The 2011 MASFAA Conference kicked off on Wednesday, November 2 with an enthusiastic welcome from president, Bernie Pekala of Boston College. He expressed that the theme of the conference would be exploring the balance between art and science in the financial aid industry. Joe Russo of the University of Notre Dame was the first of the general session speakers. He spoke passionately about his book Achieving the Balance: The Art and Science of Financial Aid and expounded upon this topic. The second general session was a luncheon with Rich Heath of EASFAA and Justin Draeger of NASFAA, who updated MASFAA Conference attendees on the work that their organizations are doing. In the third and final general session of conference, Jeff Baker of the Department of Education provided the annual federal update.

In the same format as in prior conferences, there were a number of concurrent sessions in which smaller audiences were afforded the opportunity to interact with the presenters. Some highlights of these sessions included:

The Sequel, Joe Russo
Overall, I found Joseph Russo’s session to be very beneficial. The overall theme of his session (and book) – balancing art and science – is relative not only to our profession as financial aid advisors, but also to our everyday lives. To me, his session made me think of the times that we get caught up on federal regulations (science) which we cannot change, rather than focus on potential strategies to meet the needs of families (art). The fact that certain rules must be followed during complicated processes (like determining financial eligibility) does not mean that we cannot think outside the box and use professional judgment to cater to families’ needs. Two examples were given about challenging topics that require a balancing of art and science- conversations about eligibility vs. entitlement & the importance of choice relative to the willingness of a family to contribute. I think that sometimes the basic values are missing when making financial aid decisions and Russo’s words (and book) help bring it all into perspective. In the future I would like to see more sessions led by prominent financial assistance leaders like Russo.

-Denice Carryl, Boston University

What Students Really Think About Financial Literacy
I attended the What Students Really Think of Financial Literacy session, presented by Gina Lucente-Cole of ASA. This session shared the findings of an ASA study of about 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students on their perceptions and knowledge of various financial literacy topics and their attitudes about debt. This session provided succinct, timely, impactful information, with empirical evidence and humor! My college is reconsidering our loan default intervention program, so this session was exceptionally helpful. This was one of the best sessions I attended at MASFAA this year. Well done.

-Ryan Forsyth, Mount Wachusett Community

College Success Boston: College Completion Initiative
Representatives from Success Boston, an initiative that was introduced by Mayor Menino’s office in 2008, presented about their organization’s efforts to increase post-secondary graduation rates amongst Boston Public High School students. While Boston has one of the highest success rates of sending their students to college of any major city, the graduation rate amongst these students is significantly lower. Success Boston endeavors to positively impact this graduation rate by providing resources and support to Boston Public High School graduates. Financial aid is a big part of the equation; education of prospective college students and support of current college students are areas where the city can assist its low-income students. Specifically, the goal is to increase collaboration between representatives the public high schools, local public and private higher education institutions, and community organizations that will positively impact the ability of recent high school grads to achieve the city’s goal of increasing their post-secondary graduation rate.

-Nick Balk, Boston University

Information about all sessions can be found at the following webpage: http://masfaa.com/events/conference/conference2011/index.php