State Report from Virginia
Brad Barnett, VASFAA President

For the most part, this summer started just like any other summer. It was time to close out the prior academic year and get ready for the new one. It was time to look at what VASFAA did as an association last year and plan for the next. However you look at it, everything seemed to be moving along rather well, and then Hurricane Katrina hit.

The storm has impacted lives all over the country and had a big affect on many of our Virginia colleagues. As of 9/8/05, www.campusrelief.org listed 20 schools in Louisiana and 10 schools in Mississippi that have been closed and/or are experiencing delayed openings as a result of the damage caused by the storm.

Although Virginia is almost 1,000 miles away from the hardest hit area in Louisiana, many Virginia colleges are receiving requests from students to go to school here this semester. The fact that these requests are coming after the beginning of the traditional academic year is somewhat of a challenge, but Virginia is stepping up to do what we can to assist these students in need.

Even though much of everyone’s time and attention has been focused on Hurricane Katrina, there is “business as usual” that must be attended to. The VASFAA committees are hard at work on their goals and objectives for the 2005-06 year. The committee chairs are also in the final phases of wrapping up their Committee Descriptions. These will be available for review on the VASFAA web site once the project has been completed.

The theme for 2005-06 is to “Be a Financial Aid Survivor.” As it turns out, due to Hurricane Katrina, this theme could not be more appropriate any other year than it is right now.

VASFAA will accomplish the goal of being a “Financial Aid Survivor” by excelling in the areas of Communication, Continuity, and Commitment, or what has been affectionately dubbed the "3 C’s." Looking over the past couple of months, it’s easy to see how the VASFAA members have risen to meet this challenge.

In the area of Communication, numerous e-mails, phone calls, and meetings have taken place to address the business of the association. Many committees are hard at work on achieving their objectives for the year.

Many of the Committee Descriptions have been finalized for 2005-06, which will aid in achieving Continuity for recruitment of volunteers. These descriptions will give the committees a central focus that can be carried over on an annual basis.

VASFAA President-Elect, Erik Melis, has been hard at work appointing junior committee chairs. This will also aid in Continuity as those committees with a junior chair are not only looking at the current year, but they are also in the pre-planning phases for 2006-07.

VASFAA is entering the time of year where the membership will begin to see much more activity from our committees. Here are a few examples of what is planned for the fall.

The VASFAA High School Guidance Counselor Workshops typically take place in the fall. Expect to see some activity from the VASFAA Secondary School Relations Committee as they begin to find locations and advertise the workshops.

The Support Staff Training Committee is in the process of developing training activities, some of which will take place this fall. Information will be available in the near future with the dates and topics of these workshops.

The Experienced Aid Officer’s Committee is working on plans for a fall Leadership Symposium. The committee ran into some stumbling blocks with finding hotel space, but quickly regrouped and formulated a new plan that should allow for this event to still occur in the fall.

The Training Committee is working on plans for a fall training event, as well as preparing for the Spring 2006 conference.

The Awareness Committee is in the planning phases for Super Saturday, which will take place at the beginning of 2006. They will begin looking for sites around the state to host this event, and begin advertising once the sites have been confirmed.

The Public Relations Committee is attempting to contact each committee member’s supervisor thanking them for allowing them to volunteer, and acknowledging them for their hard work.

The Diversity Committee is hard at work finding qualified speakers for diversity events to be held during the year, with the possibility of having a speaker at a fall event.

The Membership Committee is continuing to send updates to the listserv regarding membership in the association, as our membership drive for 2005-06 has begun. VASFAA ended the 2004-05 year with 453 members.

The Newsletter Committee is displaying an informative fall newsletter for the membership.

The State Relations Committee is in the planning phases for a trip to the General Assembly at the beginning of the 2006.

The Vendor/Sponsor Committee is arranging the Sponsorable Items List lottery that is scheduled to take place the end of September.

The Federal Relations Committee is continuing to monitor the pending Reauthorization and will send information to the VASFAA membership as needed.

The Conference Committee is hard at work planning the Spring 2006 conference. Much of the planning will be done in the fall.

The Archives Committee has undertaken the monumental task of electronically archiving VASFAA’s historical records. A lot of this work will take place in the fall.

There are many other committees, such as Strategic Planning and Assessment, Research, Budget and Finance, and New Century Fund President’s Council who are also working on initiatives. Much of their work is currently being done “behind the scenes” right now. More can be learned about what all the committees are doing by reviewing the August Board Reports at www.vasfaa.org/docs/toc_about.html.