From HCase at okccc.edu Wed Feb 27 16:02:01 2002 From: HCase at okccc.edu (Harold Case) Date: Tue Mar 23 20:21:50 2004 Subject: [Oasfaa] Spring Conference 2002 Message-ID: Aloha.The OASFAA web site was recently updated to accept registrations for the spring meeting. We will be at the Doubletree Downtown Tulsa. Dates for the conference are April 3-5. Our conference theme is "An Oklahoma Luau," so you may want to bring that Hawaiian shirt you received for Christmas and never returned. You thought you might use it one day. When you access the web site, please read the first page for all the related information. However, one new item you need to know about is that we are offering pre-conference training on Cash Management : Authorizations and Notifications. This is our Spring Decentralized Training for the year. Scott Medlin, our Trainer, has been to NASFAA for the training and materials have been ordered. The cost is $ 15 per packet. Shortly you will be able to register on the web site for this training. Keep checking the web site. A selection button will be added. The pre-conference training will be held from 10am until approximately 11:15am on Wednesday morning April 3rd. You will be able to pay for your materials in advance along with your conference fee or pay on site beginning at 9am Wednesday morning at the registation table just off the hotel main lobby. By registering in advance we will be able to assess whether or not more materials should be ordered. New members will have a reception beginning at 11am on Wednesday morning hosted by Vicki Hendrickson, Delegate - at - Large. If you are new, welcome. You are encouraged to attend. It is a good opportunity to get an understanding of the organization. Golfers should be aware that the golf tournament is planned for Tuesday. Ron Hancock and Bob Paton are working on arrangements. We have a great program, great food, and great entertainment planned. I hope you plan to attend. Remember, the hotel reservations deadline is March 12th and the early reservation deadline for the conference is March 25th. Hope to see you in Tulsa. From bfair at osrhe.edu Thu Feb 28 11:39:27 2002 From: bfair at osrhe.edu (Fair, Bryce) Date: Tue Mar 23 20:21:50 2004 Subject: [Oasfaa] State Legislative Update Message-ID: Last fall, two of the recommendations of the Task Force on State Scholarship and Student Aid Grant Programs asked the Oklahoma Legislature to: (1) Place a moratorium on the creation of any new state-funded scholarship programs until existing programs are adequately funded; and (2) Reconsider the implementation of the Oklahoma Tuition Scholarship Program, a new merit-based scholarship scheduled to become effective for college freshmen in 2003-04 (26 ACT, 3.25 GPA, top 15% of class, family income up to $70,000; estimated cost $2.5 million in 2003-04 and $5.0 million in 2004-05) As a result of the Task Force recommendations, two bills are now moving through both houses of the Legislature that would repeal the Oklahoma Tuition Scholarship Program (OTSP). Both bills are being sponsored by the same two legislators -- Rep. Bill Nations (D - Norman; Chair of the House Higher Education Committee; member of the Task Force) and Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson (R - OKC, member of the Senate Education Committee, sponsor of the legislation last year creating the Task Force). We appreciate the willingness of these two legislators to carry these bills. Its not a pleasant task to repeal a scholarship program already on the books, even if the program has not been implemented yet. HB 1440 (Rep. Nations is the primary author) basically contains only language to repeal the OTSP. However, it also has a section calling for certain funds to be used for existing scholarship and grant programs and contains an amendment to provide flexibility for the award level in the Academic Scholars Program. HB 1440 has been passed by the House Higher Education Committee and is now pending action on the House floor. HB 1440 bill text: http://www2.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB1440_cs.rtf SB 1523 (Sen. Wilcoxson is the primary author) also contains language repealing the OTSP. However, it also contains provisions to provide a temporary scholarship benefit, if funds are available, to next year's high school juniors and seniors that would have otherwise qualified for the OTSP. The bill calls for the temporary scholarships to be administered through the OHLAP program. SB 1523 has been passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee and is pending action on the Senate floor. SB 1523 bill text: http://www2.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02SB/sb1523_sflr.rtf Another bill passed out of the House Higher Education Committee was HB 2738 (by Rep. Abe Deutschendor, D - Lawton). The bill would allow students at nonaccredited high schools to be eligible for the OTSP if it was implemented. The bill's author recognized that this issue would be "moot" if the OTSP is repealed. HB 2738 bill text: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB2738_int.rtf Another bill, HB 2238, includes amendments to the Tulsa Reconciliation Scholarship program passed last year. The bill passed, by a small margin, out of House Rules Committee and is now pending action on the House floor. HB 2238 bill text: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB2238_int.rtf The only other legislation related to student financial aid that passed out of committee was SB 1636, which proposes a new lottery-funded Oklahoma HOPE Scholarship Program. The bill would be contingent upon approval of a state question by voters to authorize a lottery. The bill would also allow lottery proceeds to be used for early childhood programs, health insurance for school district employees, and education capital projects. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by a narrow margin and is now pending action on the Senate floor. SB 1636 bill text: http://www2.