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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Dear Colleagues:</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Even though many of us have to work this week, hopefully everyone can take some time to enjoy the beautiful weather before it changes again. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>As all of you are aware, a lot of changes have occurred in the FFELP community over the past couple of years.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Colleagues that had worked alongside us for a number of years suddenly found themselves facing budget cuts and layoffs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you attended the most recent OASFAA, SWASFAA, or NASFAA conferences, you probably noticed that the number of exhibitors had drastically declined as a result of the changes in the lending industry.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>In the past, OASFAA has heavily relied upon the exhibitor fees to pay for the costs of the association.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Since we can no longer rely upon these fees, the executive board has been brainstorming on ways to generate additional revenue.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We analyzed the other states in the SWASFAA region, and we found that Oklahoma is the only state in the region that does not charge their members an institutional membership fee.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>The OASFAA By-Laws currently state that anyone who has attended one of the last three conferences is considered a member of the association.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In order to keep things simple, we did not charge a membership fee on top of the conference registration fee.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, in order to create the additional revenue that is necessary to run the association, the executive board has proposed that we begin to charge an institutional membership fee starting with the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>To help us align with SWASFAA and the other state associations, the board has also proposed that we change some of the voting procedures.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the past we have had some difficulty keeping up with the current contact information for members who have changed jobs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Most associations have one voting representative from each institution, and we felt this might help us to keep the voting members straight.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Please understand that any financial aid professional at an institution who has paid their institutional membership fee would still be a part of OASFAA; however, only one person at each institution would have voting privileges.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Schools will be responsible for keeping OASFAA informed of the voting representative at their institution.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Because these proposals will require a change to the OASFAA By-Laws and Constitution, the regular members of the association will have an opportunity to vote on the changes at the business meeting on Friday, April 17.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have attached a copy of the By-Laws and the Constitution with the proposed changes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I hope you will take a few minutes of your time to review these documents.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>None of these changes will take effect unless the voting membership votes to make the changes.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Calibri> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>We are committed to keeping the costs for our members as low as possible because we understand that everyone is suffering during these hard economic times.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, those of you have been involved in OASFAA in the past will understand the many costs that are associated with running a successful organization. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If the association votes to adopt the institutional membership policy, the board will have to determine the membership fee once we begin to work on next year’s budget.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We had discussed charging a flat rate of $100 per institution, but no decision will be made until we have more information.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Obviously we cannot expect the membership fees to take the place of all the exhibitor fees we have lost, so we are looking at other cost-saving measures to help save money.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>One of the things we are currently reviewing is future conference locations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Although we have enjoyed staying at locations like the Reed Center and the Tulsa Renaissance Hotel, we feel it is necessary to find less expensive venues for our conferences.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Once we have made a decision on a location for the next conference, the board will have a better idea of what kind of income we need to generate for next year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>I want to stress that OASFAA is currently doing fine financially.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Although we are using part of the reserve to pay for some of the costs associated with the spring conference, we still have plenty of money to keep us afloat for the near future.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, we feel it is important that we take action now rather than waiting until the reserve is gone.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>If you have any questions for me or the other board members, please feel free to email me at </FONT><A href="mailto:ahammontree@francistuttle.com"><FONT face=Calibri>ahammontree@francistuttle.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Calibri>.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Calibri> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>I look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Sincerely,</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Calibri> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>Andrew Hammontree</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Calibri>OASFAA President</FONT></P><BR></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>