Report from the Past President
Janet Sain

SASFAA By-Law Revision Request
The Nominations and Elections committee provided the following recommendations for by-law amendments/revisions to the Executive Board during the fall board meeting held in Memphis, TN for their approval to be presented to the membership as required by Article XVII of the Bylaws of the Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, Inc. (SASFAA). These revisions were recommended in order to accommodate our change to the electronic voting of our officers now and in the future as well as any future amendments/revisions to the by-laws.

Recommended revision to Article VI - Officers, Section 2

Section 2 currently reads:

The elected officers of the Association shall be elected at the annual meeting, except as provided for in Article VI, section 6.

The recommended revision is as follows (deletions in blue):

The elected officers of the Association shall be elected at the annual meeting annually, except as provided for in Article VI, section 6.

Recommended revision to Article IX - Meetings, Section 1b

Section 1b currently reads:

At least one meeting of the Association shall be held each year and shall be designated the annual meeting. The agenda of the annual meeting shall include the election of officers and the presentation of reports.

The recommended revision is as follows (deletions in blue):

At least one meeting of the Association shall be held each year and shall be designated the annual meeting. The agenda of the annual meeting shall include the election of officers and the presentation of reports.

(This revision was recommended so that if in the future a change was made to open electronic voting other than during the annual meeting and thus no other revision would be necessary.)

These recommendations will be available to the active membership for review via the SASFAA newsletter, the SASFAA website and open for voting during the voting period provided electronically for SASFAA active members from our webmaster provider, ATAC. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Nominations and Elections chair, Janet Sain at janet.sain@suntrust.com or 1-877-265-9019.

Report from the President-Elect
Brent Tener

WINTER 2006

Greetings from Nashville! I had the opportunity to attend the NASFAA Board of Directors meeting in Austin, TX, November 13 - 15. Other SASFAA members attending the meeting included: Dave Gelinas (University of the South); Guy Gibbs (Northern Virginia Community College); Susan Little (University of Georgia); Karen Fooks (University of Florida); and David Mohning (Vanderbilt University). Additional information regarding proceedings from the NASFAA board meeting can be found on the NASFAA website, www.nasfaa.org. The following are highlights from the meeting:

Items acted upon by the NASFAA Board of Directors included the following:

1. Approved the creation and implementation of the NASFAA Regional Initiative Award. This award is intended to encourage and publicize initiatives that have provided service to students, parents, families, other constituencies or colleagues within the profession. The award may be given annually to one of the six NASFAA regions.
2. A motion was brought before the board to include NASFAA as a partner in the Sallie Mae Fund Bus Tour. This bus tour will be traveling the western part of the United States beginning in January, visiting cities and towns in an effort to promote higher education access to Hispanic students. After lengthy discussion, the board defeated this motion.

In other business, NASFAA President Dallas Martin provided a federal legislative update regarding the reauthorization and budget processes in both the House and Senate. NASFAA staff will continue to monitor the proceedings and alert the aid community when action is needed from us on a particular piece of legislation. NASFAA staff has been working with the Department of Education to address school-related issues regarding hurricane-related legislation and regulatory relief. Also, as you are probably aware, NASFAA has been a major conduit, through their website, in providing up-to-date information regarding the hurricane recovery efforts for affected schools.

The 2005 NASFAA conference, held in New York City, was the largest attended NASFAA conference to date. A summary of responses from the conference evaluation was provided to the board. The 2006 NASFAA conference will be held in Seattle, July 5 - 8. Individuals can now reserve hotel rooms for the conference. Information regarding the reservation process can be found on the NASFAA website.

As mentioned in my last article, the Presidents-Elect of the nine states comprising SASFAA will meet for a day of orientation prior to the annual conference in Greensboro. These nine presidents-elect include:

We are excited about the 2006-2007 year. I welcome any input you might have regarding SASFAA, services we should provide, activities we should undertake or any other comments that can help the association. I hope you have a happy holiday season.