Counselor's Corner
Royse City High School Newsletter ~ November 2021
Counselor Update!
We kicked off the second nine weeks with course selections for our Rising Seniors. The Counseling Department is meeting with students individually to discuss course selections for the upcoming school year. Once we wrap up course registration for our current Juniors, we will move onto registering our current Sophomores. We are excited to sit down with every student for a one-on-one discussion, as we help guide them through the next year of high school. I have attached the AP/Honors Contracts for the 2022-2023 school year below. If you child is wanting to take an AP/Honors course, we must have a contract on file. All AP/Honors contracts are due by the May 4th deadline! Of course if you have any questions about scheduling, please feel free to reach out to your child's House Counselor.
Counselor Facebook Page and Twitter
-Twitter: Follow the RCHS Counselors on Twitter @RCHS_Counselors
2021-2022 District Calendar
Download the 2021-2022 district calendar here: https://tinyurl.com/4mab8cv5
RCHS Counseling Website
What House Office Do I Belong To?
Royse City High School is divided into houses by student's last name. In each house your child will find their Assistant Principal, Counselor, and the House Secretary.
Alpha House Students (Last Names A-D)
Principal: Shannon Ainsworth
Counselor: Jere Medina
Secretary: Shirley Lancaster
Beta House Students (Last Names E-K)
Principal: Chris Rayson
Counselor: Kimberly West
Secretary: Belinda Quintero
Gamma House Students (Last Names L-Re)
Principal: Candace Martin
Counselor: Amy Lutes
Secretary: Tara Garcia
Delta House Students (Last Names Rf-Z)
Principal: Carlos Soliz
Counselor: Kelly Seery
Secretary: Cyndi Phillips
Royse City College and Career Academy
Principal: Nikki Steele
Counselor: Linda Taylor
Secretary: Amanda Chance
Buy Your Parking Permit
You can buy your parking permit in Gamma House for $50. Make sure you bring your current driver's license and insurance and your student parking contract.
RCHS Bell Schedule
1st Period: 8:25-9:15 AM
2nd Period: 9:20-10:10 AM
3rd Period: 10:15-11:15 AM
4th Period: 11:20 AM- 12:10 PM
Power Hour & Lunch: 12:10-1:10 PM
5th Period: 1:10-2:00 PM
6th Period: 2:05-2:55 PM
7th Period: 3:00-3:50 PM
Family Access Help!
If you are having issues logging into Family Access, please reach out to Maria O'Connor at the information below:
972-635-5020
Be sure to include your child's name and campus of attendance.
Cap and Gown Orders for Seniors!
Royse City Class of 2022 Students and Parents,
We hope that your 2022 school year is going well and will be all that you have worked and hoped for.
RCHS has many traditions and Graduation is the culmination of them all. Graduation recognizes all of the hard work you have put into earning your diploma. Participation is a must, as it gives family and loved ones the opportunity to celebrate with you in this accomplishment.
Cap, Gown, Tassel and RCHS Graduation Medal are required to participate in the graduation ceremony and will need to be ordered by January 15th.
Orders for caps & gowns, as well as other graduation items, are ordered online or at our office located at 2511 Ridgecrest Rd Greenville, Texas. To help make your online ordering easy and convenient, we have set up a text line that is answered from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm 7 days a week (903.380.5544). Our local website www.balfour1.com will give you additional contact and ordering information as well. We have included some of the information below to get you started.
Ordering: https://tinyurl.com/5kcuzz9x
Balfour Class of 2022 Brochure: https://tinyurl.com/2jhcj478
Balfour Class of 2022 Video: https://tinyurl.com/dutbhah7
THE FAFSA APPLICATION IS OPEN!!
Common FAFSA Mistakes that Can Cost You Money:
1. Not filling out the FAFSA
- Before you throw all your college savings at first year's tuition, fill out the FAFSA!
- The information is used for more than qualifying for student loans. You could lose out on federal grants, state grants, or need-based scholarships. The extra money you receive may eliminate or reduce future borrowing.
2. Forgetting your School Code
- The FAFSA form provides your financial information to schools, but it can’t do so if you haven’t named the schools you're considering. Include all the schools you're applying to, up to the ten school limit. Look up the codes for your schools here.
