Board Members Present: Jeremy Shea, Sr. Mary Beth Kornely, Julie Schaefer, Kurt Hinrichsen, Linda Cross, Paul Spraggins.

HEAB Staff Present: Jane Hojan-Clark, Jim Buske, Mary Lou Kuzdas, Sandy Thomas, John Whitt, Nancy Wilkison.

Others Present: Rolf Wegenke, WAICU; Andy Richards, UWSA; Tom Heffron, WTCSB; Kristen Hendrickson, UW System Administration; Carla Smith-Liebich, Marquette University; William Keeton, United Council; Rachelle Gardner, WTCSB; Sandy Dercole, DPI.

Chairman, Jeremy Shea, called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.

APPROVAL OF BOARD MINUTES
Motion was made by Paul Spraggins to approve the minutes of July 21, 2000 Board meeting and seconded by Kurt Hinrichsen. Approved.

REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
The Board was updated on new activity. The new Teacher of the Visually Impaired Loan Program has been implemented and there are potentially eight students interested in applying. There is one eligible program in Wisconsin, one in western Michigan and one in Illinois. The appropriation for the program was $100,000 so ten students could receive the maximum amount of $10,000.

Staff from HEAB met with members of the staff at Treasury to discuss the implementation of the 2001-02 Ed-Vest program. There is the possibility that as many as eighteen students may choose to draw funds in 2001-02.

The WISSIS document, a survey tool used to gather information for the February Board Report, has been revised by HEAB staff members along with representatives of the various systems. This should result in an user-friendlier product to help collect information for a clearer report.

The NASSGAP Survey has been returned and the information may be available for the February Board Report.

Reconciliation forms have just been sent out to the colleges and universities to see what they are projecting for their spending. It will help us determine what direction our programs need to go this year.

The WASFAA State Issues Committee is reviewing the HEAB Policy and Procedure Manual. We are still working with committee members on the Return of Funds Policy and hope to finalize the manual by the February meeting.

This is the time of year for the High School Guidance Counselor Workshops. HEAB conducts these in conjunction with DPI and WASFAA. There are eleven locations for presentations around the state. Frequently Asked Questions are used with a Power Point Presentation handout to reinforce what has been presented in the workshop. This was distributed at the Board meeting.

Corrections to pages 5 and 9 of the Board Report were distributed.

BOARD REPORT #01-3 STUDENT AID EXPENDITURES FOR 1999-00
An overview of the Student Aid Expenditures for 1999-00 was given. Using the breakdown by program on page seven of the Board report, it was described that programs were down in dollars spent-less than $2 million, down in number of awards given out-a little over 2000, and down $6 on the average per award. The reason for these decreases was that the biennial budget was not passed and signed until late October. HEAB passes it's formulas by February so when the funding was in place, participating institutions had made their awards, formulas had been set, and the first semester had been vouchered. These monies were carried over and spent in the 2000 school year. This accounts for the decreases in spending in the 1999-00 school year.

Highlights of the individual programs were presented. Spending on the Academic Excellence Scholarship is down and the number of awards has increased. Initially the Scholarship was for full tuition at a four-year public school, but four years ago there was a cap put on the award of $2,250. Those students who received the full tuition are now graduating, which explains the decrease in spending, and the increase in awards.

This is the first year that the Indian Student Grant was funded from gaming revenues. In the past it was funded as the other programs through GPR. There is a slight increase in the number of dollars expended. The average award increased from $845 to $915.

This is the first year that shows the affects of the rule changes made to the Minority Teacher Loan. Eligibility changes were made. A student no longer has to be a full time student and it is no longer based on need. There was an increase in the average amount expended on individual awards from $1833 to $2025. More students are now receiving the maximum of $2500.

The Teacher Education Loan Program is a program specifically for students attending the Milwaukee Teacher Education Center. Students are awarded $2000 loans to attend MTEC. If they then teach in the Milwaukee School System, the loan is forgiven. In 1999-00 twenty-four recipients' loans were forgiven in full and three went into repayment because they moved out of state and are not teaching in the designated school district.

