SASFAA's Swoonpies and Money

Season Four is rolling with another guest-loaded week of Swoonpies and Money.

For our Teaser Tuesday, we preview the October 20 SASFAA webinar, “OB3 Legacy Deep Dive,” with Brad Barnett and Nick Pruitt from EASFAA. Then Emily Baldwin returns with How I Got Here, featuring Emily Mitchell and Emma Stitch from Mercer University.

And on this Friday’s Weekend Edition, Sam Hicks is back with What Keeps You Up at Night? and her review of The Crash, followed by a game-day recipe for Beer, Bacon & Chocolate Chili.

Plus, listen for our new Weekend Edition musical intro, created by the fabulous Lou Murray, Mission Upbeat, LLC.

OB3, career stories, Netflix, and chili. That’s a pretty full week.

As a reminder, we won’t send another announcement through the SASFAA listserv on Fridays; we figure your inboxes already have enough to keep them busy. Besides, if you’re following Swoonpies and Money, you already know where to find us.

Welcome to the first Weekend Edition of Swoonpies and Money. In this Swoonpies Health & Wellness segment, our own Samantha Dunman aka Dr. Happy, speaks with fellow yogi, licensed massage therapist, and breast cancer survivor Dawn Coury for an uplifting and deeply personal conversation about healing, resilience, and learning to listen to your body.

Dawn shares how her cancer journey reshaped her approach to wellness and led her to explore the connection between physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Together, Samantha and Dawn discuss massage therapy, mindfulness, holistic practices, and the importance of slowing down and paying attention to what your body may be telling you.

The main takeaway: healing is deeply personal, and taking an active, mindful role in your own well-being can help you feel more connected, grounded, and supported along the way.

Today, with the premiere of Season Four, we are announcing a momentous change to Swoonpies and Money.

Starting this week, we’re moving to a twice-a-week schedule—with our regular professional edition earlier in the week and a new Entertainment Edition every Friday.

Earlier in the week, we’ll get down to business—SASFAA news and Association highlights, government and legislative developments, professional topics affecting financial aid, conference and training updates, and a look at what’s happening with the states in the region.

Then on Fridays, we’ll loosen the seatbelt a little. The Entertainment Edition will focus on the personal, entertaining, and sometimes unexpected side of Swoonpies, including Dr. Happy’s health and wellness series, Sam Hicks’ What Keeps You Up at Night?, and other stories and segments that help us get to know SASFAA members beyond their day jobs.

In this premiere episode, longtime Swoonpies contributors Samantha Hicks and Samantha Dunman look back on their contributions over the past three seasons and give us a preview of what they have planned for the season ahead.

And we’re also adding some new ways to have fun. This episode introduces one of our newest segments: The Secret Lives of SASFAA.

Under our longtime banner of “for members, by members,” Secret Lives gives us an opportunity to discover what SASFAA members do when the workday ends—their hobbies, passions, talents, causes, side projects, and the communities that matter to them.

If anyone has a “secret life” your SASFAA colleagues should know about, send us a message at [email protected]. We may just invite you onto the show to tell us about life after five o’clock.

Below are the links to today’s Season Four premiere.

And this Friday, our first Weekend Edition, S4:E2 will be available on Spotify and Apple.

The episode is Surviving Cancer: Healing from the Inside Out. One woman's deeply personal and powerful healing journey. You'll hear her own experience with cancer exploring both conventional and holistic healing approaches.

We won’t send another announcement through the SASFAA listserv on Fridays; we figure your inboxes already have enough to keep them busy. Besides, if you’re following Swoonpies and Money, you already know where to find us.

Welcome to fall. Welcome to Season Four. And welcome back to Swoonpies and Money.

As Season 3 of Swoonpies and Money comes to a close, we’re cleaning out the virtual podcast studio and sharing a few summer moments we left behind. One last look back at summer, and I think it’s safe to say, we’re all pretty happy to put this one in the rearview mirror.

First, we roll out the velvet rope and revisit the fabulously over-the-top NASFAA 60th Anniversary red carpet, where some of the brightest personalities in financial aid arrived in full gala mode, dressed to impress and ready to answer the only question that really matters on a night like that: Who are you wearing?”

For video of the red carpet gala, check out our Facebook Page.

Then, Bill sits down with Wendy Owens from the University of Miami for a thoughtful conversation about NASFAA’s first-time attendee experience, getting involved, and the value of connection within our profession.

Today, we’re joined by two SASFAA leaders that we're especially excited to hear from: Helen Faith from the University of Virginia and Jackie Copeland from UNC Chapel Hill.

And this time, Sam Hicks is taking a little break from asking What’s Keeps You Up At Night to turn the conversation in a more professional direction.

Sam sits down with Helen and Jackie to talk about a very timely theme that Kitty Conrad has set for SASFAA this year: Finding Your Why.

For so many of us, financial aid is much more than a job. It’s a profession built around helping students, supporting families, mentoring colleagues, and trying to make a real difference, often during some pretty challenging moments. But when the days get busy and the work gets complicated, it can be easy to lose sight of what brought us here in the first place.

