Mar 2005 Message from the President
March 14, 2005
Launch the media gallery 1 playerGreetings, my fellow NeASFAA members! It's a belated Happy New Year and I hope yours got off to a great start. Between counseling students, verifying files and certifying loans I hope you left some space in your thoughts about the ever elusive Reauthorization. It appears we need to remind Congress of our wishes and dreams that didn't get filled this past year. NeASFAA needs to make the push again but I'd like to ask each of you to make your feelings known about higher education and the role financial aid plays in it for your students. If you are passionate about a particular issue, let them know; and if you would like to write a short letter that you are willing to let others share, let me know. I'll put it out on the list serve with a note inviting members to follow this example.
Last April I challenged each of you to get out there and promote financial aid by talking to someone and I know some of you have been doing so. On December 9th I had the wonderful opportunity to join some NeASFAA members and we talked about financial aid and other topics with concerned callers on the Countdown to College program. Early on the calls were geared towards admissions questions and we were fortunate to have two experts in that area available to whom we passed the phones and questions. Dan Kunzman from Doane and Delmer Esters of EducationQuest were kept hopping. Delmer is the new face at the Lincoln EducationQuest Foundation office and comes from UNL with a background in housing and admissions. Once the panel focused more on financial aid issues the questions moved to our area of expertise and we hopefully answered the questions to their satisfaction. I did see some eye rolling so you probably can hear some of the questions that were being asked.
I'm planning on seeing many of you in Kearney this spring. Be sure you have your calendar marked to attend the NeASFAA spring conference April 27th to the 29th. PDC is hard at work planning another great conference for you. Our RMASFAA president has agreed to attend so I want to show her how much we value our membership and our chances to get together to share all the highlights of the profession.
Smiles,
Shirley