U hafta fafsa at college goal wi on Sat at 2:00 p.m. @YourPubLib.
Bring parent, enter to win up to $1000 scholarship #highschoolmascot2012.
OK, so high school seniors probably didn’t really tweet a
message like this to their friends, but they definitely did attend College Goal Wisconsin (CGW) at 29
sites throughout the state on February 18 & 19. CGW is sponsored by the Wisconsin Association
for Student Financial Aid Administrators and is designed to address the needs
of low-income and first-generation college students who are completing and
submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is
required to apply for federal student aid, such as federal grants, loans, and
work-study. The FAFSA is also used to apply for most state and college aid, in
addition to some private financial aid.
I first learned about College Goal Wisconsin during a
discussion with a local high school guidance counselor about ways the public
library could support the district’s efforts in encouraging high school students
to pursue higher education. College Goal
sounded like a perfect fit. While it was
too late in the year to be part of the official program, we were able to hold
our own FAFSA Completion Event through a partnership with Great Lakes Higher
Education Guaranty Corp. Then in 2010, Hedberg Public Library in Janesville was added as an
official CGW site. Other sites include
universities, technical colleges and high schools in various locations.
Preparation for a College Goal Wisconsin or FAFSA completion
event can begin as much as a year in advance.
Hosting an event of this type will require support from library
administration and key departments such as Youth Services, Computer Systems and
Public Information. Establishing a
partnership with higher education financial aid advisors or a group like
College Goal Wisconsin is a must right from the start! Clearance for the use of a large meeting
space and several computers must be made well in advance as well as permission
to use computers from other organizations, if needed.
Our volunteers included college financial aid advisors,
student services representatives, reference and young adult librarians, a
bilingual outreach coordinator, computer systems manager and two college
students. Training sessions for
volunteers were offered prior to the event that highlighted the FAFSA IRS
retrieval system as well as line-by-line instructions for the FAFSA.
While I did tweet a message or two and posted a
Facebook event as College Goal approached this year, most of our publicity was more
traditional. Once the materials provided
by CGW were approved for distribution to students, information about our event
was included in daily announcements and emails to high school seniors. Posters lined the walls of classrooms and
flyers were available in guidance offices, libraries and charter schools. CGW
water bottles and other freebies were given to seniors at area school Financial
Aid Nights in January.
On the day of CGW at our library, volunteers arrived early
for instructions, assignments and pizza!
In order to accommodate everyone, laptops from our library system and
additional computers were set up ahead of time.
Computers were networked for printing and shortcuts to the FAFSA and
student survey were placed on desktops. Registration for students and families
opened and we were off to a great start. Following a brief presentation at the
start of CGW, students completed their FAFSA forms in computer labs with the
help of volunteer FAFSA advisors. Over 80 participants attended CGW in
Janesville this year and one lucky student will receive a $350 scholarship
after enrolling in college in fall 2012. Students across Wisconsin took a major
step toward pursuing their goals of higher education.
A few weeks after CGW, a One-on-One College Access Advising
Session was held in our computer lab with Tou Ya Khang, College Access
Advising Project Coordinator at Great Lakes Higher
Education Guaranty Corporation. Students and families received
help with questions about financial aid, applications and admissions, the FAFSA
and scholarships. In addition to its U
HAFTA FAFSA campaign, Great Lakes offers several Next Stop College programs for high school students and their parents.
Other helpful resources include FAFSA; Federal Student Aid Information; Federal Student Aid Information for Counselors; Federal Student Aid Publications; CGW Guidelines for Host Sites.
And finally, I just
discovered FAFSA on Twitter I
think I’m ready to start planning for next year’s event!
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