FAFSA FRIDAYS with helpful links!

Dear Cowboys,

     The Canyon Counseling Department has taken on a challenge introduced by The White House called The FAFSA Completion Project.  To support this new initiative we were given data to see how many of our seniors completed their FAFSA last year.  Of the 635 seniors that we had, only 346 submitted a FAFSA.  We had almost half of our students turn down the opportunity for free money!  As we continue to push students to consider post-secondary options we want to make sure they equally understand their responsibilities to apply for financial support.

     Our goal is to increase awareness and the number of FAFSA submissions for this year.  To that end, we are going to start doing announcements every Friday (FAFSA FRIDAY) on the morning announcements and on the counseling blog.  We would like to ask you to support us in our efforts.   Please make sure that you watch the announcements each Friday in February!  We will be teaching you about the FAFSA, giving tips on how to apply, and introducing the scholarship just based on FAFSA completion.

To start off, here is some general information about the FAFSA:

-The FAFSA stands for Free Application For Federal Student Aid.  Filling out the application allows students to be considered for federal money (PELL GRANT) and state money (CAL GRANT).  If students qualify, the Pell Grant can give up to $5,500 and the Cal Grant can give up to $12,000 each year.

-The FAFSA is due March 2^nd.

-Students who attend a community college, trade, or tech school should still plan to complete the FAFSA. The FAFSA is not just for kids planning to go to a four-year school.

-The FAFSA asks parents for financial information.  Parents do not need to be finished with their taxes for this year.  They can use their tax return from last year to make estimates.

-The website to apply for the FAFSA is FAFSA.GOV .   There is a fafsa.com and fafsa.net, they are scam sites that charge students to fill out their FREE application.

-Some students don’t fill out the FAFSA because they think they won’t qualify because their parents make too much.  If the family doesn’t fill out the FAFSA, some schools won’t consider them for MERIT based help.  EVERY student should fill out the FAFSA so they have every opportunity for money.

-If parents have any trouble filling out the FAFSA, there is a little “HELP” button that will answer any question for them.  There is also a 1-800 help line (1-800-4-FED-AID) and the COC financial aid office will help any Santa Clarita Family with questions.  Their numbers are: Valencia campus, 362-3215 and Canyon Country Campus, 362-3804. There are also several YOUTUBE videos to help you fill out the FAFSA.

-The FAFSA forecaster (https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1) allows parents to see how much aid they might qualify for.  This is a great link for all grade levels!

-The FAFSA is for our seniors.  Underclassman need to wait until after January of their senior year to apply.

If you have any questions, please stop by the counseling office!

Movie Listings....WE'RE BACK!!

HERE are the movies for this weekend.

Two of the movies feature the military.  Did you know that the military is an option to help pay for college?  Some students join the ROTC program on the college campus to pay for tuition.  HERE is the ROTC information.  Please stop by the counseling office if you have any questions.

UCLA College Fieldtrip

If you are interested in touring the UCLA campus, we will be taking students on February 17th.  Please come to the counseling office to pick up a field trip form.  Please be advised there is a $10 cash donation to help pay for the bus.

Important Events this Week for Seniors

Seniors, if you are listening to the announcements, this post will be old news.  But just to make sure, there are many important events coming in the next week that we want to make sure you are know about.

Tuesday, January 27th is the first College of the Canyons Information Night for seniors that plan to attend COC in the Fall.  COC representatives will discuss the enrollment steps, dates, and priority registration.  This meeting is from 6:30-8 pm in the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center on the COC campus.

January 30th is an important deadline for some colleges.  Many schools will require seniors to send a transcript showing their first semester grades, or require you to send your standarized test (ACT/SAT) scores.  Each college is different, so they will email you directly to tell you what they require.  Please make sure you are checking your email, spam folders, and specific college created email accounts for important application information and deadlines.  In some cases, if you miss these deadlines your application will no longer be considered.

The SCV Scholarship Foundation is offering over 15 scholarships for just Canyon students. The highest scholarship is for $5000.  The deadline to apply is Monday, February 2nd.  If there is only one scholarship you try out for...THIS IS THE ONE!  THIS is the link.

