State Report from Mississippi
Soraya B. Welden, MASFAA President

On August 28th and 29th, Mississippi experienced one of the worst natural disasters in state history. Regardless of affiliation or location, every MASFAA member has been affected by hurricane Katrina in some way. Although most schools have reopened, financial aid professionals, their students and families will be in the process of recovering for months, if not years. MASFAA volunteers will be helping in those aid offices most affected by the storm, such as MS Gulf Coast Community College where processing assistance is currently being provided.

Within one week of the storm, MASFAA was contacted by the other eight SASFAA state associations, the Wyoming Association and the California Association with offers to donate time, supplies and/or money to help members in any way needed. MASFAA extends a sincere thank you for prayers and support shown the association during and after this devastating event.

Since the MASFAA Annual Conference is traditionally held on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and was scheduled for 2006 and 2007 at a gulf coast casino and resort, the MASFAA Executive Board met on September 8th to approve the following sites and dates:

2006 Annual Conference	June 21-23	Hilton, County Line Road Jackson, MS
2007 Annual Conference	June 13-15	Hilton, County Line Road Jackson, MS

The Hilton on County Line Road in Jackson, Mississippi was also the site of the transitional meeting which was held on June 27th and 28th.

The 2005-2006 Executive Board

President	Soraya Welden, Meridian Community College
President-Elect	Garry Jones, East Mississippi Community College
Vice President	LaShanda Chamberlain, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
Past President	Laura Diven-Brown, The University of Mississippi
Secretary	Michael Ruffin, Education Services Foundation
Treasurer	Ann Margaret Mullins, Delta State University
Member-at-Large	Nancy Gault, Mississippi University for Women
Director	Billye-Jean Stroud, Citibank
Director	Robyn Cilwik, William Carey College
Director	Peggy Shoemake, Pearl River Community College

In October, the first online version of the MASFAA Messenger will be provided to the membership. This newsletter will be in printable format and will provide members with current news and articles at a lower cost to the association.

MASFAA will feature the NASFAA de-centralized training topic as the focus for the fall training event. This event is scheduled for Friday, November 4th on the campus of the Mississippi University for Women, in Columbus, MS. Mary Givhan with Mississippi College and Paula Laws with Delta State University will travel to Washington, D.C. to attend the NASFAA training-for-trainers workshop and be the presenters for the training. As a suggestion from a California Association member, MASFAA will be exploring ways to provide assistance to members who wish to attend this event, but as a result of budget cuts from the affects of the storm lack funding to participate.