Wisconsin Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators FINAL AGENDA FALL 2014 WASFAA CONFERENCE

Transcription

1 Wisconsin Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators FINAL AGENDA FALL 2014 WASFAA CONFERENCE Appleton, WI November 12 14, 2014

2 Wednesday, November 12, :00 AM - 12:00 PM Executive Committee Meeting Lawrence 11:00 AM Registration Open 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM New Member Gathering 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM Briarwood/Ebony Lunch Welcome Raffle Charity Presentation: Old Glory Honor Flight Federal Update Kim Wells, Training Officer, U.S. Department of Education 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM Break - Visit Exhibitors and Browse Raffle Items One on One Student Workers Financial Literacy from the Programs on Our Employer's Campuses Perspective Kim Wells Jennifer Holz and Donna Freund Loan and Financial Awareness Committee Working your Magic for WASFAA Heidi Johnson 3:45 PM - 4:00 PM Break - Visit Exhibitors and Browse Raffle Items Director Reporting Structures Advancing an Office R2T4 Give and Take Susan Teerink, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Kim Donat, Donna Dahlvang, and Kristin Stuhr- Mootz 6:00 PM Merging Money with Identity Amanda Fijal John Whitt Casey Calhoun Group Dinners (Good Company, The Bar, Frank's Pizza Palace, Victoria's Italian Cuisine) Enjoy dinner with colleagues or explore Appleton on your own

3 Thursday, November 13, :30 AM Registration Open Breakfast Buffet 7:45 AM - 8:45 AM Updates: MASFAA, HEAB, College Goal Wisconsin Fraud in the Student Financial Aid Programs 8:45 AM - 9:45 AM Jessica Chapman, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM Break - Visit Exhibitors and Browse Raffle Items Sector Meetings The In's and Out's of FAFSA Completion 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Karla Weber 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Please see session descriptions for room assignments Briarwood/Ebony 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM Break - Visit Exhibitors and Browse Raffle Items 150% SULA Citizenship Status Power up with and Title IV Aid PowerFAIDS 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM Don't Just Blame it on the FAFSA Kim Wells Keyimani Alford Amy Hoss Jennifer Weber Lunch Verbal Defense and Influence Jill Weisensel, Lieutenant, Dept of Public Safety, Marquette University 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM Break - Visit Exhibitors and Browse Raffle Items Verbal Defense: Tactics and Practice 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM NASFAA Standards of Excellence Review Program The Degree Project Students are Coming - Are You Ready Professional Judgment for Beginners Jill Weisensel Tim Opgenorth Ben Dobner Barb Cloutier, Julie Waldvogel-Leitner, Dave Woodward 3:15 PM - 3:45 PM Break - Visit Exhibitors and Browse Raffle Items Verbal Defense: Birds of a Feather: Tactics and Practice Work-Study 5:00 PM 6:00 PM Jill Weisensel Julie Waldvogel- Leitner NASFAA Presentation: Advocacy and You Jesse O'Connell Undocumented Students - What Can Be Done John Reinemann and Dave Woodward President's Reception (Cash Bar) Dinner and Magic/Hypnosis Show

4 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM SULA: Best Practices Loan and Financial Awareness Committee Friday, November 14, 2014 Serving Our Veteran's Jeremy Hanson, Craig Mayer, Al Hess Breakfast Buffet Positioning Yourself On Campus Sara Beth Holman Crafting an Effective Default Prevention Plan Debbie Murphy and Bill Henderson 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Break/Check Out by 11 A.M. NASFAA Update Jesse O'Connell, Assistant Director for Federal Relations 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Business Meeting

5 Student Workers from the Employer s Perspective Jennifer Holz, HRIS Coordinator, and Donna Freund, Payroll Manager Moraine Park Technical College Join us for more information on forms and process, health insurance and any new regulations that may impact student employees from the employer s perspective. Sponsored by the WASFAA Student Employment committee. Financial Literacy Programs on Our Campuses Jennifer Weber, Financial Aid Counselor (University of Wisconsin LaCrosse), and Lindsey Thomas, Financial Aid Advisor (Western Technical College), and Erin Bykowski, Student Life Officer (Edgewood Collge), and Travis Guetche, Financial Coaching Student Manager (University of Wisconsin Stevens Point) Learn from your colleagues what they are doing on their campuses to establish financial literacy programs. They will share how they wrote grant requests, marketing strategies, what has worked and what hasn t and much more. Working your Magic for WASFAA: Committee and Volunteer Opportunities Heidi Johnson University of Wisconsin - Madison During this session, we will be discussing WASFAA s committees and the work that they do. We will also discuss other opportunities for volunteering within WASFAA and upcoming professional development opportunities. All WASFAA members are welcome. Director Reporting Structures Susan Teerink, Director of Financial Aid (Marquette University), Kim Donat, Director of Financial Aid (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh), Donna Dahlvang, Financial Aid Director (University of Wisconsin, Superior), Kristin Stuhr-Mootz, System Director of Educational Funding (Herzing University) At your school, what division does financial aid report to? Do you ever wonder about the advantages and challenges of reporting to your respective division, or reporting to another division? Bring your questions and join in the conversation as seasoned financial aid directors share their experiences. Advancing an Office Amanda Fijal, Executive Director of University Financial Aid University of Chicago Becoming director of a financial aid office or leader of an existing team can be challenging. Being asked to also change the office or team culture is an even bigger challenge. Participate in a discussion about the steps University of Chicago took in refreshing a financial aid office. R2T4 Give and Take John Whitt, Student Services Coordinator University of Wisconsin - Madison A group discussion of the trials and tribulations of the Return of Title IV Funds process. Ask and answer questions, share lessons learned, and find out how your colleagues deal with this complex and sometimes confusing aspect of financial aid.