So today, Sam asks Helen and Jackie to reflect on what continues to inspire them, what gives their work meaning, and what keeps them connected to this profession after so many years.

For just a little while, forget about what’s keeping you up at night; instead, think about what gets you up in the morning.

Here’s Sam with Helen Faith and Jackie Copeland.

Why compare OB3 to a hurricane? Because after months of preparation, anticipation, and the intensity of the first year of implementation, it feels as though we’ve withstood the fury of the storm’s first wall and may now be sitting in the eye. It’s a chance to assess what happened and what we’ve learned, while knowing the next wall of the storm is still to come.

In this episode of Swoonpies and Money, we look back at what institutions learned during year one of OB3 and ask what the next “eyewall” could bring for students, families, enrollment, borrowing, institutional strategy, and the financial aid profession.

Michelle talks with Nancy Ferguson and Caitlin Lambert about an upcoming SASFAA webinar featuring professionals sharing their perspectives on the impact of OB3.

Then Bill is joined by Katie Conrad (of Georgia Tech), Heidi Kovalick (of Rowan University), and Daniel Barkowitz (of... well we'll get to that) for a candid conversation about where we started, where we are today, what surprised us, and what challenges still remain.

Speaking of Daniel, September 8 marked his first day at Penn State. Yes, we know Penn State is outside the SASFAA region, but Daniel remains a SASFAA Hall of Famer, lifetime Swoonie, and podcast contributor.

If you head over to our Facebook page, you’ll see the picture the Barkowitz family shared with us. There’s little Daniel, ready for his big day at school, backpack and lunchbox in hand, standing outside the house and headed to the bus stop.

The initial wave of OB3 is behind us, but the storm isn't. What does the next eyewall bring?

Some milestones deserve balloons, cake, confetti, and maybe even a little fanfare. Our 50th episode probably deserved all of that.

Unfortunately, we forgot.

In this episode of SASFAA’s Swoonpies and Money, Bill reflects on the podcast’s recently passed 50-episode milestone and looks ahead to the close of Season Three and the upcoming launch of Season Four.

There’s plenty ahead. The podcast is expanding with new segments, new contributors, and more voices from across the SASFAA region, and beyond, while continuing to deliver the mix of insight, information, storytelling, and entertainment our listeners have come to expect.

This episode features Michelle's interview with SASFAA President, Katie Conrad and her perspective on leadership in these challenging times. We also try to figure out what all that cheering in Miami and National Harbor were about back in July. You’ll have to listen and then head over to our Facebook page for the video evidence.

Today’s episode features Emily Baldwin’s "How I Got Here" segment, highlighting the mentor-mentee relationship between Alison Rabil and Jonathan Ibarra of Appalachian State University. They share their perspectives on mentorship, professional growth, and the relationships that help shape a career in financial aid.

Also, in her role as co-chair of the SASFAA Webinar Series alongside Brad Barnett, Emily provides an overview of this year’s webinar schedule, previews some of the topics ahead, and shares why you’ll want to mark your calendars.

Did you miss us?

The Swoonies took a well-deserved break in July. We’ve all been working hard, and candidly, several of us needed time to focus on important matters back in our respective offices.

Today’s episode is all about NOAW. To set the stage, we’re kicking things off with a clip from one of the workshop instructors that perfectly captures the energy and joie de vivre of the entire week.

If you’ve attended one of these workshops before, you already know there’s something special about them. Just as important as what you learn are the conversations, the connections, and the chance to spend time with people who truly understand this work.

If you’ve never attended a workshop, I hope today’s episode gives you a real sense of the experience — and maybe even inspires you to join us at the workshop next spring.

Two quick programming notes before we dive in.

First, today’s episode is nearly an hour and a half, which is fairly long for a Swoonpies and Money episode. But there was so much wonderful content, and so many great personalities to share, that we didn’t want you to miss a minute. So if the episode feels a little long, break it up. Listen on your way to work, pick it back up on the drive home, or enjoy it whenever it’s convenient.

Second, Season 4 of Swoonpies and Money officially launches in September. We have several new segments to share and some new Swoonies joining our merry band.

Today we're bringing you Day Two of our Florida Association Conference coverage. The conference was held last month in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida, and we're picking up right where we left off in our previous episode covering the first half of the conference.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Jody Walker and Kim Gordon discussing the LEAP Program
• Lou Murray and Tim Young sharing their love for LEGO
• Arminta Johnson's closing remarks, wrapping up another successful conference

The Doctor Happy Contest Continues!

Today's show is the conclusion of our Doctor Happy (aka Samantha Dunman) Contest. If you missed the last episode, here's the challenge:

Doctor Happy conducted five brief interviews with conference attendees. Your mission is to count how many times Doctor Happy says the word "Awesome" throughout those interviews.

Think you've got the answer?

Email your total to [email protected] for a chance to win an amazing gift package. The first listener to submit the correct number of "Awesomes" wins. 

So, listen carefully, and if necessary, revisit our Day One conference episode (S3:E13) to double-check your count. Start tallying those Awesomes and enjoy Day Two of the FASFAA Conference.