Sector Reports - Two Year Public
by Stacy Dieckman
April 04, 2011
Two-Year Public Sector
Report to the NeASFAA Board
April 3, 2011
Our sector has successfully dealt with the change to Direct Lending in the past year and is working diligently to tackle the next hurdle, implementing the various facets of the Final Rules on Program Integrity. Budget cuts and hiring freezes continue for schools and, like everyone else in financial aid, we are all waiting on pins and needles for Congress to decide aid levels for next year.
On March 14, 2011 I sent an e-mail to our sector with several questions:
1. Have you registered for the spring conference? I also included details of how to register.
Several responded affirmatively, including Julian Gomez from SECC, Nicole Austin, Financial Aid Technician from SECC (who is a newbie to our conferences, so please extend a warm welcome to her); Steve Millnitz and Hylee Asche from CCC; and Stacy Dieckman from NECC. I’m sure others are attending and just didn’t have the time to respond.
2. Are you making progress on your Net Price Calculators?
The majority of two-year public schools will be using the Department of Ed’s template. Dale Brown at Mid-Plains was also considering College Board’s version, although he noted that Jenzabar, his campus system, is supposed to be able to support the integration of Department of Ed’s version into their website and would be cheaper. Most schools are still in the implementation phase; no school responded that they had completed the process fully.
3. How are you handling Congress's delay in establishing federal aid amounts for the 2011-2012 year? Are you packaging? Sending award letters with a caveat? Waiting for a final decision?
Three schools are not packaging now at all, one until April, another until we get final aid numbers, and the other in part because of working on electronic notification processes. Two schools are packaging and mailing award letters with a disclaimer about potential changes included.
4. How do you handle budgets for students who are strictly online?
No one who responded had a separate budget for online students.
I also sent out a reminder to renew membership in RMASFAA since the deadline was March 15 and included a plug for RMASFAA’s new blog site, which has replaced the quarterly RMASFAA Exchange Newsletter. I think it’s important that Nebraska maintains a presence on the site and promotes our “movers and shakers” regularly.
There were two birth announcements from the past year, both from NECC:
Kim Vanosdall had a little girl – Bree Vanosdall, born April 15, 2010
Angela Roskeland had a little boy – Nathaniel Roskeland born July 16, 2010
Congratulations to both!
It has been delightful serving on the NeASFAA Board as your Two-Year Public Sector Rep!
Respectfully submitted,
Susan N. Stephenson
