I.
Call to Order: Neal,
II. Introductions: Neal (Chair), Crane (Chair-Elect), Robbins (SWAPLA), Bowman (PCAPLA), Wright (K) (PCAPLA), Mecozzi (MAPLA), Wrigley (MAPLA), Bowden (ACCESS), Brandt (LSAC), Homer (PLANC Points), Guliuzza (WAPLA), Harrington (NAPLA), Wilson (SAPLA), Wright (C) (NAPLA), Batchelor (Chair-Elect), Sommerness (WAPLA)
III. Role of PLANC by Crane, Neal—new designated members around the table: Guluizza, Bowman, Bowden; explanation of processes, purpose of PLANC, how things are done; suggestion to train new participants before they come to first PLANC meeting
IV. Secretary Report—Crane
Minutes of March, 2001 meeting accepted with changes
V. Treasury Report—Neal, Batchelor—closing of the conference treasury account has taken place; balance sheet; closed account six days ago; all funds reported; money distributed to APLA’s sent out 6/6/01; no funds in conference treasury account; $20K already sent to Riley; forwarded to Sommerness when Treasury; Sommerness distributed Riley final report; 1997-2001 report of expenditures also available; Colorado accounts closed; new accounts opened in Arizona; second signatory needed; recommendations: 1) vote for audit in the past; formal audit to cost $4-6K; $37K in money market account, $20K of which is seed money for conference; 2) some of PLANC money needs to go to CD; 3) Second signatory needed; 4) Reimburse new treasurer for cost of Quicken and training; 5) All documentation regarding 2000 Conference turned over to treasurer so that 2000 taxes can be filed as 501c3; checking account must remain at least at $2500 to avoid fees; Neal suggests that we authorize Sommerness to find an appropriate CD and put it in, Harrington moved that the treasurer put the $20K seed money in CD of a term not to exceed 2 years and seek the highest possible interest rate; Wilson seconded; discussion about money market accounts; internet accounts available; looked at several banks; Bowman recommended E-trade, highest interest rate available 5% or 5.1%, no membership fee, bank account, money market higher at 3.9%; unanimous vote; cost of course up to $500; Wilson motion to authorize treasurer to use own judgment about need for a course but authorize up to $500 to become skilled at Quicken; Wrigley seconded; unanimously accepted; NAPLA does a review of records at the cost of several hundred dollars; use of someone on the board to do an internal review; protection of Marty; clarification asked for about definition of review of records; auditor’s role; MAPLA: a complete audit at the beginning of each term plus preparing taxes, costs $700 annually; Wilson suggested that a review of the records and if there is a problem, do a full audit; Wrigley suggested that a review/audit of the records and then protect Marty from any consequences; after various changes and discussion, Wright moves that we have an external review of records now and an annual external review of the records henceforth by an accountant, and as an organization we save and hold Sommerness from any and all financial transactions that occurred prior to today; seconded by Wilson; vote passes with one vote against; Wright moves that the Chair of PLANC be the co-signature; Harrington moved that Batchelor be one of the signatures on all financial accounts; vote passed;
Discussion of raising dues started by Neal; average price of PLANC meetings has been 7-10K, annual spring meeting costing us an average of 2K; 10-12K per year, not counting cost of PLANC Points; if schools stopped paying for printing costs, motion in Fall 2000 meeting to raise dues in increments to $1000; motion on the floor; 1) to we raise to 1000 and 2) do we begin with $500 this year; on the PLANC board: chair, chair-elect, immediate past chair, treasurer and one PP editor per meeting; extensive discussion ensued in relation to cost of dues to each APLA; Harrington had suggested in November that we take this issue back to our individual APLA’s; reported feedback from NAPLA Board; NAPLA wants a multi-year budget, a cost-benefit statement, suggestion of an annual meeting versus two meetings a year; locations, meals, costs to APLA’s; Wilson read out of By-Laws: each fall meeting there will be a projected budget for the next fiscal year; meeting with APLA conferences determines part of costs; meeting with APLA’s; Wilson asks if we present a coherent budget to APLA’s does that satisfy their needs? Wilson suggests that in the future that if an APLA invites PLANC to their meeting, the APLA is responsible for the registration fee; Homer observes that the registration fee at NAPLA is higher than others; Batchelor suggests that the benefit of this board be expressed; Brandt suggests that travel for PLANC be organized by Dona equalize the cost of transportation to everyone; Wright asked why we have 2 meetings a year; Neal explained one meeting is with an APLA on our own business; the one in the spring has been hosted by LSAC, one day on our own business and one day at Newtown; Wright asked if we could have one meeting instead and drop fall meeting; Wright (c)adds that conference planning has been important for fall meeting plus other APLA meetings are helpful for learning; Wilson says it is valuable about the APLA meeting; a once a year meeting is not appropriate; Wilson moves that would like a 4-year projected budget, give to APLA’s for their fall meetings or no later than 9/15/01 and for PLANC decide about dues in our next meeting; Wright (C) seconded; Harrington states that By-Laws do not reflect ability of board to communicate over the internet; Bowden