2004 - 2005 State Aid Committee
Conference Call
November 10, 2004
10:00a.m.

Members Present:
Robert W. Givens, Chair
Christie Rocconi
Nedra Bradley
Karon McMillan

Members unable to attend:
Martha Cascio

Topics Discussed:

• Moving the state disbursement process from paper check to ACH (wire transfer to schools) - The consensus is that schools would like this option, as it would decrease the wait time for the funds. Hugh Graves will be contacted to find out who can approve this change.
  
• Simplifying the refund process - when a school determines that a refund is necessary, it should send the funds and the roster to the state, without requiring a refund roster from MOSFA prior to the return. The consensus is that there is duplication of effort now. Hugh Graves will be contacted to discuss the reasoning for the current process.
  
• Dual/multiple enrollment - how can a student attending multiple institutions receive state aid for the combination of enrolled hours. The committee members have not seen this as a major issue yet; however, the number of dual enrollees continues to grow. This will be discussed further at our next meeting.
  
• Recommending a standardized format for state grant EFT rosters (such as Common Record) that could be used to automatically load the rosters into financial aid software systems - Other schools represented on the committee use Banner software, but are not familiar with a roster load process. Bruce Crain (MSU) will be contacted to find out his process.
  

The next planned meeting for our committee will be during February, 2005