By Catharine A. Punchello, MSM, Vice Provost and University Registrar, Thomas Edison State University, AACRAO Public Policy Advisory Group Member
Greetings, AACRAO members. I hope that you are enjoying a little downtime at your college or university and spending time recharging for the fall.
Leaning into Your Professional Experiences
Many registrars and admissions officers, both new to the profession and seasoned veterans, look for opportunities to share their experiences and learn from others. AACRAO plays an important part in our careers in educating us on issues of higher education
administration and supporting us in our work. In return, there are many opportunities to contribute to the work AACRAO does by supporting each other through listservs, participating in caucuses and committees, and presenting at conferences.
I have found that my experiences are in some ways different than those of registrars at more traditional schools and I can both provide suggestions to them as well as learn from them. My whole career, over 31 years, has been at Thomas
Edison State University, and all but the first six months have been in the Office of the Registrar. Thomas Edison State University is one of a few institutions founded by the state legislatures of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire
in the 1970s.
The university was chartered to increase access to college degrees for adults by using transfer credit, creating a process for the assessment of prior learning for credit, and developing credit-by-exam options. TESU has
more than 11,000 students. Most are working adults and most have family commitments. About 40% of our students are active-duty military members or veterans.
I have a lot of experience in evaluating many types of transfer credit and
graduation certification, best practices, as well as offering courses at a distance. In our earlier days, these courses were provided via VCR tapes and printed course manuals, and later as online courses. On the other hand, I have no experience
in scheduling courses and limited experience with policies that come into play on a campus serving traditional-age students.
My experiences make me keenly aware of what I can learn and what I can offer in terms of different solutions
and perspectives that other schools may not consider.
Growing Your Network with AACRAO
Last year, I read about AACRAO’s Congressional Hill Day in the summer of 2023 and was excited by the idea of supporting AACRAO in its government affairs work. Although it was something that piqued my interest, it wasn’t an option for me
last summer due to other commitments. This winter, I read an email from AACRAO looking for members wanting to participate in their Public Policy Advisory Group (PPAG). The PPAG is a group of higher education practitioners who provide their perspective
to AACRAO on emerging legislation and help develop AACRAO’s responses on our behalf. As a professional, I am very interested in legislative issues affecting higher education and felt that my experience and knowledge would be able to provide
a different perspective for the group. I applied and was appointed to a three-year term as a PPAG member this spring.
Advocate for AACRAO
In our second PPAG meeting, it was announced that we were able to participate in the 2024 Congressional Hill Day, held in Washington, D.C., on July 22 and 23. I was very excited about this opportunity to meet with legislative staff and share AACRAO’s
position on key issues affecting our profession. As over 25 AACRAO members arrived in D.C. to meet in advance of the day of the Congressional Hill visits, it was clear that AACRAO had prepared well for the information they wanted us to provide.
We had a full day of preparation, including a presentation from Gallup on higher education-related data and panel discussions with government relations leaders for higher education organizations, such as the American Council on Education (ACE)
and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).
We heard from former legislative aids on what to expect during our meetings and watched as the AACRAO Government Relations staff role-played meetings for us.
Much time was spent on sharing the key issues we would discuss; The Reverse Transfer Act, the #DoublePell initiative, Short Term Pell and the JOBS Act, the FAFSA Fall out, Gainful Employment/Financial Value Transparency reporting requirements,
the Department of Labor Overtime Rule and the College Cost Reduction Act. This full day was critical for AACRAO members as we were all a little nervous about the idea of going to Capital Hill and speaking to our legislators’ staff members.
We were all given a list of our scheduled meetings, almost all with our state’s members of the House of Representatives and senators, so we could provide the constituency perspective as well as AACRAO’s perspective. It was suggested
that we research data on the number of our state’s residents that would be affected by the legislative issues we were to address, as this would be particularly meaningful. We were all excited for the next day and sent off with folders of
information for each legislative aid.
Advocate Advocate Advocate
It was an incredible experience to walk through the House of Representatives and Senate office buildings. Walking past the heavy wooden doors of legislators, usually surrounded by a United States and state flag, and reading the names of the officeholders
was exciting. Taking the elevators with House Members and senators was invigorating. As the only AACRAO representative from NJ, I was fortunate to be paired with the AACRAO intern, Faith Farley, who was incredibly impressive for a rising junior
in college. We had agreed that I would do the speaking, and she would support me if I missed some of the information since she had helped write much of it. As each meeting progressed, I became more comfortable and confident with the information
I presented. During one of our breaks, we sat in the gallery of the Capital Building while the House of Representatives conducted business.
Overall Impressions
Overall, participating in the AACRAO Congressional Hill Day was an energizing and positive experience. We were well prepared by AACRAO staff in what to say and how to be the best AACRAO advocate we could be. Meeting colleagues who were also interested
in legislative issues of higher education and hearing them speak about how the issues affect their institution was very interesting. I’d suggest to anyone who saw the notice this year and thought about it but didn’t participate, DO
IT next year. It was an incredible experience with an incredible group of colleagues. Being an AACRAO advocate as part of Congressional Hill Day was a great opportunity to grow my professional network and share my expertise on a larger scale.