- List schools from your state first, in case your state cares about the order of their placement on your FAFSA application. If school choices change after you fill out the form, simply log back in to add or delete schools.
3. Closing the confirmation page before reading it
- When you finish filling out the FAFSA, you'll be happy to be done. But make sure you're really done.
- Read the confirmation page for additional information, such as scholarships available and links for applying for state-based aid. For instance, the New York state application for their state schools' Tuition Assistance Program grant is linked from the confirmation page. Forgetting this click could cost a family over $5,000.
4. Ending your financial aid search with the FAFSA
Here are three of the best things you can do to pay for college while incurring the least amount of debt:
- First, speak with your high school counselors. They can tell you about local and national scholarships you might qualify for.
- Second, speak to college financial aid counselors at the schools you're applying to. They will provide you with info regarding scholarships specific to majors or even your talents.
- Look for scholarships on your own. There are so many out there that you can't assume your high school or college will know about all the scholarships that you may eligible for. Check out the Nitro scholarship database to get started.
5. Not filling out special circumstances forms
- Family financial situations change. If your or your family's income has decreased dramatically for any reason since the tax year reported on the FAFSA, you’ll want to tell the school you've chosen.
- To do this, detail your situation in a special circumstances form, available from the institution. This may help open up need-based aid previously unavailable to the student.
6. Filing the FAFSA too late
- Some aid is dispersed on a first-come, first-serve basis. The longer you wait, the less likely you'll be to get a slice of the aid pie.
- Be sure to fill out the FAFSA as close to October 1 as you can.
7. Including your parent's income when you don't have to
- The difference between filing the FAFSA as a dependent or an independent student is big. When you file as a dependent, your FAFSA must include not only your own income, but the income of your parents. For need-based aid, this could mean the difference between qualifying or not.
- It's not just independent students who should double check. Dependent students whose parents are divorced won't need to declare both incomes. Likewise, unless you've been legally adopted, you would not need to declare the income of a grandparent or other guardian. Make sure to carefully read the rules before you submit your FAFSA.
8. Overstating previous studies
- Some students misunderstand a question that asks if you have a bachelor's degree. If you have taken classes but have not yet graduated, you should answer this question "no."
- Undergraduate students who answer this question incorrectly by selecting "yes" will disqualify themselves from most aid. Only select "yes" if you have received your degree or if you are applying for aid as a graduate student.
9. Leaving off other students in your household
- Is your parent or sibling also attending school? Make sure to include that information in Question #96. If your household's income is supporting more than one student, the federal government will take that into account when deciding how much is a reasonable expected financial contribution, or EFC, for your family.
10. Using the wrong income
- Overstating or understating your household income can cause headaches down the road. If you note too much for your income, for example, by using the wrong income from your tax return, you could unnecessarily disqualify yourself for some types of aid. Likewise, declaring certain assets, such as retirement accounts or homes, as investments can artificially boost your EFC and reduce your eligibility for aid.
11. Forgetting to sign your FAFSA
- After you've completed all of the questions, you still need to officially sign your FAFSA in order to submit it to the Department of Education. To do so, you'll need a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID. Sometimes it can take a few days to set up your ID, so don't wait until the last minute to get started.
- In general, with the FAFSA, it's important to take your time, read as much as you can, and be 100% sure about your answers before you submit your form.
**To find more information about the FAFSA, please visit https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
THE FAFSA APPLICATION IS NOW OPEN!
7 Things You Need Before Filling Out the 2022–23 FAFSA Form:
1. Your FSA Account
If you haven’t already, create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) account by setting up a username and password. Each student, and—if you’re a dependent—one of your parents, will need an FSA account (also known as an FSA ID) to complete the FAFSA process on fafsa.gov. We recommend creating your account early—even before you’re ready to complete the FAFSA form—to avoid delays in the process. That’s because you may need to wait up to three days to use your FSA account after creating it.
2. Your Social Security Number
3. Your Driver's License Number
4. Your 2020 Tax Records
On the 2022-23 FAFSA form, you (and your parents if you are a dependent student) will report your 2020 income information.
5. Records of Your Untaxed Income
The FAFSA questions about untaxed income, such as child support, interest income, and veterans’ non-education benefits, may or may not apply to you. On the 2022-23 FAFSA form, you’ll report 2020 tax or calendar year information when asked these questions.
