COMMITTEE:  Student Scholarships, Fellowships, and Financial Aid Committee

 

MEETING DATE:    Tuesday January 29th, 2008 11:00am

 

PERSON PRESIDING:      Ken MacLeod

 

REGULAR MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:  Yong Wang; Hanna Jubran; Pramathanath Sastry; Jill Matarelli Carlson; Kindal Shores;      

 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:    Dr. Judi Bailey; Shelly Myers, Susie Harris

 

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:        Dr. Michael Bassman

 

 

 

ACTIONS OF MEETING

 

Agenda Item:  Approval of September 24th, 2007 Minutes

 

 

Discussion:  Everyone agreed that the Minutes were in order.

 

Action Taken:

The Minutes were approved.

 

Assigned additional duties to:

N/A

 

 

Agenda Item:  Financial Aid Update

 

Discussion:  Dr. Judi Bailey brought the committee up to date on the Financial Aid Office.  She reported that they had a much better opening this spring than in the previous fall.  Also, that the Interim Director, Sheryl Spivey, has great experience and is helping to re-train all of the current staff in Banner.  In addition, by early February, there will be several new changes to the website.  Dr. Bailey informed the committee that students needed to have their Financial Aid applications in by Feb. 14th, 2008 to be sure that there is adequate time if they are selected for the verification process, run by the Federal Government.  This process can take anywhere from 48 hours to indefinitely longer period of time.  ECU FA does not select those to be verified but does assist in processing the documents required. Another problem can occur when students assume that because they have applied for Financial Aid that they do not have to pay for their classes.  Many students’ schedules get dropped because they have not paid their bills. 

Dr. Bailey also informed the committee about the recent tragic death of a member of the Student Financial Services staff and commended the faculty on their understanding and help during the transition they were going through.

The Financial Aid office is also working to bring ECU’s Satisfactory Academic Progress in line with the Federal Government’s requirements for Financial Aid.  For example, the Federal Government does not recognize our ‘Grade Replace’ policy.  So, Financial Aid is updating their policy so that they are more cohesive to the policies of the Federal Government. 

 

Action Taken:

This update fulfills the committee charge to periodically review the overall operation of the Student Aid Office.

 

Assigned additional duties to:

N/A

 

 

Agenda Item:   Scholarship Weekend Update

 

Discussion:  Dr. Michael Bassman and Dr. Judi Bailey gave us and update on the changes that have been made to Scholarship Weekend to increase it’s competitiveness with other programs.  It has been moved to February 15th and 16th and instead of scholarships ranging in size from $2,500 to $10,000 being awarded to many students, this year 18 scholars will be selected and given $10,000 each for four years, as well as, $5,000 to study abroad. This should up the status of the scholarships and keep ECU from being a “fall-back” choice.  There will also be smaller groups of judges this year (no more than 6 per group) to make it less intimidating for the candidates.  Students will no longer be able to be both a Teaching Fellow and an EC Scholar due to conflicts in their obligations.  

 

Action Taken:

Though the judges have already been selected for this year, members of the committee were invited to attend the Friday night meet and greet with the candidates and will be available to fill in if any of the current judges are unable to attend.

Assigned additional duties to:

N/A

 

 

Agenda Item:   University Undergraduate Catalogue Review

 

Discussion:  Judi Bailey informed us that Linner Griffen would be the person to contact to see if updates would be productive at this time.

 

Action Taken:

Ken MacLeod will contact Linner Griffen and address this issue.

 

Assigned additional duties to:

Ken MacLeod

 

Agenda Item:   Selection of Scholarships

 

Discussion:  Judi Bailey informed us that the information for scholarship selection would be available toward the end of March, so the committee agreed to set up the next meeting in late March at a time when everyone was available.

 

Action Taken:

Ken MacLeod will contact the committee by e-mail for available times and with the final meeting time.

 

Assigned additional duties to:

Ken MacLeod

 

NEXT MEETING: Late March, 2008 TBA

 

ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED: The SSC Committee’s Scholarship selection.