as Electronic Services Chair, Missy Perry handled updates to the SCASFAA website, behind the scenes updates to important settings in our online system, and supported the entire SCASFAA Board with their electronic services needs.  She also coordinated AV needs during the annual conference and has recently been busy preparing the membership application system for the 2014-2015 year. 

Financial Planning

This year was the first for the Financial Planning Committee, which was created as an ad-hoc committee in response to the need for SCASFAA to better plan for future financial stability.  Under the leadership and tremendous hard work of Nancy Garmroth, the Financial Planning committee succeeded in opening a well-balanced portfolio of investment accounts, which have already earned the association a net income of over $3,100 in dividends in less than one year.  Nancy worked diligently to update the financial policies and procedures of the association, in addition to a complete revision of the Guide to Financial Management.  Nancy also implemented quarterly financial reviews of SCASFAA financial records, and worked to ensure that the Treasurer and Treasurer-Elect have clear definitions of their duties and expectations concerning the financial well-being of our association.  The implementation of this committee was a definite success for SCASFAA this year, and Nancy has agreed to continue in this role for the upcoming year. 

Global Issues

Traci Singleton represented SCASFAA as the Chair of the Global Issues committee this year.  In her role, she provided a series of blog posts via the SCASFAA Scoop concerning mental health trends and issues on college campuses.  Traci also secured a dynamic speaker for the annual conference, who presented a concurrent session on how mental health issues impact the financial aid office and how we as aid administrators can assist this population of students.   

Legislative Relations

Ken Bernard and the Legislative Relations Committee kept the SCASFAA membership informed of pending policy and legislative issues with a potential impact on student financial aid.  The committee also had the privilege of preparing recommendations and comments, on behalf of SCASFAA, regarding student loan reform, which were then provided to Marian Dill, Director of Financial Aid at Lee University in Tennessee.  Marian had the opportunity to testify before a Congressional committee on March 27, 2014, concerning the issue of student loan reform.  As a result of her testimony, which included information submitted by SCASFAA and other state associations, Marian was asked to provide additional feedback and information specific to aid administration to Senators Harkin and Alexander of the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee.  SCASFAA was honored to play a small part in these important conversations.      

Long Range Planning

Elizabeth Milam headed up the Long-Range Planning Committee for SCASFAA this year.  The Committee wrote the long-range plan for 2014-19, due to the 2009 LRP expiring in 2014. The committee updated the LRP with mindfulness to the mission of the Association and a focus on greater accountability. The 2014-19 LRP was approved by the Executive Board on May 30, 2014.

Membership and Peer Support

Member at Large, Michelle Upchurch, chaired the Membership and Peer Support Committees this year.  In this role, she actively reached out to all new members of the association, informing them of training and professional development opportunities available to them through SCASFAA.  Michelle also coordinated first time attendee activities during the annual conference.  For Peer Support, Michelle monitored the incoming email account for the peer support network and made sure that inquiries were forwarded to the appropriate person for follow up. If you aren’t familiar with SCASFAA’s award-winning peer support network, go to http://www.scasfaa.org/peersupport for more information. 

Nominations and Elections

Under the direction of Past President Sarah Dowd, the Nominations and Elections Committee worked hard to build a strong slate of candidates for office and successfully administered the election on behalf of SCASFAA, which also include the previously referenced By Laws change.  Although a dual slate was not achieved for each office, the committee presented an impressive group of candidates who are dedicated to the future success of our organization.  The committee wishes to thank all members for their willingness to run and serve SCASFAA as an elected officer.  The election results for the 2014-2015 SCASFAA Executive Board are:

•             President-Elect:           Elizabeth Milam, Clemson University
•             Vice President:            Carolyn Sparks, Wofford College
•             Secretary:                    Kevin Delp, Bob Jones University
•             Treasurer-Elect:           Earl Mayo, SC Tuition Grants Commission
•             Member at Large:        Allison Keck, Greenville Technical College

Professional Development

Kevin Delp and the Professional Development Committee offered two outstanding opportunities for our members during the 2013-2014 year.  The New and Intermediate Aid Officers Workshop was held at Columbia College on November 4^th and 5^th, with 39 members in attendance.  The new aid track covered an overview of federal programs, FAFSA highlights, EFC/COA, and verification basics, while the intermediate aid track consisted of sessions on loan administration, conflicting information, financial literacy and policies & procedures manuals.  The workshop offered combined sessions for both tracks, which provided training on SAP, professional judgment, communications skills, and advanced verification.  The workshop also included a roundtable for directors.  The SCASFAA Leadership Symposium was held as a pre-conference workshop this year.  A small, but engaged, audience of participants benefited from an outstanding workshop led by Dr. Ed Miller, Director of Financial Aid at USC Columbia and Lisanne Masterson, Director of Financial Aid at Blue Ridge Community College in North Carolina, who provided attendees with important information and skills needed to advance their leadership potential.

Site Selection

Carolyn Sparks chaired the Site Selection Committee this year for SCASFAA, and we are still in the process of securing the perfect location for the 2016 Annual Conference, where we will celebrate SCASFAA’s 50^th Anniversary!  Casey Wallen, incoming Site Selection Chair, will be assisting with this effort, and we hope to announce the location and dates very soon.

Special Projects

As part of his duties as President-Elect, Kenneth Cole served as the Special Projects Chair for SCASFAA this year.  His special project was to come up with a comprehensive and more formalized approach to the yearly transition of duties from one officer/committee chair to the next.  The transition of duties is an integral part of our success as an association.  Kenneth conducted pre-transition meeting conference calls with outgoing and incoming Chairs of several committees well ahead of the June transition meeting, which established a positive transitional relationship going forward.  He also created a document, which will be piloted by the 2014-2015 Board, and is to be updated by each member of the Board throughout the year, providing a written guide and timeline of events for each officer and committee chair.     

Sponsorship

Nikki Miller finished the year 9% above the budget projections for sponsorship revenue and reached out to several new sponsors, establishing a great foundation for the upcoming year.  Her committee also recommended important policy changes for the sponsorship committee, which were approved by the Executive Board.  Nikki will serve in this capacity again in 2014 – 2015. 

In closing, I would like to say thank you to the SCASFAA membership.  Thank you for allowing me this wonderful opportunity, thank you for your confidence in me when you elected me to the position, and thank you for your support throughout the year.  I'm looking forward to continuing my service as Past President in the coming year, and I hope to see you all at one of our upcoming events.  Thank you for the honor of serving as your President, an honor I am extremely fortunate and proud to have been given. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Katie Harrison, 2013-2014 SCASFAA President

June 30, 2014