Report from the Chief Delegate: 2011 NACAC Assembly
The 2011 Assembly took place on Saturday, September 24, 2011. While there were no immediate changes to the SPGP or action items, there was plenty to discuss.
New Business
Two new motions were presented to the board during the 2011 Assembly. The first motion requested a review and evaluation of waitlist practices which would include, but not be limited to, topics of timing, transparency, and financial consideration. The second asked for a survey of membership with specific emphasis on the use of technology and communication among members. Both motions passed.
An open-discussion was also held on the practice of incentive-based compensation in international recruitment. Delegates and membership were briefed on this topic through the distribution of multiple documents, which are available here. The Board has appointed a commission that will make recommendations to the Admission Practices Committee and the NACAC Board for the promotion of ethical practice in international recruiting. Any recommendation for Assembly action on the SPGP as it relates to the recruitment of international students will be deferred for no more than two years. Finally, the Admission Practices Committee will not process complaints about alleged violations of SPGP Mandatory Practices as it relates to the use of incentive-based compensation in the recruitment of international students during this period and urges affiliates to respond in a similar fashion.
A special thanks to the Illinois delegates for their diligent research over the past several months and to the Illinois membership for submitting numerous comments and questions which assisted in that research.
Elections
The following candidates were elected to the NACAC Board of Directors:
President-Elect (2011-2014)
Jim Rawlins
Executive Director of Admissions
Colorado State University (CO)
Directors (2011-2014)
David Allen
Managing Director
Global Colleges Counselors, Ltd. (UK)
Fran Cubberley
Vice President for Enrollment Management
Delaware County Community College (PA)
Steve Syverson
Retired June 2011
Vice President for Enrollment
Lawrence University (WI)
Status of Motions from 2010 Assembly
The delegates received updates on two motions presented during the 2010 assembly, those being a national reply date for transfer students and the development of best practices and guidelines for determining fee waiver eligibility.
Regarding the motion to explore a transfer reply date, the Admission Practices committee, with the assistance of the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges, found that nearly 9 out of 10 four-year institutions responding to the survey do not currently ask transfer students to reply to an admissions offer by a specific or uniform date. The Admission Practices Committee thus proposed that no action be taken on this issue and that the report explaining the background data be provided to the Assembly for future discussion.
As for the motion on fee waiver eligibility, NACAC staff reached out to officials at ACT and the College Board hoping to gain agreement on the use of eligibility criteria across all testing programs to ease the tasks for counselors administering the distribution of fee waivers. Both organizations support the use of common criteria and will be streamlining their procedures for launching this fall.
If you have any questions regarding items mentioned here or other organization business, please do not hesitate to contact your Illinois delegates.
Sacha Thieme
Chief Delegate
DePaul University