MASFAA Conference

Agenda

Download the Conference App, Whova!

Pronounced “Who-va”, the conference app will allow you to see the agenda, view presentations, see who else is attending the conference, ask committee members a question, and communicate with other attendees. Download the app today on the App Store or Google Play! Your email address you used to register for the conference is the email address you will use to download the app.

Registration

Cost to Attend

Both days: $325

Single day (Thursday or Friday): $185

Pre-Conference NASFAA Credential Training: Satisfactory Academic Progress (included with registration for one or both days)

Hotel Accommodations

Margaritaville Resort Cape Cod, Hyannis, MA

Nightly rate: $149, plus $10 resort fee and tax. Water Park passes are included in this rate.

Rate notes:

• 3^rd/4^th Person (17 years and older) – an additional surcharge of $20.00 plus tax, per night will be added.
• Check-in time is 3:00pm, and Check-out time is 11:00am.  Requests for early arrival or late departure will be subject to availability of rooms.
• Group Rates have a 7 day Cancellation Policy.
  Advance deposits are refundable for individual cancellations received at least 14 days prior to guest arrival date. Cancellation of a reservation within 7 days of arrival, or failure to check in on the scheduled arrival date, will be charged a penalty of one night’s room rate plus tax. An early departure is considered a cancellation. If any group member decides to shorten the length of their stay within 14 days of arrival, the penalty of one night’s room rate plus tax will apply.

How to reserve your room:
Individuals reserving their guest rooms can call Mindy Anderson at 508-568-2910 or email at manderson@capecodderresort.com.

• Mindy’s typical hours are Monday through Friday, 9am-4pm.
• When calling, guests should identify themselves as part of the MA Association of Financial Aid Administrators in order to receive the preferred group rates.
• Please reserve a room by October 17, 2024 in order to receive the discounted rate.

About the hotel:
Nestled on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with nearby beaches, museums, shopping centers, and historic sites, the newly renovated Margaritaville Resort Cape Cod is scheduled to open in Summer 2024. The resort will feature 272 island-inspired guestrooms and suites, a range of on-site amenities including the Fins Up! Indoor Water Park, an outdoor pool, Fins Up! Fitness Center, Parakeets Kid’s Club, and a Fin City Arcade, along with signature Margaritaville bars and eateries.

Welcome to Margaritaville Resort Cape Cod, where the Cape’s charm meets the Margaritaville state of mind in a fusion of paradise.

Keynote Speakers

Jason LeVasseur

Jason LeVasseur is a touring musician, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, summer camp program director, online teacher and the most awarded music performer in the history of campus entertainment – winning over 20 awards! He has worked with over 2,500 campuses across the country as a speaker and entertainer, having shared the stage with The Roots, Ludacris, Train, John Mayer, The Dave Matthews Band, and Maroon 5. Join us at the Margaritaville Resort to kick off the conference and celebrate what makes YOU a Rock Star!

Nicole McDermott, M.Ed., ACC

Nicole McDermott is a leader, educator, facilitator, coach, and consultant with 20+ years of experience. She values courage over comfort and has experience integrating Dr. Brené Brown’s work into the award-winning Northern Virginia independent school she led from 2005 through 2023. A longtime member of Kiwanis International, Nicole has facilitated and managed volunteer teams delivering leadership content to teenagers and was directly responsible for the logistics of educational conferences serving thousands of high school students. Nicole has facilitated workshops and educational sessions in person and virtually for 50-100 attendees and spoken to groups up to 1000 people. Her professional areas of expertise include maintaining integrity while leading through change, building community and trust within teams, working through conflict between stakeholders, shifting climate and culture, coaching and staying curious, mentoring young adults, and educating the whole child. Nicole holds a B.S. in elementary education and a M.Ed. in education leadership as well as a certificate in positive leadership. She is a graduate of an accredited coach training program – now an International Coach Federation certified professional at the ACC level – and she was trained by Dr. Brené Brown as a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator. Nicole meditates and practices mindfulness every day, donates blood regularly, and when she was a Head of School, she had a pink office. Through her company, Quality Matters LLC, she brings her Certified Dare to Lead™Facilitator and coaching skills to leaders, organizations or groups seeking to build courage, increase empathy, and develop stronger teams. In addition, Nicole is a partner with Educational Directions, a nationally-recognized independent school search consulting firm, where she helps meet schools where they are and connect them with outstanding leaders.

Betsy Mayotte

Betsy is the President and Founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA). She has been working in the student loan industry doing compliance and advocacy work for over 20 years and has helped thousands of borrowers with their student loans.

Betsy has served as a primary negotiator for several federal Title IV negotiated rulemaking sessions on topics such as the use of student loans at foreign schools, loan rehabilitation and borrower defense to repayment. In addition, Mayotte frequently conducts regulatory trainings for the higher education financing industry both in the United States and as far away as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She is regularly quoted in the media on student loan issues including the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe.  She was recently featured in Money magazine as one of the top 50 influential Changemakers in America’s finances.  Betsy was born and raised in Lowell, MA and currently lives in Plymouth, MA.

Robert Weinerman

Robert Weinerman began his financial aid career in 1993 and spent over a decade as a financial aid officer at MIT, Babson college, and a consultant at several smaller schools in new England. He left the aid office in 2003 to work for College Coach, where he assembled a team of financial aid officers who would provide parents with guidance on how to save for or pay for college, through their employer’s benefits program. Robert started training financial aid officers on all things tax-related in 2014 and was selected by Jim Briggs to take over Jim’s business when Jim retired from tax training in 2015.

Charity

Each year, MASFAA supports a charity through our raffle at the conference. This year, we will be supporting Food4Kids.

Food4Kids

Food 4 Kids (F4K) operates as part of the Massachusetts Summer EATS program, our state’s branding for the federally funded USDA Summer Food Service Program. Each weekday for 9 weeks in the summer, they serve 450 – 600 children and teens breakfasts, lunches, and/or snacks right where they are — at local recreation programs and libraries in towns on the cape. All meals are provided free to the programs and free to all the children. With a small paid staff and the help of 100+ summer volunteers, they: plan, buy, store, pack, and deliver the meals.

They not only feed hungry bodies, they feed hungry minds! F4K gives out 5 – 7 free children’s books daily at every lunch site! If a child receives a golden coupon with the meal, they may choose a new book to take home and keep. The books are not just good reads – they are carefully chosen to be age-appropriate and to speak to diversity and inclusion. Often children are seen reading or listening to stories while eating their meals.

For more information about who they are and what they do, check out their website at https://www.food4kidscapecod.org/.

Sponsors

Click here to view Sponsorship Opportunities