EASTERN @ 14
News of Note for the Class of 2014 for January
FINANCIAL AID PARENT NIGHT -- RESCHEDULED TO WEDNESDAY, January 29th @ 6:30.
Join us in the multipurpose room on Wednesday, January 29th with your questions for Ms. Candace Johnson (our KHEAA representative). She will share a short presentation about the financial aid process - but our time will be devoted to helping you with your specific questions about the Financial Aid process.
Coming to the FAFSA Workshop? Don't forget these items!
1. Student’s Social Security Number and Date of Birth
2. Parent(s)’ Social Security Number and Date of Birth
3. Parent(s)’ estimated income from 2013 (W2’s, last paycheck stub from 2013) or 2012 income tax form(s)
4. Student’s estimated income from 2013 (W2’s, last paycheck stub from 2013) or 2012 income tax form(s)
5. Parent(s) 2013 tax filing status: head of household, single, married filing jointly, OR married filing separately?
6. Parent’s marital status: single, married/remarried OR divorced/separated? If so, what month and year married, remarried, divorced, separated?
Are you on the receiving end or the giving end?
At this time of year, it is hard to determine that. Are you the parent that is financing your student's college education? Are you the college that is offering the scholarship? Maybe you are the student that just can't imagine going to college because there simply isn't any money left to make your dreams a reality.
Regardless of what your relationship is with money - you owe it to yourself to complete the FAFSA
YOU HAVE QUESTIONS - WE HAVE ANSWERS!
At this time of year, college admissions decisions are rolling in. The timing for this couldn't be more perfect! You have to know where you want to go so that you can accurately fill out the FAFSA form in January. If you have not started the application process - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Send in your application! Fill out a transcript request form (don't forget to bring in a postage stamp)! Request that your ACT scores be sent to the college (www.actstudent.org). Then wait for the admission decision!
SO you have been admitted to college - NOW WHAT? If you are reading this before January 1st - take the time to register for a pin. This is the only step that you can take now. Once January 1st arrives - you will toast to the NEW YEAR and then log back on to http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ (remembering your pin number) and ESTIMATE your tax return. You can always go back and correct things.
If you or your parents still have questions - please check out one of the College Goal Kentucky events sponsored by KHEAA. College Goal Kentucky targets disadvantaged and low-income students who need financial aid to attend college and who need help applying for that aid. Students should attend with a parent or guardian and bring their parents completed 2013 IRS 1040 tax return or other 2013 income and benefits information. If parents are unable to attend, students may attend alone and bring their parents' completed 2013 IRS 1040 tax return or other 2013 income and benefits information. FAFSA Completion events will allow you and your parents to bring their information and receive direct answers to their questions. If families haven't completed their taxes, financial aid professionals will be able to help fill out the rest of the FAFSA form and give instructions for the financial portion.
THERE ARE STILL SOME PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO HELP YOU GET THE ANSWERS THAT YOU NEED!
January 15th @ DOSS HIGH SCHOOL (Jefferson County) 4:30 - 7:00 7601 St. Andrews Church Rd, Louisville FAFSA Completion
January 23rd @ SOUTHERN HIGH SCHOOL (Jefferson County) 5:00 - 7:00 8620 Preston Hwy, Louisville FAFSA Completion
What is this PIN?
The FASFA PIN is a four digit number that serves as your electronic signature on your FASFA application every year that you apply for aid. All students applying for federal aid and ONE parent will need to apply for a pin. You can apply for your pin at pin.ed.gov
You need to remember your pin number! You will need it every time you make additions or corrections, retrieve data or just check your status, balance or make a payment for your student loans.
If you haven't logged on to get your pin - you may want to wait and get this pin number at the very end of the process! It takes less time this way!
IF YOU OR YOUR PARENTS HAVE NOT COMPLETED YOUR 2013 TAX RETURN, YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR FASFA NOW USING ESTIMATED TAX INFORMATION. YOU MAY USE YOUR 2012 TAX RETURN OR 2013 W-2 AND RELATED DOCUMENTS TO HELP ESTIMATE. YOU MUST CORRECT THIS INFORMATION AFTER YOU FILE YOUR RETURN.
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
This is the "official" FAFSA website: http://www.fasfa.ed.gov/ Remember to use the ed.gov site. Other sites may ask that you pay to submit your FREE APPLICATION FOR STUDENT FINANCIAL AID. Remember the first F stands for FREE.
There are many different types of financial aid available to students. Be sure to attend one of the College Goal Kentucky sessions to hear more information direct from the experts!
ULTRA
ULTRA is the best way to be a part of the University of Louisville in a most affordable way. ULTRA makes the bumpy road of transferring from one school to another smooth,
A representative from ULTRA will be here on January 29th during advocacy to explain the program in more detail. Students will first need to apply through JCTC and indicate in interest in ULTRA.
If you are interested in finding out more about ULTRA, please sign up on the page posted on Mrs. Weber's door before January 28th.
GOT QUESTIONS?
Financial Aid, FAFSA, Pell Eligible, SAR, EFC. Are these terms "greek" to you? If so, write your questions down and send them to school with your student. Then ask your student to stop by Mrs. Weber's office to sign up on the door! A representative well versed in the nitty-gritty details of the FAFSA document will be at Eastern on January 15 (during advocacy) to answer your questions.
