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Oregon Association of Student Financial Aid Administratorswww.oasfaaonline.orgAugust - October2008Executive CouncilCrisanne WernerPresidentDonna FossumPresident-ElectLeslie LimperPast-PresidentKevin MultopVice PresidentCommunity CollegesKaty WilsonVice PresidentIndependent InstitutionsAnny HawkinsVice PresidentProprietary SchoolsDeanna SmithVice PresidentPublic 4-Year SchoolsDick HeathSecretaryRyan WestTreasurerNewsletterA publication of the Oregon Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a not-for-profit membership organizationPresident’s letterRemember the bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese, from one-minute manager SpencerJohnson? You may recall it is a simple story to help each one of us deal with change so that wehave less stress while hopefully achieving some success.Many times in the financial aid profession we simply want to enjoy the same work process formore than one year, don‘t we? Wouldn‘t you love to just settle into a routine without alwayshaving to update computer setups? Who can actually remember that COD is the name of a fish?Which one of us did not experience at least a little nausea when the ACG, SMART and TEACHprograms were launched?Yes, our financial aid world is stressful. And, yes, change is the name of the game. So, what canwe do? One suggestion is to be sure to stay involved within our state organization by attendingas many training opportunities as possible. You can see old friends, make new ones and stay ontop of all the regulations. Seek out other financial aid colleagues for support, idea-sharing andencouragement. We all come from a variety of backgrounds and various levels of experience.So, let‘s share freely!As you may have heard, the OASFAA Executive Council is gathering information regarding thelaunch of a Mentoring program. It is vitally important to support our colleagues new to theprofession. They need to be effectively trained in order to alleviate as much stress as possible intheir new roles. We also need to point them to leadership opportunities within OASFAA. This ishow we will continue to grow our membership, retain staff in our offices, and to guarantee thelifeblood of our profession.So, the next time you see that ‗cheese of change‘ coming your direction, pick up the phone andcall a colleague. Together we can view it as a new financial aid adventure and then actually ‗eatthe cheese‘ without heartburn or stress.Warm regards,Crisanne WernerMembership ChairHeather MattioliAssistant Director ofFinancial AidPortland State Universityemail: mattioli@pdx.eduInside Every Issue Inside This Issue Letter from/to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2About OASFAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2New Members/Members on the Move . . 2-3College Goal Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Legislative Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Cents-Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12On the OASFAA Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12OASFAA Summer Drive-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3VP Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6OASFAA FA101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5OASFAA Mentoring Program Report . . . . . 8Member Article: Mike Johnson . . . . . . . . . . 9NASFAA Annual Conference Report . . . . . 11In Closing: Financial Aid Haiku . . . . . . . . . 12
Editorial PolicyOpinions expressed arethose of the authorsand not necessarily ofOASFAA, its members,or the institutionsrepresented by theauthors.OASFAA welcomes allviews and invitesmembers to submit forpublication articles,essays, photographs, orinformation of generalinterest to all members.Submissions should bebrief and may be edited.It may not be possibleto publish all articlessubmitted. Email itemsfor publication to:susan.shogren@nela.netEditorial BoardSue Shogren, EditorRegional TrainingExecutive for NELA15410 NW Oak Hills Dr.Portland, OR 97006phone: (503) 530-0488email: susan.shogren@nela.netCrisanne Werner, LinfieldCollegeJudy Saling, University ofOregonNancy Hanscom,University of OregonAbril Hunt, ClackamasCommunity CollegeAdvertisingFor advertisinginformation and rates,or to submit ads, pleasecontact the Editor. 