6. Records of Your Assets (Money)
This section includes savings and checking account balances, as well as the value of investments such as stocks, bonds, and real estate excluding your primary residence. Report the current amounts as of the date you sign the FAFSA form, rather than reporting the 2020 tax year amounts.
7. List of the School(s) You Are Interested in Attending
Be sure to add any college you’re considering, even if you haven’t applied or been accepted yet.
- Even if there is only a slight chance you’ll apply to a college, list the school on your FAFSA form. You can always remove a school later if you decide not to apply, but if you wait to add a school, you could miss out on financial aid.
- The schools you list on your FAFSA form will automatically receive your FAFSA results electronically. They will use your FAFSA information to determine the types and amounts of financial aid you may receive.
- If you add a school to your FAFSA form and later decide not to apply for admission to that school, that’s OK! The school likely won’t offer you aid until you’ve been accepted anyway.
- You can list up to 10 schools at a time on your FAFSA form.
**To find more information about the FAFSA, please visit https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
STARTING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS
You will also find the Transcript Request button below. If you need an official transcript sent to a college or university, please create an account and fill out the form online. All requests are fulfilled online.
New Ways November
This month, we're encouraging you to try something new! Learning something new or getting involved in an activity that really absorbs and interests us is great for our wellbeing. Keeping our brains active is not only good for us physically but it can help you feel you are flourishing as you see yourself make progress with a new skill, or just make you smile as you make a mess and decide to start again. :) Being playful and trying new things is important, as is remembering that it's OK not to get it right first time - change "I can't do it", into "I can't do it...yet!" This month's calendar is full of ideas to help you decide what to try next.
Here's how you can get involved and make a difference:
- Take daily actions using our calendar below
- Spread the word on social media #NewWaysNovember
COLLEGE OF THE MONTH - STEPHEN F. AUSTIN UNIVERSITY
In 1917, SFA was chartered by the Texas legislature, Nacogdoches was selected as its location and the appropriation bill for funding was signed. By 1923, during campus construction, the first group of SFA students attended class nearby, blazing a trail for hundreds of thousands of students to follow in their footsteps. SFA’s breathtaking campus is located in the heart of East Texas in historic Nacogdoches. In addition to the main campus which encompasses 430 acres, the university maintains a 642-acre agricultural research center for beef, poultry, and swine production and an equine center; an observatory for astronomy research, a 2,650-acre experimental forest in southwestern Nacogdoches County, and a 25.3-acre forestry field station on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir. SFA has purple lights visible on top of one of the tallest buildings on campus, Steen Hall. A purple light also is illuminated in the Student Center clock tower
2021 Quick Stats
- Location: Nacogdoches, Texas
- Mascot: The Lumberjack
- Nickname: Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks
- Colors: Purple and White
- Tuition and Fees (in-state): $5,300
- Room and Board: $4,821
- Total Enrollment: 13,000 students
- School Type: Public, Coed
- Faculty: 519
- 120+ majors and areas of study
- 200+ student organizations
- School Website: http://www.sfasu.edu/
Guaranteed Automatic Admission:
- Complete an accredited high school program.
- Top 10%-No minimum score is required on SAT or ACT.
UPCOMING EVENTS AT ROYSE CITY HIGH SCHOOL!
November
November 6th - SAT Test (Deadline to register is October 8th)
November 15th - College 101 for Parents @ 6:00 PM
November 18th - Junior Ring Ceremony in PAC @ 7:00 PM
November 22nd-26th - Thanksgiving Break
December
December 4th - SAT Test (Deadline to register is November 4th)
December 11th - ACT Test (Deadline to register is November 5th)
December 17th - Early Release Day @ 1:00 PM
December 20th-January 5th - Winter Break
Contact Your Counselor
Jere Medina | Alpha House Counselor
Kimberly West | Beta House Counselor
Amy Lutes | Gamma House Counselor & Lead Counselor
Kelly Seery | Delta House Counselor
Linda Taylor | RCCCA Counselor
Matt Wheatley | Student Support Counselor
Website: https://www.rcisd.org/page/324
Phone: 972-636-9991
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RCHSCounselors
Twitter: @RCHS_Counselors