President's Message
By Clyde Walker, TASFAA President

As the halfway point in my term as TASFAA President has come and gone, and as I briefly pause to reflect, I continue to be amazed at the volume and the quality of the work done by the members of the TASFAA Board and by the members of TASFAA committees. The efforts of TASFAA members are essential to the work of the association, and their work is essential to our ability to meet the goals of the association.

The 2007 Fall Conference was a resounding success from any and all perspectives. From the opening session on Sunday evening through the final session, the Federal Update on Tuesday morning, every element of the conference was carried out according to a finely tuned and well-executed plan. The Conference Committee, under Jeff Gerkin’s leadership, worked tirelessly to ensure that the Fall Conference was a success and that conference provided many and varied leaning opportunities for attendees. The theme of the fall conference was TASFAA: In Focus.

The work of planning for the Spring Conference actually began immediately after the conclusion of the Fall Conference, and is now well underway. Karen Hauser is serving as Chair of the Conference Committee as it works to plan and carry out our Spring Conference. A major focus of the Spring Conference will be to acknowledge and to celebrate TASFAA’s forty years of outstanding service to the students of institutions of higher learning in the State of Tennessee. TASFAA was founded in 1967-68.

Governor Phil Bredesen has signed a Proclamation officially designating the month of February as Financial Aid Awareness Month in the State of Tennessee. It has been several years since we actively requested that the Governor make such an official declaration regarding Financial Aid Awareness Month, and having such a proclamation prepared and signed by the Governor was a major goal that I wanted us to accomplish during my term as TASFAA President. Ron Gambill, Chair of the TASFAA Governmental Relations Committee, was instrumental in working with the Governor and his staff to make this a reality, and I am deeply grateful to him for that significant accomplishment. Pat Smedley, Chair of the TASFAA Financial Aid Awareness Committee, is working to distribute the announcement to state media outlets.

As we anticipated, this has been a most challenging year with regard to budgeting, primarily due to continuing uncertainty in the area of anticipated donations. TASFAA Treasurer Melissa Smith has worked closely with the CPA firm employed by TASFAA and has done an outstanding job in keeping our accounting records current and accurate, which has been especially critical this year. 2007-08 continues to be a challenging year from a budgetary perspective, and we remain especially grateful to our donors for their continuing generosity and support.

One of the roles of the TASFAA President is to serve as a voting member of the Executive Board of the Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (SASFAA), our regional professional association. I attended and participated in a scheduled meeting of the 2007-08 SASFAA Executive Board Friday, November 2 through Sunday, February 4, in Tampa, Florida. I plan to attend the next scheduled meeting of the SASFAA Board is Friday, February 15 through Sunday, February 17, in Arlington, Virginia.

As TASFAA President, I have had a “seat at the table” for the Conversation on the Lottery Scholarship Programs, a work group convened by Dr. Richard Rhoda of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). The group is comprised of representatives from the University of Tennessee System, the Tennessee Board of Regents System, private colleges and universities, the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) and THEC, and has met on an ongoing basis since summer. The objective of the group was to reach a consensus on TELS-related issues that are likely to come before the legislature during its now ongoing session. The issues about which TASFAA members have expressed strong opinions – e.g., eliminating the “TELS GPA” and instead using institutional grade-point-averages and all related institutional policies for determining continuing TELS eligibility; eliminating the arbitrary “benchmarks” (24, 48, 72, 96, 120 hours) for evaluating eligibility and instead, evaluating eligibility annually at the conclusion of the spring semester; eliminating the “120 hours maximum” for students who are otherwise eligible to receive TELS awards, etc. - have been heard. While these issues that are of the most significance to us as financial aid administrators have been generally supported by the majority of the parties represented in the group, the issues have not been supported by all of the parties and thus were not included in the final recommendations set forth by this group and provided to the legislature. This continues to be a source of frustration for me, as I know it does for you and most importantly for our students and parents, but I pledge to continue to voice our feelings on these issues at every possible venue for the duration of my term as President and beyond.

I must always conclude my report by expressing my gratitude for having been afforded the opportunity to serve TASFAA as President during 2007-08. I will continue to represent the membership of the association to the best of my ability in all of the roles associated with the office of President.

Clyde Walker
TASFAA President