6 Merging Money with Identity: UWM s LGBT Resource Center & Financial Aid Office Collaboration Casey Calhoun, Student Services Coordinator University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Unlike more visible under-represented groups, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and similarly identified (LGBT+) persons cannot be readily recognized. The goal of this session is to promote inclusivity and advocacy for LGBT+ people and their allies, as well as lay out some basic foundational knowledge for staff to more sensitively deal with issues faced by LGBT+ identified students and families. In addition, we will facilitate discussion of some issues specific to Financial Aid, including recent changes due to Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and other sensitive issues including name changes, Dependency Overrides, and homelessness in the LGBT+ population. Sector Meetings UW System Rosewood/Linden Room Technical Colleges Lawrence Private Colleges/Universities Oaktag/Parchment Proprietary/Career Colleges Crown/Bond Associate Members The In s and Out s of FAFSA Completion Karla Weber, Financial Aid Advisor University of Wisconsin - Madison This session will provide helpful tips from the college financial aid office perspective on completing the FAFSA, insight into the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, and the verification process so that you will be able to advise students and parents on how to make applying for financial aid smooth and less cumbersome. 150% SULA Kimberly Wells, Training Officer Department of Education In 2013, Congress passed MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st Century) which instituted a 150% limit on how long first-time borrowers could borrow subsidized loans. In this session, we will review basics of the 150% limit, discuss some of the special programs as well as talk about some of the processing-related situations that have arisen since the implementation of this limit. Citizenship Status and Title IV Aid: Confirming Eligibility and Ensuring Compliance Keyimani Alford Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates Citizenship status confirmation can be time consuming and confusing. Do you know how to evaluate the various ISIR comment codes and confirm eligibility by obtaining the correct documentation? This session will provide guidance on how to understand the various ISIR citizenship comment codes, clarify which citizenship status categories can result in Title IV aid eligibility, and show you how to obtain appropriate documentation to ensure compliance before awarding and disbursing aid. PowerUp with PowerFAIDS Amy Hoss, Associate Director Mount Mary University A PowerFAIDS user for almost 15 years, I want to share tips and tricks that have helped me be more efficient in my day to day work. I will discuss ways I have used the software, as well as tools (excel and access) to supplement the software (macros and SQLs). Come with your questions or concerns with the software and we will discuss and try to find resolution for you!