2008 by the OregonAssociation of StudentFinancial Aid Administrators.You are authorized to photocopy all or part of thispublication for distributionwithin your institution. Withany questions, contact theEditor.Letter from the Editorby Sue Shogren, NELASome of OASFAA‘s best programs and plans are highlighted in this issue, such as a summary ofthe Summer Drive-In and plans for FA101 and the Annual Conference, as well as a LegislativeUpdate and more practical advice from columnist Donna Fulton. Mike Johnson‘s article reflectson the history of financial aid, reminding us that everything old is new again. Russ Seidelmanshares a different perspective on the nature of the work we do. Grab a cup of tea and enjoy!You‘ll also find an article in which we share the Mentoring Committee‘s update as presentedby Cindy Pollard at the Summer Drive-In. The Executive Council is considering hiring anexperienced mentoring professional if enough volunteers step up to help. As you think aboutyour own interest in becoming involved, consider that this particular project will serve theunique needs of some of OASFAA's members in significant ways, especially those who are eagerto find ways to learn from others with experience and expertise. While there are many ways inwhich OASFAA already supports its members through training and learning activities andprofessional development opportunities, creating a new forum for this kind of synergy willbenefit all of OASFAA's members as we come together to learn from one another and encourageour future leaders to grow to their fullest potential. Contact your Segmental VP rightaway to volunteer to help develop this program.Keep sending in your news. Publication of the next issue is scheduled for January 2009!About OASFAAOur membership of nearly300 individuals is currentlycomprised of the followingrepresentation:Welcome New Members!Dixie Bevington, Abdill Career CollegeSharyl Borucki, Northwest College of Hair DesignJessica Butzien, Pioneer Pacific CollegeCarla Cardinal, Everest CollegeShamra Clark, University of OregonMichael Davis, Anthem CollegeThyra DeHaven, U.S. Bank Student BankingShelley DeMars, ITT Technical InstituteHenry George, Portland State UniversityRebecca Haase, Pacific Northwest College of ArtJames Hadley, Northwest Christian CollegeSharon Haner, University of PortlandKathleen Herinckx, Pacific UniversityJenni Houston, Everest CollegeHerald Johnson, University of PortlandValerie Karnes, Portland State UniversityKacy Keippela, University of PortlandElizabeth Kilada, Pioneer Pacific CollegeRon Morris, Discover Student LoansMary Moss, Marylhurst UniversityElyse Murphy, Multnomah Bible College/SeminaryDawn Pace, Art Institute of PortlandKristin Schweitzer, Linfield CollegeHeather Smith, Pioneer Pacific CollegeMichael Smith, Art Institute of PortlandCraig Sneider, University of PortlandSydney Somerfield, Linfield CollegeJeannine Ufford, Central Oregon Community CollegeDavid Van Der Haeghen, Lane Community CollegeTina Washington, Multnomah Bible College/SeminaryTrevor Wister, Portland State UniversityMelissa Wolfe, University of PortlandJon Yackamouih, Abdill Career CollegePage 2
Members on the MoveShamra Clark joined the staff of the Financial AidOffice at University of Oregon as their newest counselor.Peter Goss left University of Oregon for a position atOberlin College in Ohio.Jennifer Christian Wright left Lewis & Clark Collegein October and joined the Financial Aid Office atMarylhurst University.If you or someone you know has received a promotion ortaken a new position, we’d like to know. Email:susan.shogren@nela.netOASFAA Summer Drive-InA successful Summer Drive-In workshop was attended by 64 on August 7, 2008, at Multnomah University (formerlyMultnomah Bible College and Seminary). Co-chairs Jennifer Knight and Mary McGlothlan, along with their committee, dida super job of facilitating informative sessions. Good food and comfortable accommodations created an atmosphereconducive to meeting new financial aid colleagues, as well as connecting with old friends. The Training and Mentor Surveyresults were shared, along with special recognition of Linda Burkhardt, U.S. Department of Education, in honor of herservice to OASFAA‘s members, especially in light of her impending retirement.Attendees visit during abreak between sessions.Co-Chairs Jennifer Knightand Mary McGlothlan.OASFAA PresidentCrisanne Werner (left) andLinda Burkhardt of the U.S.Department of Education.Crisanne Werner opens the conferenceby welcoming everyone.Committee volunteers check inSummer Drive-In registrants.Page 3
College Goal Oregonby Karen Edmonds, Oregon StudentAssistance CommissionThe third annual CollegeGoal Oregon event is onJanuary 24, 2009.College Goal Oregonis a FREE event designedto help Oregon collegebound students and theirfamilies with the financialaid application process.Everyone is invited to attendthis event, whether they are high school ornon-traditional returning students.Financial aid professionals--that's you!--willbe on hand to help attendees complete theFree Application for Federal Student Aid(FAFSA) and the Oregon Student AssistanceCommission (OSAC) scholarship application.If you are interested and available to assist bybeing a volunteer at one of the 27 event sites,please contact the site coordinator directly.Save The Date!by Anna Manley, Rogue Community College, with a personalinvitation from OASFAA's Annual Conference Committee What: OASFAA Annual Conference 2009When: Sunday to Tuesday, February 1-3, 2009.Where: Salishan Resort, Gleneden Beach on the Oregon Coast.Who: YOU! All school representatives and agency partners areencouraged to participate.Keynote Speaker: Swil Kanim, motivational speaker, acclaimedmusician and accomplished actor who has inspired audiences innearly all 50 