Written by:
Brad A. Russo, JD
Associate Director of Financial Aid
Georgetown University Law Center
Photo: Brad Russo at the 2008 Access Group Graduate and Professional Financial Aid Conference
Four years ago, I was a new financial aid administrator just trying to stay above water while learning all the regulations, policies and skills I needed to master for my new career. The seasoned colleagues in my office were terrific teachers, but for three days in November I had the opportunity to learn from a wide variety of professionals from within the entire financial aid community – my new professional community – in a concentrated, fun and engaging way at my first Access Group Conference … And I most definitely learned a lot!
Away from the distractions of day-to-day work, the various Conference sessions and panels allowed me to really focus on learning more about topics of interest to me and my students. I spent some of my time learning or reinforcing the basics – filling in small holes in my knowledge and gaining some additional background on why certain things in this sometimes-Byzantine world are the way they are. I also chose to learn about some more advanced topics, and became the go-to guy in my office for those matters.
This enhanced knowledge provided me with more than just valuable information – it made me more confident in my interactions with students and other administrators back on campus, letting me feel more comfortable leading presentations, holding workshops and counseling individuals, even though I was relatively new.
The Conference is also a great opportunity for new financial aid administrators to meet and get to know peers from other schools. The discussions I had with those colleagues were sometimes informal – but always insightful – chats on how we approached various financial aid or office matters. But even more often, our conversations were not related to work at all, and that was perfectly fine. It was nice to just get to know these interesting and fun people on a more personal level, and be able to know who I could turn to in the future to ask questions or float some new idea.
Subsequent Conferences have continued to provide important new information, training and networking opportunities – but I’ll never forget that first one. In just three days, I felt like I had raced up the learning curve – leaving me more knowledgeable, confident, and connected.
