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The State of Alaska is preparing to deal with the changes in the loan programs offered by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE). |
State Reports...  The Alaska Association of Student Financial Aid
Administrators is preparing for its Spring conference to be
held in Anchorage on March 12-13 at the Anchorage
Westmark Hotel. We will hold elections for the offices of
President-elect and Secretary-Treasurer in addition to some
informative sessions and our bi-annual business meeting.
One of our sessions will be the Cultural Pursuit exercise created
by the WASFAA EDAC committee. There is movement
afoot to pass a resolution that would allow us to have just
one conference each year, in the Fall. There seems to be
widespread support for such a plan, due to budget constraints
and workload requirements.Our current President-elect, Johnetta Scott, attended the NASFAA Leadership Conference in Washington DC through funds donated by the Education Assistance Corporation . We are grateful for EAC's continuing support of our leadership training efforts. We will be offering a scholarship that can be used for either the WASFAA Conference in Boise or the WASFAA Summer Institute in Reno. The State of Alaska is preparing to deal with the changes in the loan programs offered by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE). The current "Alaska Student Loan" program will not exist after Summer 2002. Beginning Fall 2002, ACPE will offer the AlaskAdvantage loan program, which is the Federal Stafford Loan program with interest and repayment rates that favor Alaska residents and students attending school in Alaska, regardless of their residency. ACPE will also offer the Alaska Supplemental Education Loan (ASEL) as an alternative loan program. The ASEL is an unsubsidized loan program that offers lower interest rates than other alternative loan programs, and is also available both to Alaska residents and to students attending school in Alaska regardless of their residency. In an attempt to avert widespread panic and confusion, ACPE and institutions in Alaska, are currently preparing informational material that will explain the upcoming changes. There will be a session at the Spring ALASFAA conference dedicated to the changes in the Alaska Student Loan program. We have had some personnel changes within the State of Alaska. Roger Frierson resigned as the Financial Aid Director at the University of Alaska Anchorage last Fall. Ted Malone, formerly of Edmonds Community College, is the Acting Financial Aid Director as a search is being conducted for Roger's replacement. Joseph Stubbins of Juneau will be a new Financial Aid Technician at Alaska Pacific University, replacing Ed Keener who moved to the University of Alaska Anchorage to replace Michael Shue, who resigned to take a job in construction. To continue the interesting chain, Michael had replaced Peter Miller, who had moved to Alaska Pacific University to replace Roger Frierson, who had moved to UAA to replace Rick Weems. Don Schaeffer of the University of Alaska Fairbanks has made it successfully through cancer treatment, and is currently in recovery. And the Financial Aid Technician at the University of Alaska Southeast, Nellie Fluty, is expecting a baby any minute now (she was due on March 4th). |
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