states, as well as internationally, and was wellreceived by NASFAA annual conference attendees.Why: Get up-to-date information on legislative changes, reviewbest practices, collaborate with colleagues, and come awayrenewed and inspired to continue "Going the Distance."How: Look for registration information later this fall.Our fantastic, super, enthusiastic, and wonderful Site Coordinators: Blue Mountain Community College, Karen Graybeal (kgraybeal@bluecc.edu)Burns High School, Ron Wassom (wassomr@harneyedu.net) or Deb Titus (debtitus@harneyedu.net)Central Oregon Community College, Kevin Multop (kmultop@cocc.edu)Chemeketa Community College, Kate Hoerauf (khoerauf@chemeketa.edu)Clackamas Community College, Fayne Griffiths (fayneg@clackamas.edu)Columbia Gorge Community College, Hood River Center, Sharyn Anderson (sanderso@cgcc.cc.or.us)Columbia Gorge Community College, The Dalles Campus, Sharyn Anderson (sanderso@cgcc.cc.or.us)Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Luhui Whitebear (Luhui.Whitebear@grandronde.org)Crook County High School, Michael Coe (michael.coe@crookcounty.k12.or.us)Hermiston High School, Liz Marvin (liz.marvin@hermiston.k12.or.us)Klamath Community College, Donna Fulton (fulton@klamathcc.edu)La Grande High School, Pam Dodds (pdodds@lagrande.k12.or.us)Lakeview High School, Lonnie Chavez (chavezl@lkv.k12.or.us)Lane Community College, Chris Hainley (hainleyc@lanecc.edu)Linn-Benton Community College, Kim Sullivan (sullivk@linnbenton.edu)Mt Hood Community College, Christi Hart (christi.hart@mhcc.edu)Portland Community College, Cascade, Roberto Suarez (rsuarez@pcc.edu)Portland Community College, Rock Creek, Loretta Dike (ldike@pcc.edu)Portland Community College, SE, Linda Gettman (lgettman@pcc.edu)Portland Community College, Sylvania, Teresa Salinas (tsalinas@pcc.edu)Rogue Community College, Redwood (Grants Pass), Anna Manley (amanley@roguecc.edu)Rogue Community College, Riverside (Medford), Anna Manley (amanley@roguecc.edu)Southwestern Oregon Community College, Avena Singh (asingh@socc.edu)Tillamook Bay Community College, Pat Gross (gross@tillamookbay.cc.edu)Treasure Valley Community College, Keith Raab (kraab@tvcc.cc.edu)Umpqua Community College, Laurie Spangenberg (laurie.spangenberg@umpqua.edu)Waldport Community Learning Center, Malaia Kilduff (melaia.kilduff@lincoln.k12.or.us)College Goal Oregon (www.CollegeGoalOregon.org) is a part of the national College Goal Sunday program, which wascreated by the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association with funding from Lily Endowment, Inc., and with supplementalsupport from Lumina Foundation for Education.Page 4
VP Report: Public 4-Year SchoolsOASFAA FA101 Workshopby Deanna Smith, Portland State Universityby Crisanne Werner, OASFAA PresidentAhhh, Fall. We are seeing many changes here at Portland StateUniversity. We welcomed a new President, Wim Wiewel, to ourcampus this summer and he brings with him a lot of new ideasand goals. We are continuing to remodel older buildings oncampus and build new ones close to campus, expanding PSU‘s―footprint‖ in the downtown area. Finally, we are remodeling thelobby of Neuberger Hall, home of the PSU Student Financial AidOffice and other administrative offices, for the first time ever(that I‘m aware of). It‘s nice to see a pretty new ―face‖ on the onebuilding on campus that almost every student will visit at onetime or another.The next OASFAA FA101 Workshop isscheduled for Wednesday, January 14,2009, at Reed College. Please mark yourcalendars now for this training opportunity.We in the financial aid industry are all experiencing challengesagain this aid year, with the implementation of the TEACH Grantprogram and the changes in Stafford Loan limits. And we lookforward to 2009-10, when significant changes to the FAFSAdependency questions will come into play, as well as morechanges to the relatively new ACG and SMART grant programs.As my previous director used to say, ―It‘s never boring.‖I would like to extend an offer to my 4-year colleagues: if thereare any issues that you feel need to be brought to the attention ofthe Executive Council, please email me at smithde@pdx.edu. Iwelcome the opportunity to represent our segment on theCouncil in a more concrete way. I am really enjoying my time onthe Executive Council. We have a lot of smart, talented people onthe Council who care greatly about OASFAA and all of theircolleagues in the industry.As a reminder, this workshop will providefinancial aid personnel with: a beginning course in the history andphilosophy of financial aid, an introduction to the types and sources ofaid, and an in-depth view of need analysis,verification, and the financial aidapplication and processing procedures.The target audience for this workshop is thefinancial aid employee who is either new to theprofession, or someone in the profession forsome time who has a need and desire for aprofessional development refresher course.Please watch for an announcement in the nextmonth or so directing you to our on-lineregistration.
