PDG Student Loans Conference

SUNDAY ~ NOVEMBER 9, 2008 (Reno, NV)
1:00 - 6:00 pm (2:30-3:00 break)	Bursar Fundamentals Workshop Barry Greenberg (there is an extra charge of $99 to attend this workshop)
3:00 - 6:00 pm	Exhibitor Registration and Setup
4:00 - 6:00 pm	General Conference Registration
6:30 - 8:00 pm	Opening Reception

MONDAY ~ NOVEMBER 10, 2008 (Reno, NV)
7:30 - 8:30 am	Registration, Continental Breakfast & Exhibits Begin
8:30 - 9:00 am	Opening General Remarks Jason P. Beard (Professional Development Group II, Inc.)
9:00 - 10:00 am KEYNOTE SESSION	Leadership and Adaptive Work An organization is a community of discourse; leadership is about shaping the nature of the discourse. Such leadership is especially critical when facing tough, complicated, adaptive challenges. This presentation is for anyone who must work with difficult people and challenging circumstances to do their job well. It is for people who want to build a greater capacity for engaging complex, stressful situations with more confidence, focus and presence-of-mind-and in the process influence others to do the same. Craig Weber (The Weber Consulting Group)
10:00 - 10:30 am	NETWORKING BREAK
10:30 - 11:30 am CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Perkins Cancellation and Rehabilitation Benefits Learn how to easily determine borrower loan cancellation qualifications and how to assemble a workable Perkins loan rehabilitation plan. Lori Hartung (Todd, Bremer & Lawson)	Stop Theft! What are Common Check-Tampering Schemes? Whether you realize it or not — you’ve probably experienced some type of asset misappropriation. Don’t think fraud doesn’t happen at your school or that your employees would never embezzle from you. This session helps facilitate awareness of common check tampering schemes to help your institution detect & prevent them from occurring. Laurie Beets (Oklahoma State University)
11:30 am - 12:45 pm	LUNCHEON
12:45 - 1:45 pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Developing and Providing Integrated Student Services The University of Minnesota will share the story of how they implemented their One Stop Student Services Center. With seamless service being the goal for their students, they developed an intensive cross-training curriculum to allow One Stop Counselors to answer questions and resolve problems from start to finish including the areas of registration, financial aid, and student accounts receivable. One Stop services come in various forms including web, email, phone, and walk-in counseling. Hear their experiences and the challenges involved in design and implementation, applying technology, cross-functional training, separation of duties, and administering a “One Stop” shop. Julie Selander (University of Minnesota)	Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) FERPA regulations are changing and in this session you can listen to the latest news regarding the updates from the DOE's FERPA expert. Leroy Rooker (US Department of Education)
1:45 - 2:00 pm	TRANSITION BREAK
2:00 - 3:00 pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Skip Tracing: A Lost Art Form Colleges and Universities are often faced with the challenge of locating the whereabouts of their alumni. In this session, we will discuss Labor Costs, Data Costs, and Data Quality associated with Skip Tracing. Participants will also learn about the proper steps to take in locating an individual and how to increase their rate of success. Dan Exline (ConServe-ARM)	Collection Agency Selection: A University Perspective This session discusses partnering with outside collection agencies from the University view. Topics include the agency selection process, establishing communication channels, expectations, and how to evaluate the agency. Laurie Beets (Oklahoma State University)
3:00 - 3:30 pm	NETWORKING BREAK
3:30 - 4:30 pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Putting Student Record Information at Parents’ Fingertips Learn how the University of Minnesota developed an online tool for students to virtually share up to six different areas of their student record (including student financial transactions, financial aid awards and status, enrollment information, holds, and grades) to their parents and other guests. This new web tool has reduced the number of parent questions, reduced the need to process paper release forms, increased the understanding of the student account and financial aid processes, as well as furthered the goal of promoting student and parent relationships. Julie Selander (University of Minnesota)	Collection Agency Selection: A Collection Agency Perspective With a multiple of collection agencies in the marketplace, how do you choose the most effective agency for your institution? What should you look for when selecting a collection agency, how should you properly evaluate the agency, what questions should you ask and why does this make a difference in your selection? These are common questions but how would they be answered if the collection agency were making the responses? Listen to this unique perspective to your collection agency choices and participate with your questions and answers to and from your colleagues. Lynn Heineman (ACT, Inc.)