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02SB/sb1636_sflr.rtf SJR 40 is the legislation that would authorize the state vote on the lottery - bill text: http://www2.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02SB/sb1636_sflr.rtf Several other bills related to financial aid were introduced but were not considered in committee. In most cases, these bills are "dead" for the session: * HB 2288 - creating the Oklahoma Tuition Equalization Grant program: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB2288_int.rtf * HB 2306 - expansion of eligibility for OHLAP to students not graduating from an accredited high school: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB2306_int.rtf * HB 2623 - creating a nonresident tuition waiver for former ROTC students: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB2623_int.rtf * HB 2822 - allowing OTAG, OHLAP, and OTSP awards to be used at schools licensed by the Board of Private Vocational Schools: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/2001-02HB/HB2822_int.rtf State Budget Situation: As you know, most state agencies and many education entities face the prospect of budget cuts for the remaining months of the current fiscal year of FY02. Higher Education is actually in a more precarious situation than most state agencies since part of our appropriation comes from two funds that get revenue from oil taxes. These funds are experiencing revenue shortfalls of even greater proportions than the state's General Revenue Fund, which funds most state agencies. Without supplemental appropriations from the Legislature for the current year, higher education may experience cuts exceeding $20 million (total appropriations for our student aid programs is currently about $30 million). The State Regents are committed to protecting student aid programs from any cuts, if at all possible. We will try to keep you updated on any developments in this area. The state budget prospects for next fiscal year, FY03, are not any better. Higher Education is preparing for flat budgets at best, with some level of cuts as a strong possibility. Again, the State Regents will work to spare existing student aid programs from cuts. However, the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP) is growing dramatically and must have an increase of about $2.5 million to fully fund all the anticipated scholarships next year. We are expecting over 1,400 new OHLAP students from this year's high school graduating class (up from 880 last year). And we expect some 3,500 new OHLAP students from the high school class of 2003. We were pleased to see that Governor Keating recognized this need in his budget recommendations and proposed a $2.4 million increase for OHLAP, despite overall state funding shortfalls. In fact, it was the only increase in operating funds that the Governor recommended for higher education. We remain hopeful that sufficient funding for OHLAP will be secured so that none of these students is denied their scholarship next year. This is part of the reason why the repeal of the OTSP is so urgent. [Note: We have recently posted our most current OHLAP Year-End Report for 2000-01 on our web site at: http://www.okhighered.org/ohlap/ohlap-report-00-01.pdf You will see that our OHLAP students continue to do very well academically and the preliminary degree-completion rate for the first class of OHLAP students is quite impressive. The report also shows the distribution of OHLAP students among the various institutions in 2000-01. The program appears to be developing deeper and deeper roots in schools and communities as participation increases. As of today, there are over 16,000 students across the state in grades 8-12 enrolled in the program.] This is a critical time period for our student aid programs. Your awareness and continued participation in these issues is extremely important. Bryce Fair Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Scholarships & Grants Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Phone: (405) 225-9162 Fax: (405) 225-9230 E-mail: bfair@osrhe.edu Mailing Address: P.O. Box 108850 Oklahoma City, OK 73101-8850 Street Address: 655 Research Parkway, Suite 200 Oklahoma City, OK 73104 From DanGHolt at aol.com Thu Feb 28 15:34:44 2002 From: DanGHolt at aol.com (DanGHolt@aol.com) Date: Tue Mar 23 20:21:50 2004 Subject: [Oasfaa] Director position available in Kansas Message-ID: <34.236ed467.29affc74@aol.com> Southwestern College is seeking a Director of Financial Aid to begin July 1, 2002. The director reports to the Vice President of Enrollment Management and is responsible for all facets of the colleges financial aid program. The director supervises staff and coordinates financial aid matters throughout the main campus as well as Professional Studies. Experience in higher education financial aid needed. A college degree is required, a master’s preferred. Review begins April 1. Send resume and references to Steve Wilke, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Southwestern College, 100 College Street, Winfield, KS 67156. E-mail: swilke@sckans.edu . An EEO/AA employer. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/oasfaa/attachments/20020228/7fb76805/attachment.htm From ClientRelations at ogslp.org Fri Mar 1 09:16:57 2002 From: ClientRelations at ogslp.org (Client Relations) Date: Tue Mar 23 20:21:50 2004 Subject: [Oasfaa] Experian Outage Message-ID: <67B1776185FFD311926100805FC11F9DE91AF3@HANDEL> OGSLP has been notified that Experian (the service provider for all of our credit checks) is experiencing technical difficulties which will cause a delay of credit reports. Batches outstanding from 2/26/02 and 2/27/02 are also affected which means no credit decisions have been returned from Experian to be posted. OGSLP will advise via email as soon as we are notified that the situation has been resolved. If you have any questions, please contact OGSLP's Client Relations Department. Thank you. Client Relations OGSLP (405) 234-4329 or (800) 247-0420 (405) 234-4459- Fax clientrelations@ogslp.org