7 Don t Just Blame it on the FAFSA Jennifer Weber, Financial Aid Counselor University of Wisconsin La Crosse This session will focus on conversations pre-collegiate advisors, high school counselors, or financial aid counselors may have with prospective college students and their families once they have filed the FAFSA. This session will address how to compare financial aid awards and how to address the What now? questions that may come from high income/high achieving students, middle income families, and low income/limited resource families once they have reviewed a possible award. Each group poses unique challenges in terms of meeting individual financial needs. Verbal Defense: Tactics and Practice Jill Weisensel, Lieutenant, Department of Public Safety Marquette University Jill Weisensel is a consultant and instructor for Verbal defense and Influence and has campus law enforcement experience working, in part, and directing and managing shift patrol operations within an urban campus environment. She is a Defensive and Arrest Tactics instructor and a Tactical Communication instructor, and has taught applications of Tactical Strength and Conditioning at Marquette University, with a decade of experience. In her keynote address, Jill will discuss non-escalatory tactics and a more effective and professional way to relate with and manage people. She will discuss how we, as financial aid professionals, can retain personal and professional credibility while also maintaining personal safety in tense situations. During the breakout sessions Jill will dive deeper into tactics, including role playing, of verbal defense. NASFAA Standards of Excellence Review Program Tim Opgenorth, Executive Director of Student Financial Aid University of Illinois at Chicago Can you serve your students better? Can you do this while ensuring regulatory compliance and limiting the risk of liabilities? Do you need to prepare for or respond to an evaluation, compliance review or effectiveness assessment? The NASFAA Standards of Excellence Review is an objective, confidential peer review that will help your school provide students and their families with quality customer service, deliver financial aid funds in a costeffective manner, maximize resources, and ensure regulatory compliance. This session will provide you with insight on the NASFAA Standards of Excellence Review Program from a current reviewer to include how review teams are selected, what the team looks at when on campus and the common compliance exceptions that have been identified on recent reviews. The good thing with the NASFAA Standards of Excellence Review is that compliance exceptions identified come with no penalties or fines, but instead suggestions on how to address before that next audit or program review. The Degree Project Students are Coming Are you Ready? Ben Dobner Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates Great Lakes launched The Degree Project in collaboration with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) during November of 2011 to motivate more Milwaukee high school students to get good grades, do well in school, and continue their education in college. A single cohort of nearly 2,600 high school freshmen were given the chance to earn a scholarship of up to $12,000 from The Degree Project to help pay for college and they will start appearing on your campus in the fall of 2015! Come to this session to learn the scholarship requirements, how the scholarships should be packaged with other financial aid, how the disbursement process will be handled, and other important scholarship logistics. Students are able to use the scholarship at any nonprofit, public or private, 2 or 4 year college in Wisconsin. To earn the scholarship, students must graduate from an eligible MPS high school by August 30, 2015, with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5, and a cumulative attendance record of 90 percent or higher.

8 Professional Judgment for Beginners Dave Woodward, Director of Financial Aid (Ripon College); Barb Cloutier, Assistant Director (UW- Stout); Julie Waldvogel-Leitner, Financial Aid Manager (Moraine Park Technical College) This session will focus on dealing with special circumstances in the family with an emphasis on independent student overrides. Learn what information the financial aid office needs to make the decision and learn how you as a pre-collegiate advisor or high school counselor can assist the financial aid office to help the students you are working with. Birds of a Feather: Work Study Julie Waldvogel-Leitner Moraine Park Technical College If you process, manage, or work with work study at your institution, please join the Student Employment Committee in a time to share ideas, resources, and best practices. Feel free to bring any questions or resources to share! NASFAA Presentation: Advocacy and You Jesse O Connell, Assistant Director of Federal Regulations NASFAA This session will touch on the main principles of successful advocacy strategies. An overview will be given of how NASFAA enacts those strategies at the Federal level though relationships with Congressional staffers, the Department of Education, and the Administration. In addition to highlighting useful NASFAA tools and resources, the session will also cover tips and strategies on how to successfully advocate at the grassroots level, and outline how you can plan your own advocacy event! Undocumented Students What Can Be Done? John Reinemann, Executive Secretary (HEAB) and Dave Woodward, Director of Financial Aid (Ripon College) This session will focus on working with undocumented students in terms of providing financial guidance to the student and their families. Topics included: DREAM Act status, in-state tuition policies, scholarship resources, institutions that provide financial aid and other topics of interest. Discussion will be encouraged. Serving Our Veteran s Jeremy Hanson, Veterans Specialist (Fox Valley Technical College), Craig Mayer, Veterans Benefits Specialist (Outagamie County Veterans Services), and Al Hess, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (Brown County) Come hear how these respective agencies are serving our Veteran students helping to achieve success with their education as well as in their personal lives. Learn how you as a financial aid professional can work in conjunction with these agencies to better serve our Veterans. SULA: System Reporting Challenges Panel-Lead Discussion Discuss with your loan specialist colleagues the various challenges that you have encountered with SULA reporting. Groups will break out based on software system (i.e. PeopleSoft, Datatel, etc.) to discuss what challenges you have seen & any possible workarounds to system or reporting issues.

9 Positioning Yourself On Campus Sara Beth Holman, Director of Financial Aid Lawrence University By building the right relationships with key colleagues on campus as well as with financial aid professionals at other institutions, you can ensure that your voice is heard before things happen... rather than being the person who has to figure out how to adapt after they have happened. This session will use the humor, eye rolling, and the occasional cringing we experience in financial aid to take us through a typical day and show how we can use our knowledge and experiences to make the connections that will move us to the next level. Crafting an Effective Default Prevention Plan Debbie Murphy and Bill Henderson Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates Cohort Default Rates are expected to rise at many schools. A comprehensive default prevention plan is an essential starting point for improving student loan outcomes. This session will cover the basics, including why your school needs a plan and the resources available to help you develop one.

10 Welcome to the Magic Show! #WASFAA