explained how Access Group organizes an annual meeting over the phone and never meets face-to-face, committee comes in the day before the conference and meets for the first time; meetings provide options to reward people for efforts throughout the year; Sommerness reports that after paying for this meeting we will have $12K then we will have$1800 come in; if we wait till spring of next year will be in a bad situation, in spite of the fact that the spring meeting is paid for by LSAC; Robbins suggested that we need is some kind of product; Batchelor suggests that whatever the board does that it be self-funding; the cost of all initiatives would be estimated before they were instituted; Guliuzza suggested an amendment that the officers ought to put together a brief report about what APLA’s are getting for their money; need for a report to show benefit; recommends a decision on the dues; Batchelor suggests prospective and retrospective overview; Wilson suggests that Chair’s annual report be in PLANC Points; Wright called the question; vote passes unanimously
VI Reports:
Access Group, Inc- Bowden, VP School Services
Cookbook and handouts are here for PLANC members; history of the Access Group explained; Access Group was Law Access, then split off of LSAC to become a separate financial aid entity, expanded financing of law school to other kinds of graduate school financing; very good working relationship with LSAC; non-profit, owned by deans of law schools; federal and private loans; graduate school financing; most law schools are tuition-dependent; 80% of students rely on loan programs for financing students; industry trends: highly competitive market; Law Access only program in 80s; today’s market has changed a lot; Access is an industry regulator-- level of service to schools would be lower without them; not the cheapest program but great service; some other financial aid programs are eliminating loans to students at some schools; federal loans most COA (cost of attendance) $35-40K/year so students need more money than federal program provides (up to $18,500); default rates by students from law schools determine if loan companies are interested in lending to students; some companies require co-signers; credit ratings 88% approval rate; credit checks determine the % rate at which a person will repay; student with no credit history is hurt; go to the bookstore and complain about credit card offers in every bookstore bag; there is some consolidation Sallie Mae buying up all the lenders; consolidating on the back end so the names of companies still exist; federal loans direct loan 33% Sallie Mae for 33% the rest in the other 1/3; trends 14% increase in median cost of private schools from 96-99; non-tuition costs increases at a higher proportion; out of state at public schools $27K; treating out of state students like a private school; increase 17%; numbers go up 4-5% per year, compounding; median debt: highest level of debt both federal and private (25A%) +/- 20K public/private including interest due at graduation; 18% higher from 96-99, students borrowing more than they need; 125/month for every 10K; students need to be careful about borrowing practices; students need to talk to financial aid officers at their schools, use educational materials from Access Group; website has debt management information; PDF files to copy for students;
LSAC—Brandt
Ken Kleinrock (NYU) is the new chair of Services and Programs; Access Group indicated that it will match LSAC’s money from conference; applicants for June LSAT administration up 8%; 17% increase in law school applicants; help students prepare for that; prospects for students are changing at an individual law schools; 1/3 of all applicants apply to only one school; LSAC will offer the law schools the option of creating an electronic application which will be housed on the law school’s web site, and be linked to LSAC; the law schools will charge some fee for their application, some amount of that fee will go to LSAC for creating electronic application for them; this will benefit those who apply to only one or a few law schools; student can apply electronically on-line without buying the LSACD; LSACD applicant users are applying to an average of 9 law schools new ABA-LSAC book is out; very accessible; 4 pages of info—2 pages from LSAC/2 pages from ABA; good news is all ABA info will now be on LSAC web site; new searches students will be able to do with ABA material on web site; new information in book on Letter of Recommendation service; rewritten information on when law schools gets their reports; candidates will understand when/how the schools get the information better; new brochure for law school admissions officers to do outreach to LGBT ; LSAC sponsor 5 recruiting forums in 5 provinces in Canada; just now getting the recruitment fever; S&P talking about transfer situation in relation to admissions policies; law schools share LSDAS information in transfer process; misconduct and latest grades may not be shared; law schools asked LSAC to develop to a fee- structured project to simplify the process; extended subscription might get a 5-year (right out/after some time/after peace corps/deferment) fee; letters of recommendation submitted during college would be held until student becomes applicant; PLANC expressed concern about cost of new service; PLANC questioned ability of candidate to have the LSAT score repeated while on TelScore, within the same phone call
VII PLANC Points—Homer
Next PLANC Points issue will come out soon. Polinard is working on it.