TUESDAY ~ NOVEMBER 11, 2008 (Reno, NV)
8:00 am	Continental Breakfast & Exhibits
8:30 - 10:00 am GENERAL SESSION	Department of Education Update Gail McLarnon (US Department of Education)
10:00 - 10:30 am	NETWORKING BREAK
10:30 - 11:30 am CONCURRENT SESSIONS	The New FTC "Red Flag" Policy: What You Need to Know The presentation will cover the key points in the FTC regulations surrounding the Red Flag Rules, steps to take in developing a written identity theft program, and how to close the loop by interfacing with collection agencies and billing services to implement your plan. Ray Miller (Todd, Bremer & Lawson)	When To Refer Accounts to Your Collection Agency At what point should you turn an account over to full collections? What are your pre-collect options? What can your school do to avoid past due debt? Here are some helpful hints and techniques covering many collections issues. Christina Cardinale (Manhattan College)
11:30 am - 12:45 pm	LUNCHEON
12:45 - 1:45 pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Internal Management of Perkins and Institutional Loans What needs to be considered when making the decision to service Perkins and Institutional loans in-house instead of outsourcing them? This session will explore the challenges and ramifications of internal servicing of Perkins and Institutional loans including selecting software, how to handle federal reporting, preparation of all federally mandated documentation and notices, entrance and exit counseling, collections, reconciliations, audit requirements, and finding the right personnel to handle the job. Darla Freeborn (Whitworth University)	How to Motivate Underpaid Staff Yes, there are a number of techniques, some easy and some tougher, that can make the workplace more effective and motivate employees to focus in the same direction. Listen to and bring your own ideas that have and could work. Barry Greenberg (Webster University, formerly with SIUE)
1:45 - 2:00 pm	TRANSITION BREAK
2:00 - 3:00 pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Managing Your Receivables to Reduce Student Debt This session will cover accounts receivable management from the perspective of reducing the school's student debt as well as the students' own debt. Mike Kahler (Windham Professionals)	Borrower Psychology - What’s That All About? Have you ever wondered why students do the things they do? What effect does the borrower’s psychology have on society and the educational market? This session will discuss the impact of today’s society and peer pressure facing our student borrowers. Come to this session and hear why understanding today’s borrower is beneficial and how it can be used to resolve defaulted accounts. Lynn Heineman (ACT, Inc.)
3:00 - 3:30 pm	NETWORKING BREAK
3:30 - 4:30 pm CONCURRENT SESSIONS	Using Banner Forms to Maximize Efficiency There are many Banner forms in other Banner modules that can help your office get the most out of Banner. What are these forms, how do you incorporate them into your operation and what do they provide you? Learn how this information can be relevant to you. Christina Cardinale (Manhattan College)	A Study of A/R Management under Datatel Join us for a brief overview of the Datatel A/R module, including a look at the challenges and issues to be found, followed by an open discussion. What issues have you experienced when running BILL or when you’re pulling a list from Query Builder? Do the 1098T processes cause you concern? What screens work best for reconciling A/R to the General Ledger or for posting miscellaneous charges? Do you use the Communications Management module? Bring both your questions and your expertise and let’s do a little brainstorming. Darla Freeborn (Whitworth University)

WEDNESDAY~ NOVEMBER 12, 2008 (Reno, NV)
8:00 am	CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST & EXHIBITS
9:00 - 9:15 am	CLOSING GENERAL REMARKS Jason P. Beard (Professional Development Group II, Inc.)
9:15 - 10:45 am	Last But Not Least Roundtable Discussion Here’s your opportunity to ask and respond/listen to questions about any outstanding topic. It’s a final chance to pick up another nugget or two in a highly interactive and free-wheeling discussion before the conference ends. Laurie Beets (Oklahoma State University), Christina Cardinale (Manhattan College), & Darla Freeborn (Whitworth University)
10:45 am	CONFERENCE CONCLUDES