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President's Message "The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life." - Plato Now, if all that were not enough, I get to work with the great people selected to serve TASFAA on the Board and in committees. I thank you for that opportunity and I want to share a few things that have been happening with TASFAA.On March 26th, TASFAA, TG and ATLE hosted a reception for the Texas delegation in Washington. The attendees were treated to Salt Lick barbeque, Blue Bell ice cream and Shiner Bock. I am pleased to report that we didn't see a single "beer float". It was a GREAT success, and we have discussed making it an annual event. We spent the day of the reception visiting the offices of our state's representatives and members of the Committee on Education. We need to let George know how much we appreciate his getting the event organized and scheduled. Milt Wright, Neal Combs and George Torres represented TG, Janet Barker and Mary Posley represented ATLE and Jimmy Parker and I represented TASFAA. Thanks to everyone for making it such a super team effort. On Friday, April 23rd, in Round Rock, Congressman John R. Carter and Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon (best known for his work with The FED UP Project) hosted the Central Texas Higher Education Summit. George Torres represented TASFAA and served on the panel with Larry Burt and many other distinguished members from higher education. Mariko Gomez and I were both able to share some comments with the panel. It was a great opportunity to share the concerns of our students with these federal lawmakers. Also on Friday, at the TG conference, the Texas financial aid community (TASFAA, ATLE and TG) recognized the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance for its 15 years of service. The Committee was established by the HEA of 1986 to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to Congress and the Secretary of Education on student financial aid policy. The Committee's purpose is to: provide extensive knowledge and understanding of federal, state, and institutional programs of postsecondary student assistance; provide technical expertise with regard to systems of need analysis and application forms; and make recommendations that will result in the maintenance of access to postsecondary education for low and middle income students. On behalf of the community, Jim Lane presented a plaque to the Committee's Vice Chair Dr. Thomas R. Wolanin. Thank you Jacob Fraire (Public Relations) for making this event possible. I want to give a special thank you to TG for allowing TASFAA the opportunity to have our own session at the TG conference. It was a great opportunity to discuss HB1403 and residency questions. Thanks TG. We have now completed all the Regional Rallies. After all our fears and concerns, it appears the number of participants is about the same as last year. Fantastic!! Thank you Tia Clary (Regional Rallies) for bringing it all together. It is a great deal of work and requires a lot of time to host a rally. I want to say thanks to Latisha Williams, Debra Wilkison, Jackie Adler, Lynda Mckendree, Raul Lerma and Cynthia Inkpen for hosting the rallies. As always, TASFAA says THANK YOU to all our sponsors (Denise Stanley - chair). Without the support each of you provide, we could not do all the things we do. It was recommended at our last Board meeting that I send a letter to each of the CEO's, Chancellors and Presidents in the state. The purpose was to share TASFAA's commitment to them and to you during this time of budget cuts. It is important they understand the critical role training is to each of our operations. The goal was for them to know we are doing everything possible to provide the necessary and required training with costs in mind. The response has been outstanding. One director told me she was able to hire an assistant director because of that letter. As you know, Martin Hernandez and the Nominations Committee recently solicited candidates for this year's slate of officers. We will elect a President Elect, a Secretary and six Board members (five with two year terms and one with a one year term). The committee will submit the slate of candidates to the Board at our May 21-22, meeting. Voting will begin very soon thereafter. We are in the midst of a critical time and I encourage each of you to give careful consideration to the leaders you choose. The next few years could prove more critical than this year. We need to elect leaders that will rise to the challenges that TASFAA must face. If you have any ideas, thoughts, suggestions or complaints, please share them with me. Together we can accomplish so much. Thanks for making the first half of the year so great. Sincerely, Marcus "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
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