Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship Advisory Council – August 25, 2009
Posted on August 25th, 2009
Date & Time: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Location: Room 171, State Capitol
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12110/I7757.pdf
Attachments: none
1:50 pm – I was on the phone with a constituent, therefore I was not here on time to blog the start of the committee. I don’t think I have missed much. We join the committee already in progress.
1:51 pm – Currently the FAFSA presentation is being explained by Mr. Terry Finney.
1:52 pm – Rep. Roebuck is expressing concern that the since the foriegn language requirement had been removed for the Academic Challenge Scholarship it has led to a decline in enrollment in those courses. Since foreign language may affect federal aid grants, this may not be wise. However, even those requirements are going away at the federal level.
1:57 pm – Ms. Carlia Smith, Associate Vice President for Student Financial Services at the University of Arkansas is currently presenting about FASFA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
1:59 pm – The FAFSA is complex with more than 100 questions. It is an intimidating form with information that is sometimes difficult to find, requires completed tax returns. Separate PIN numbers are required for the student and parent. There is a 5 to 7 days processing by Federal Processor. The deadline is June 30, 2011 for 2010 to 2001 school years.
2:02 pm – Some of the delays is caused by Homeland Security verifying student citizenship status.
2:03 pm – There are 35 different reasons a FAFSA may be rejected by the Federal Processor; the most common reason is parent/student signature but reson may be much more complex. Some of the reasons are difficult resolve, i.e. parents refuse to complete their part or non tax filer reports income above IRS filing requirements.
2:05 pm – Resolution is the responsiblity fo the student, not the institution according to the Dept. of Education.
2:06 pm – AR State Stacking Policy: No postsecondary institution may use public funds (including AR Academic Challenge Scholarships) in a student aid package which exceeds the recognized federal cost of attendence at the institution where the student enrolls. For the purposes of this policy, Federal Pell Grants are not included in the computation of the students total financial aid package.
2:08 pm – ADHE Stacking Policy states that if total funds exceed the COA, the school MUST reduce funds or the institution would be responsible for repaying the difference to the AR Higher Education Grant Fund account.
2:11 pm – Funds from Federal Supplemental Grant (SEOG), Federal Academic Competitive Grant, Federal Work Study, and Federal Subsidized Stafford Loans will result in the AR Academic Challenge Scholarship to be reduced if greater than cost of attendence.
2:15 pm – The institution can reduce things like the student loans or work study first, whichever is in the best interest of the student.
2:17 pm – Sen. Luker is asking why all the requirements have to be met for the FAFSA be met by a student that is not seeking federal funds. He suggests that we look at some way reduce the bureaucratic burden on students in getting the AR Academic Challenge Scholarship. We must use FAFSA because the students must be registered for selective service and must be verified to be U.S. Citizens.
2:21 pm – One of the task force members mentions that if a student submits the FAFSA by June of the academic year then the student should have no problem getting it completed. He did mention that if it was a requirement for the ARACS, they would probably get much more FAFSA applications.
2:22 pm – Another board member spoke up, apparently from one of the state colleges of universities, to contradict the last speaker. He didn’t miss the opportunity to say that they would need more staff and the lottery funds were not going to fund that. [These guys make me want to puke. They never miss an opportunity to increase staff nor do they fail to nickel and dime the taxpayers.]
2:26 pm – Dr. Purcell is holding a non-traditional prioritization discussion. Rep. Clemmer asked if there had been in changes made based upon legislative recommendations. Mr. Purcell said that is still under review and development.
2:28 pm – Rep. Roebuck asked about training for K-12 career councilors for the new One Stop Form and FAFSA form. Mr. Purcell said there is several forms of new training that has been established. Apparently K-12 will take a larger load for scholarship application which will alleviate the need for colleges to add staff as mentioned above.
2:31 pm – The review of draft proposed rules for the Academic Challenge Part 2 – Traditional Students is begin covered now. The Part 1 rules for non-traditionals are still being developed and were skipped for review today.
2:42 pm – I just went looking for pending rules changes published on the web so that I could link you to what we are currently covering. It is extremely frustrating that the State of Arkansas does not have central clearinghouse for proposed rule changes. This is another area of government transparency that we desparately need to improve upon. It is pathetic that everytime I want to go look at rule changes or proposed rule changes for most agencies I have to go ask Matthew Miller at the Bureau of Legislative Research to spend half of a day looking this stuff up.
3:00 pm – There is still questions going on about the proposed rule changes. They mostly center on the interpretation of the rules for a probationary period for a GPA that falls below requirements and the one time ability to make up a dropped course.
3:05 pm – Several members are voicing concerns that they have not had enough time to get comfortable with the rules as proposed. Dr. Purcell points out there is a timeline that needs to be met to get this in place.
3:15 pm – The rules were voted to recommend to the legislative oversight committee and the dept. of higher education.
3:23 pm – Committee adjourned.
Filed under Uncategorized |
Comments are closed.
