Message from the 2016-17 VASFAA President

Welcome to another exciting year for VASFAA! I am excited and honored to serve our association as president this year. For VASFAA’s 49th year let’s reflect on what our association means to us. VASFAA is about people. We are about the students and families we serve, and we are about our financial aid colleagues from institutions and vendor partners across our great state. The financial aid profession is full of outstanding folks and nowhere is this more evident than in Virginia. We are not only a network of professionals. We are a network of friends – friends we can call or email for advice about a financial aid question that stumps us and friends we can celebrate with in good times or lean on in tough times. This is why our theme for 2016- 17 is “Getting by with a little help from our friends.”

In our 49th year, let's build momentum for our 50th . We are planning some great events for this year including introducing a new forum for financial aid directors, the Directors’ Summit, to come together for fellowship and networking and to discuss and share ideas pertinent to our profession. Keep an eye out for more information about the Summit which will be coming soon. Information about the fall non-conference training day will also be coming soon. Additionally, we will be redesigning the VASFAA website in an effort to increase its usefulness to the membership and to other constituencies who visit it. A fresh, new look for VASFAA.org is on its way!

Finally, mark your calendars for VASFAA’s return to Virginia Beach for our annual conference April 23-26 at the Virginia Beach Hilton. The Conference Committee is already hard at work planning what promises to be a fun and information packed conference.

Let’s work together to make this a great year for VASFAA. Renew your membership if you have not already done so and encourage financial aid folks you know who are not members or may have let their membership lapse to join.