August 4, 2010

Facts, Fellowship & the Feud: OGSLP’s Annual Conference

One hundred financial aid professionals were surveyed and the top six answers are on the board. The question was, “What scandalous strategies would financial aid professionals use to win the Financial Feud game at OGSLP’s annual conference?”

Unless you saw it with your own eyes, you probably wouldn’t believe what your colleagues would do to earn a couple of kisses (Hershey’s, that is) and gold coins (chocolate, of course). What started off as a fun-lovin’ game between the Blue Family and the Red Family quickly deteriorated to unmentionable antics to claim the winning title. In the end, after many laughs, we were all reunified.

Richard Dawson (a.k.a. Josita Baker, formerly a member of our School and Lender Support Services team) hosted the game and tried to keep it fair and square, but with Judge Brian Rousey exposing an answer before the question was presented, it wasn’t always easy. Many thanks to everyone who participated in this lively luncheon event that helped us learn a little and laugh a lot.

Above all, we hope the conference sessions were helpful to you and your school. With the many changes presented this year, we know the challenges can seem overwhelming. We hope you gained some insight and information from the guest panel of your colleagues from various financial aid offices, who presented information on efficiency and Direct Lending conversions, and from our guest trainers from the Department of Education, who discussed Direct Lending and Year-Round Pell processing.

Each year, our goal is to provide information that’s current, relevant and immediately useful. Thanks to each and everyone one of you who helped make this year’s conference a success!