Happy Holidays!

Cowboys, as we close out this semester we would like to leave you with a few important messages.

First, thank you for your patience while we finish scheduling for second semester.  Some of you may wonder why you fill out green sheets and aren't allowed in the counseling office.  To summarize it for you, we are trying to avoid THIS. 

When we schedule, to be honest, we would love to see every single one of you and hear your dream schedule.  This semester your counselors received over 750 green sheets (considering we have over 2,500 students, that's not too bad).  Can you imagine a line of over 750 students, waiting to talk to their counselor?  If each student only took five minutes, that would be a line with a wait time of SIXTY TWO HOURS! This is the way we have found that is most fair for everyone to be heard in the shortest amount of time.  Please know we care about you and are really trying to make the best possible schedule for all our students.

You can see your new schedule for second semester starting January 7th in Infinite Campus.  Second semester starts on Monday, January 12th.  Schedules will be changing over break.  Even if you did not request a schedule change, ALL students will need to print out a new schedule before starting on January 12th.  If you are having printer difficulties, you can get a new schedule in the library, or the Student Responsibility Center on Monday morning.

The PSAT, along with the SAT and ACT are important parts of the college admissions process.  Understanding how to read and interpret your PSAT score report, the differences between the tests, which one might be a better choice for you, how (and when) the tests are changing, and how college admission and financial aid offices this data is critical to your success down the road.  Please join us on January 13th at 6:30pm in the CHS Library to learn about all of these topics as our presenter, Rob Schwartz, from The Princeton Review and Premier College Guidance, will tackle these questions and many more for our families.

Seniors, please use this break to get your FAFSA PIN (please see previous post for more details.)

Freshman, Sophomore, and Juniors, this break might be a great time to start to explore campuses either in person or online. 

Whatever you do with your time over winter break, please be safe and make wise choices.  Remember, we care about you and can't wait to see you again in January!

Financial Aid for Seniors Starts Now

Seniors!

The BIG scholarship we have been telling you about is finally available!  The SCV Scholarship Foundation offers over 20 scholarships just for Canyon Seniors.  The largest scholarship is five thousand dollars!  We will be having a meeting to tell you more this Thursday, December 11^th in the Q-theatre during lunch.  The scholarship can be found HERE and the deadline to turn in your application (one application for over twenty scholarships) is Monday, February 2^nd.  

It is now time for us to shift our focus to financial aid.  Once you come back from winter break make it a priority to listen, or read, the bulletin.  We will be announcing scholarships almost weekly.  Scholarships are one way to get free money.  Schools, companies, and individuals gift you with money for college that you don’t need to pay back. 

   

The second way to get free money is to apply for GRANTS.  Grants are also free money that you don’t have to pay back.  The government offers a grant called the Pell grant and the state of California offers a grant called the Cal-Grant.  To apply for both of these, you must fill out the Free Application for Student Aid, or FAFSA.   Starting January 1^st, 2015, you can begin your FAFSA application.  Everything you need to know about the FAFSA can be found HERE. This application is done completely online.  However, you have to “sign” your application so you and your parent must get an electronic signature called a PIN from the government.   This process can take about a week, so it would be a good idea to apply for your FAFSA PIN over the break.  That way you are ready to go January 1^st.  Click HERE to apply for a FAFSA pin.

Are you worried you don't know enough about the FAFSA?  Don't worry, we will give you more information each week once we come back from winter break!

See you on Thursday!

Would You LIke To Play Sports In College?

The William S. Hart Union High School District, in cooperation with the NCAA, invites student athletes and parents to “NCAA ELIGIBILITY NIGHT.”  This workshop will be presented by the district's  director of curriculum and assessment, Mr. Dave LeBarron.

 When: Monday, December 8th

 Time: 6:30 pm

 Place:  Golden Valley High School Theater

             27051 Robert C. Lee Parkway

             Santa Clarita, CA 91350

Information will be presented regarding High School graduation requirements, UC/CSU college entrance requirements recruiting and eligibility for Division I, II, III and NAIA.

If you have questions, please stop by the counseling office.