Agenda

Opening Speaker: Feeling the Joys and Embracing the Challenges of Financial Aid Leadership
Mark Mitchell, Vice President, NAIS

Share a quantitative and qualitative scan of what the industry is facing and ruminating on in these times of opportunity and change. As he noted last year, we "make a dent in the universe" through our work, and while there are things that make us proud of our work and its results, he will share current challenges facing today’s aid professionals. Mark will have us examine and seek opportunities to create solutions for:

• Economic/class diversity (whom we serve, whom we do not, how that is evolving, is it important)
• Intended goals/impact vs. actual outcomes (are we making the dent in the universe that we could/should)
• growing imperatives for leadership and strategic thinking in the financial aid space (going beyond the tactical, practical, but inclusive of it)   

Remember WIN? How Will Inflation Affect the Calculation of Need?
Russ Gagarin, Director of Financial Aid, Landon School

We will focus on the effect of higher inflation in recent months on financial aid families, financial aid for their children, their calculated net tuition to be paid, and what financial aid officers can do now to prepare for any anticipated need.    

Jenni Biehn, Director of Enrollment Management, Western Reserve Academy
Thomas Adams-Wall, Director of Boarding Admission, Western Reserve Academy

Engage in a hands-on simulation in this session. Learn how the team at Western Reserve Academy collaborates to use need-based financial aid and merit scholarships as strategic enrollment management tools. You’ll learn how to apply FA strategy - and an NTR approach - to tactical decision-making.

James Eberhart, Director of Financial Aid & Associate Director of Admission, Chadwick School 

We will introduce some of the more advanced spreadsheet functionality and provide the opportunity to practice on a dataset to display useful information in dashboard form for your leadership, Board, or other constituencies.

You'll learn about functions like XLOOKUP, nested IF commands, filtered commands like SUMIFS and COUNTIFS, fancy text searches, {} matrices, tab and worksheet references, and more! 

You will come away with a better understanding of advanced functionality in common spreadsheet programs used in schools and a greater comfort with designing dashboards for their offices to use. We will also be share a few dashboards you can take back to your school and modify to meet your own needs.

Join us for an overview of the multi-layers of tax returns from the 1040 right on down to the K1. This includes business owners such as those who own multiple rental properties, a farm, complex businesses, etc. 

Case Study & System Updates       
Alisa Evans, Founder & CEO, Mission Enrollment
Anita Harper, Chief Operating Officer, Mission Enrollment

Back by popular demand, AISAP’s Strategic Thought Partner, Alisa Evans, Principle Mission Enrollment, will facilitate a workshop focused on the realities of financial aid administration. No matter the Financial Aid system you use, you will have an opportunity to meet with trainers and walk through a real-world, deep-dive case study that is “ripped” from the portals of actual family cases and profiles.

Additionally, system reps will provide updates and user news so that you can continue to see the value of your client experience while you are there.

Quick Hit Topics Session II 

We’ll touch upon the most frequently asked questions and topics on everyone’s minds. How do you handle financial aid calculations for families who support other relatives? Do you award financial aid to families who are right at the threshold of not qualifying?

Cohort Group Meetings