2009 WASFAA Presidents Retreat & Campus Visit

One of the duties of the WASFAA President is to facilitate a yearly retreat. Whew! How could I pull this off? I was thinking lots about this. Way lots!

On June 19th and 20th the WASFAA Presidents Retreat was held on the campus of Saint Norberts College in De Pere. The retreat is an annual WASFAA event held to bring together WASFAA elected officials and committee chairs. This year the event was used to acquire information about and discuss two critically important issues. The ever growing loan crisis and WASFAA outreach activities, specifically College Goal Sunday.

Saint Norberts is a wonderful place for a gathering of working professionals. Facilities are excellent. We stayed and met on campus. Housing was great. Food was very good. The campus beautiful. The surrounding area hospitable. For further information on St. Norberts College, St. Norbert (who was St. Norbert?), or the Abbey please click on one of the links below.

http://www.snc.edu/

http://www.abbeybar.com/

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11100b.htm

The Retreat

Dick George, President and CEO of Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation was our guest on Thursday afternoon. Dick gave us an overview of how the problems in the world of student lending started, where we are now, and the possibilities of what will happen in the future. Dick's insights into the industry are profound. Contemporary financial aid is tied to student lending. Most financial aid we work with is some form of loan. The more we know about what is occurring around us the better we are able to serve our students.

Friday morning was devoted to College Goal Sunday. CGS is a major component of WASFAA. Funded by a grant from the Lumina Foundation, CGS reaches out to low income, first generation, college bound students and families with assistance in completing the FAFSA. The CGS committee was invited to the retreat and was asked to make a presentation on all aspects of what CGS is. The presentation was comprehensive. Many questions and much discussion happened during and after the presentation.

I would like to thank Dick George and the WASFAA College Goal Sunday Committee for participating in this years retreat. Their contributions can't be appreciated enough.

A special thanks and many hugs go out to Michelle Hermes. She was invaluable in all aspects of planning the retreat. In fact the retreat could not have happened without her.

Dick George's presentation on the current loan crisis and the CGS PowerPoint presentation are available. Please contact me through my blog if you would like a copy.

The Visit

What WASFAA Presidents activity would be complete without a campus visit?

Jeff Zahn, St. Norberts financial aid director graciously invited the President to come to the "Green Knights" financial aid office. So after the retreat on Friday afternoon, Bill Henderson and I took a leisurely walk over to John Minahan Hall. I have to say I was impressed. It seems that Jeff, Renee, and Karen have taken student financial aid to a whole new level.