[Oasfaa] Proposed Changes to OASFAA Constitution and By-Laws

[Andrew Hammontree]

Dear Colleagues:
 
I hope everyone is enjoying their spring break.  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.  
 
As all of you are aware, a lot of changes have occurred in the FFELP
community over the past couple of years.  Colleagues that had worked
alongside us for a number of years suddenly found themselves facing
budget cuts and layoffs.  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.  
 
In the past, OASFAA has heavily relied upon the exhibitor fees to pay
for the costs of the association.  Since we can no longer rely upon
these fees, the executive board has been brainstorming on ways to
generate additional revenue.  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.
 
The OASFAA By-Laws currently state that anyone who has attended one of
the last three conferences is considered a member of the association. 
In order to keep things simple, we did not charge a membership fee on
top of the conference registration fee.  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.  
 
To help us align with SWASFAA and the other state associations, the
board has also proposed that we change some of the voting procedures. 
In the past we have had some difficulty keeping up with the current
contact information for members who have changed jobs.  Most
associations have one voting representative from each institution, and
we felt this might help us to keep the voting members straight.  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.  Schools will be responsible for keeping OASFAA informed of
the voting representative at their institution.
 
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.  I have attached a copy of the By-Laws and the Constitution
with the proposed changes.  I hope you will take a few minutes of your
time to review these documents.  None of these changes will take effect
unless the voting membership votes to make the changes.
 
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.  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.  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.  We had
discussed charging a flat rate of $100 per institution, but no decision
will be made until we have more information.  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.  
 
One of the things we are currently reviewing is future conference
locations.  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.  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.  
 
I want to stress that OASFAA is currently doing fine financially. 
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.  However, we feel it is important
that we take action now rather than waiting until the reserve is gone.
 
If you have any questions for me or the other board members, please
feel free to email me at ahammontree at francistuttle.com.
 
I look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks.
 
Sincerely,
 
Andrew Hammontree
OASFAA President

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