VIII APLA Reports:
PCAPLA- Wright
November 8-9th, LA in conjunction with LA Forum; conference information will come later
SAPLA-
Joint conference with NAPLA in Williamsburg; thanks to Faye Sheely, Dean of Admissions at William and Mary College of Law for helping to plan and manage the conference
MAPLA—Mecozzi
Written report; membership same; program for Chicago conference; dates of caravan; registration for caravan; recruitment committee: ¾ sites are in Ohio; trying to get credit card on web site but is very expensive; thousands annually; www.paypal.com used for business accounts; MAPLA Profiles—used to print 10K, now down to 7500, have already sold 7200; early dates of caravan means that MAPLA Profiles will not be ready before caravan; MAPLA Profiles questionnaires used to be sent out on paper, 3 years ago went to on-line; has been housed at the University of Chicago; changes in constitution dealing with elections of officers in order to have longer representation at PLANC
SWAPLA—Robbins
Representatives will be on PLANC for four years; conference in Houston November 2-4; caravan will be 10/29-UTEP
NAPLA-Harrington
Joint conference being held with SAPLA in Williamsburg, VA; elections to be held
WAPLA—Crane
Conference in Albuquerque in Oct 5-7; during Balloon Fiesta; “Do Prelaw Advisors Really Make a Difference;” $79/night rate, 35 rooms trying to get 10 more; caravan
IX Elections
Neal indicated a need for a conference chair; Wilson nominated Wright (C) as Conference Chair; Wright indicated that her position at Lafayette may be changed as a result of changes in leadership at Lafayette; deans were opposed to idea, keep Wright away from basic job; NAPLA as an organization would be willing to support Carol; Harrington offered NAPLA as the Conference Committee; discussion of a conference committee process; suggestion of one or two APLA’s; site selection and large gala activities need to be done within next year; Batchelor suggesting De Leo as conference chair; Wilson moves to accept the proposal that NAPLA be authorized to return to the next meeting with a conference proposal, conference committee alignment, site proposals, budget and pricing; Seconded by Guliuzza; Wright (K) suggests every APLA pres should be on a conference committee email list for reporting and feedback; Harrington thinks by the end of the year everything could be in place; Wrigley says that members of other APLA’s should be involved; discussion; vote unanimous
A Recruitment Calendar:
What is the source of the resistance to the project? Northeast schools do not have a caravan; NAPLA does not influence date choices of individual schools; NAPLA disagrees with PLANC becoming a clearinghouse; Mecozzi suggests that as soon as the forum dates are set that the information be distributed; busses could be arranged to carry students from school to school to minimize sites; college students who apply directly to law schools is less than 30%; why forums bring in working people who will be applicants; PLANC can coordinate information; PCAPLA has worked out difficulties around forums; Neal can use PLANC as forum as discussion about caravan problems; think farther in advance; Mecozzi suggests that a calendar be put on a web site so that PLA’s can post what they are considering in order to see what it conflicts or coincides with; Brandt thinks this is a perfect Mecozzi—how to educate about need; APLA newsletter/LSAC report/PLANC Points goes out to educate; Nim needs to sit down with LSAC people to see how things can be coordinated; our web site should be 18 months out; Homer suggested that ask people holding fairs to affiliate with the APLA to coordinate with APLA events
A Future PLANC meeting:
Standard meeting time to meet in March –retreat for ideas; a meeting in fall or meet in spring on Saturday in addition to Sunday and Monday; Mecozzi supports idea of retreat but not a separate meeting; Batchelor does not think we should combine meeting, change agendas; Wright suggests that setting the retreat agenda should have collaboration in setting it; Neal should have a list of ideas; request for ideas; Batchelor suggests that there are others with the best ideas; Wilson in an ideal world have a free meeting in fall; ideally separate free standing meeting for discussion; Wright moves that we expand meeting in Philadelphia to 3 days instead of 2 where the first day we discuss our goals and identity and that we approach TAG for support for financial support; Batchelor seconded; LSAC will pick up tab on Sunday, lunch on dinner; Access Group for meal and one night room; Brandt will approach TAG; vote unanimous; Robbins suggested certification of prelaw advising
B. LSAC is willing to coordinate PLANC travel to APLA’s for semi-annual meeting—follow-up with Anne about this
C. Announcements:
Registration for NAPLA-SAPLA conference will begin at 8 AM on Wednesday
Present of appreciation given to Chas Neal for services for the last three years as PLANC Chair; his term ends 6/30/01
XII Adjournment: 1:30 PM