Electronic Services Committee Report
Erik Melis, Chair

During the 2005-2006 SASFAA year, the Electronic Services Committee has been busy working to provide the SASFAA membership with new and improved services via the SASFAA web site and the SASFAA Listserv. The committee has accomplished the following tasks throughout the year working with our web host, ATAC:

• Worked with the Membership Committee to set up and test the Membership Application for 2005-2006.
• Worked with the State Presidents to update the State pages for the web site.
• Worked with the Conference Committee to set up and test the 2006 Conference mini site, including the post-conference presentations download functionality.
• Worked with the Vendor/Sponsorship Committee to set up the 2005-2006 Sponsorship page and to update the banner ads on the web site.
• Worked with the Vice President and members from the New Aid Officer's Workshop group and the Mid-Level Aid Officer's group to set up and test mini sites and on-line registration forms for these training events.
• Worked with the Nominations and Elections Committee to set up the on-line voting, completely eliminating the need for paper ballots even for absentee voting.
• Worked through the web host to upgrade the SASFAA listserv to provide additional functionality and to allow non-active members to receive SASFAA Listserv messages while retaining the ability to post messages as a benefit of SASFAA membership.

The members of the 2005-2006 Electronic Services Committee are:

Legislative Relations Committee Report
Bill Spiers, Chair

Rollercoaster Ride

It has been an interesting year. Personally, I’ve never cared for rollercoaster rides, but yet, as with you, I’ve found myself on one. First we thought we were going to have reauthorization, then we weren’t, but it might come up again. Then we got reconciliation without reauthorization, followed by some thought that we might get reauthorization, but it never happened. Now we don’t think we will get reauthorization this year because it is an election year. Yes, now you see, we have been on a rollercoaster ride and the hills have gotten steeper and the curves sharper.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with Marty Guthrie of NASFAA and Kathleen Little of the College Board. I had hoped to get new insight on the status of the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. After taking a deep breath, they both told us that there was simply nothing new to tell, but there is much work to be done. I think both of these individuals are as frustrated and confused as we are. While I would love to tell you we will see Reauthorization in the near future, I think we all need to sit back, relax and wait.

As we wait for Reauthorization, we have plenty to do created by Reconciliation. We have new programs to implement for which we don’t have guidelines, we change to needs analysis in the current year, which we really don’t know how we are going to accomplish, and we have implementation dates that are all over the board keeping us confused as when things will really occur. I encourage you to read guidelines as they are published and keep tabs on the IFAP and Schools Portal. We will attempt to keep you apprised of any important notices that are posted.

Now you see, we are on a rollercoaster ride. My question is “When can we get OFF?!!!”

On a closing note, I want to thank the members of the Legislative Committee for their work this year. In the weeks to come, you will continue to see some of their work. We hope that we have addressed and met some of your expectations and needs this year.