VP Report: Community Collegesby Kevin Multop, Central Oregon Community CollegeOne of the things I love aboutworking in financial aid is thatevery year there is some completelynew unexpected challenge.Sometimes it's a softwareconversion or a batch of newregulations. This year, especially forcommunity colleges, it's themassive wave of new and returningstudents looking for aid that havepresented some unique trials forour financial aid offices.At Central Oregon CommunityCollege, we knew something bigwas coming when in July we foundourselves 40% ahead in applicantsover the previous year. It turns outthat our situation is not unique.Record numbers of aid applicantsacross the state of Oregon causedthe Oregon Student AssistanceCommission (OSAC) to make anemergency request for more fundsto keep the Oregon OpportunityGrant (OOG) fully funded. Inparticular, OSAC has reported a23% increase in aid applicants forthe community college segment.Considering the huge influx ofapplicants, I was curious to find outhow my Oregon colleagues at othercommunity colleges were doing andnot surprisingly, they were just asswamped as we were at the start offall term. Here's some of what Iheard:"My staff is exhausted, butpersistent in making sure thatstudents get the funding they needas quickly as possible." SharonBoring, Financial Aid Director atClatsop Community College."We've kept pace with the applicationincrease but have felt the pressure ofso much last-minute 'Oh yeah, I needto do this' document flow from ourstudents." Bert Logan, Director ofFinancial Aid at Lane CommunityCollege.Many schools noted that theirprocessing time for reviewing fileshas suffered as a result. Somefinancial aid offices have pouredmore effort into streamlining theirprocesses and/or relying more on“ aid offices areworking hard toaccommodate thehistoric wave ofstudents.”the latest technology. Fayne atClackamas credits a collaborativeeffort between their financial aidstaff and their IT department inimproving their Datatel programming to see an actual decrease inprocessing time this year. LaneCommunity College is partneringwith the third-party servicer HigherOne to deliver refund checks viadirect deposit and debit cards.Karen Graybeal, Director ofFinancial Aid at Blue MountainCommunity College, didn't makeany major technological changes,but instead simplified their filereview process and had a smootherfall despite their huge increase.The changes to OOG, in addition tothe overall increase in awards, havebeen a potential headache for ouroffices as well. At COCC, we had towork out a number of kinks to ourdisbursement process in Banner inorder to accommodate the complicated part-time calculations forawards. So far, campuses have beenrather quiet about how they arehandling OOG's for the fall. Let'shope no news is good news!Overall, it seems that our Oregoncommunity college financial aidoffices are working extremely hardto accommodate the historic waveof students. Most importantly,many of you still have your sense ofhumor! When I asked Avena Singh,Director of Financial Aid at Southwestern Oregon CommunityCollege, about how she‘s doing sheoffered this tongue-in-cheek reply,"My story I'm not handling it. :)"I believe Anna Manley at RogueCommunity College sums it up forall of our offices when she says,"Staff are stretched and studentexpectations are high.What a greatgroup of folks we work with. I'd liketo applaud the great work we all doand encourage us to keep onkeeping on." I completely agree."Our lines are out the door today,but everyone is smiling and excitedabout the first day of class. We, likemany other colleges, will beworking overtime to meet thedemand." Fayne Griffiths,Director of Financial Aid atClackamas Community College."Staff is working overtime (early,late, weekends) to help! Theydeserve FA Purple Hearts!!" Enrollment Management ServicesAssociate Dean Kathy Campbell ofChemeketa Community College.Page 6
Legislative Updateby Susan Degen, Oregon Student Assistance CommissionFederal IssuesFederal Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 — The FY ‗09appropriations process has stalled. On September 30,Congress passed a continuing resolution that funds thefederal government at FY ‗08 levels until enactment of aregular appropriations bill or until March 6, 2009,whichever occurs first. Higher numbers of FAFSA filingsmay mean a major shortfall in available funds for PellGrants and the possibility of no Pell increases for2009-10.Reauthorization at Last! — On July 30, Congress passedthe Higher Education Opportunity Act (Public Law110-315), which the President signed into law on August14, 2008. The new law contains a significant number ofprogram changes and new reporting requirements. TheDepartment of Education (ED) published a notice in theFederal Register on September 8 announcing itsintention to establish negotiated rulemaking committeesand to conduct six public meetings to collect suggestionsfor issues to be
Dixie Bevington, Abdill Career College Sharyl Borucki, Northwest College of Hair Design Jessica Butzien, Pioneer Pacific College Carla Cardinal, Everest College Shamra Clark, University of Oregon Michael Davis, Anthem College Thyra DeHaven, U.S. Bank Student Banking Shelley DeMars, ITT Te