In 1999-00 the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant Program awarded to students who attend Tribal Colleges was established. In the past these students received funds through a different program called the Wisconsin Tuition Grant supported by GPR that funds students who attend independent colleges and universities. Gaming revenues in the amount of $400,000 support the Tribal College WHEG.

BOARD REPORT #01-4 1999-00 ANNUAL ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM REPORT AND SURVEY RESULTS
An overview of the yearly Academic Excellence Scholarship Report submitted in August to the Joint Committee on Finance was presented. Final 1999-00 data and preliminary data for the freshmen that will enroll during the 2000-01 academic year were included in the report. Several of the charts where expenditures were broken down by a student's year in school, number of students also applying for need based assistance, the number of students receiving that aid, the amount of family contribution based on FAFSA information, and the total amount of state aid received were highlighted. Numbers were also broken down by school and by system.

An increase in the total number of scholarships awarded can be seen when comparing the 1998-99 academic school year with the 1999-00 academic school year. This is due to the larger number of schools participating in the program and the cut-off point for eligibility widening, increasing the number of students that a school can nominate. It was noted that the number of alternates went down in 1999-00 but are back up in 2000-01. This is a point to follow in the future. The percentage of freshman recipients enrolling in the state seems to be stable at the moment although projections for 2000-01 show the trend changing somewhat.

A change was made during the last biennial budget process in the statutory language that opens up the criteria for students attending high schools with weighted grade point averages. Schools with weighted grade point averages may submit alternates with lower grade point averages than the designated winners. This may possibly lead to a greater number of recipients.

In a follow-up to last year's survey of incoming freshmen entering college in the fall of 2000-01, students were asked if the AES influenced their decision to attend a Wisconsin School rather than an out-of-state school. Last year 54% responded yes. This year there was an increase to 59%. When asked if the AES influenced them to attend a different Wisconsin school than originally planned, students overwhelmingly said no. When asked if the AES allowed them to attend college when they otherwise may not have, the majority stated, no.

BOARD REPORT #01-5 STATUS OF 2000-01 APPLICANTS AND PROGRAMS
The latest figures for academic year 2000-01 were presented. WHEG-UW has committed over 110% of its appropriation. This is 6.25% more than last year at this time. WHEG-WTC is also ahead of last year at this time. It has 129% of funds committed. This is 1.95% more than last year. The Wisconsin Tuition Grant is also ahead 8.8% of last year with 120% of its appropriations committed.

The number of students filling out the FAFSA during the 2000-01 year has increased compared to last year.

BOARD REPORT #01-6 2000-03 BIENNIAL BUDGET REQUEST
A narrative was prepared for the Department of Administration following the instructions to increase funding by 0% the first biennial period and 1% the second biennial period. That was submitted with a second version, Version B included. Version B indicated that if funds become available, financial assistance programs administered by the Higher Educational Aids Board for post-secondary education should become a priority. Details of the Narrative and its attachments were discussed.

FEDERAL PROGRAMS STATUS REPORT
On June 30th the Senate passed a bill providing FY01 appropriations for the Department of Education. The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill on June 14th. The legislation next moved to a conference committee in which representatives of the Senate and the House worked out a compromise version of the measure. A handout that reflected a breakdown of the conference report was discussed. The conference report contains a total of $40.7 billion, for the Department of Education, an increase of $5.2 billion.

NEW BUSINESS
Future discussion topics were presented. The first concerned Distance Learning and other "nontraditional learning approaches." The majority of the programs HEAB administers require that the recipient of funds be enrolled at least halftime in an approved degree or certificate program. The programs also operate under a nine-month academic year. There are issues related to these approaches that need to be explored. Next the question of expanding the Handicapped Student Grant Program to include students with handicaps other than severe or profound hearing or visual impairment was highlighted. Monies unused by students with these very specific impairments might be used in an expanded program. Finally there is a question about the language that regulates the awarding of the Talent Incentive Program. Some of the wording of the regulations has become obsolete and there is a question about how the criteria can be altered to better accommodate the students needs.

NEXT MEETING DATES: February 16, 2001 and April 20, 2001

A motion was made by Paul Spraggins to adjourn and was seconded. The meeting was adjourned.