Don't forget the Parent Night on January 21st at 6:00.
What's the Hurry?
Scholarship and Financial Aid season has arrived! The earlier that you apply for financial aid – the better your chances of actually having funds available. Don’t be left behind without funds to go to college!
All students are encouraged to complete the FAFSA! Parents and students who have taken the time to complete the FAFSA have been known to receive aid directly from the college/university. In this economy, spending some time to complete this FAFSA could provide aid even if the family doesn't qualify for any form of aid from the government.
WHERE IS THE FILE CABINET?
You simply must check out the file cabinet in Student Services! It is just outside of Mrs. Weber's office. Be sure that you check it regularly!
· TOP DRAWER contains all of the information that we receive from area colleges and universities. View books, school specific scholarships brochures, and other college materials are ready for you to sort through and take for your very own.
· SECOND DRAWER contains scholarships that we receive in our office. All Mrs. Weber asks is that you not take the last piece of information in the file folder. PLEASE NOTE -- Scholarship season begins in November/December and continues through March/April.
HOW DO I ORDER MY TRANSCRIPT?
PLEASE do not make any more requests for transcripts on Parchment. For the remainder of the year we will take care of all requests for transcripts through physically printing them, stamping them “official” and placing them either in your hands or in the US Mail (but you will have to provide a stamp). To request transcripts you will fill out the familiar blue form available in Student Services near Mrs. William's desk.
If you need FIRST SEMESTER GRADES - they will not be available until after January 29th. At this time we expect to post to transcript about the time that your first semester grades are available.
KEES MONEY? HOW MUCH HAVE YOU ALREADY EARNED?
Did you know that you are earning money for college? It is really no surprise. But you will be surprised if you don't access your KEES account to see how much money you have earned.
Accessing your KEES account is easy! Just go to www.kheaa.com and click on the Sign In button in the top right hand corner of the page to access or register for a free, personalized account. Use this customized tool to:
· View and verify your KEES award amounts
· Request your personalized breakdown of college costs and estimated financial aid based on your specific college choices and your family’s unique financial circumstances
· Apply for state scholarships
Do yourself a favor and check this out NOW so we can identify and solve problems before it is too late!
MID-YEAR REPORTS?
Mid-year reports (7th semester grades) will not be available until JANUARY 29th. We will be able to issue transcripts to those students/colleges/universities that will need them at that time.
If you or your college is in need of this information, be sure to complete a blue form.
SCHOLARSHIPS!
Please be aware that the school you have just been admitted to (or you hope to be admitted to) has a scholarship deadline. You may have to fill out a separate application in order to be eligible for these scholarships. The deadline could be as early as January 15th or as late as February 15th. Each school has their own deadline and their own criteria for the scholarship. Be sure you are aware of this!
BE PROACTIVE! BE BE PROACTIVE!
NOW (not tomorrow) is the time to take the time to contact your school's admissions offices (especially if you haven't heard from them). Some colleges/universities are experiencing some challenges in printing out recommendations, transcripts and other supporting documents.
TIME KEEPS ON TICKING (ticking) INTO THE FUTURE... Check your timeline
You are a senior! Congratulations! With this honor comes great responsibility! You might be wondering what step to take first – here are a few ideas…(this is of course only a suggestion of a timeline to consider).
September – October VISIT COLLEGES & APPLY TO 3-5 COLLEGES YOU ARE INTERESTED IN that offer the major you are interested in pursuing! RE-TAKE THE ACT (only after you have practiced!) – ESPECIALLY if you are in need of recovering benchmarks (ENGLISH 18, MATH 19, READING 20).
November – December Think about funding – compare and contrast the costs of your top 3-5 colleges. Begin the scholarship search process. Keep in mind there are LOCAL/COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS (Eastern specific & Louisville area scholarships) NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS (usually from corporate sponsors) and SCHOOL-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS (this would be the college/university you are interested in attending).
January 1 Wish your friends and family HAPPY NEW YEAR – and then log on to the FAFSA and submit your ESTIMATED returns. SERIOUSLY – DO IT BEFORE YOU RETURN TO SCHOOL FROM THE HOLIDAY BREAK! SIT DOWN WITH YOUR PARENTS AND TAKE CARE OF THIS! You cannot do it on December 31st – the first opportunity is January 1st. Submit the FAFSA even if you don’t think that you will qualify! REMEMBER the one thing that the FAFSA will want to know is the answer to this question – WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO TO COLLEGE? That is why this HAS to be the first question you answer. Once you know where you are going – you will then know how much it will cost and how much the government or the college/university will support you and more answers will fall into place.
February – March This is the time to focus on housing, deposits, and ORIENTATIONS. Plus this is also the time that more and more of the local/community scholarships are coming due. Check the SCHOLARSHIP drawer AND EDMODO often!
April – May Enjoy the last few weeks of high school! Celebrate and cherish the ordinary! The CLASS of 2014 an extraordinary group. Make the time to remember what has made Eastern so special to you.
June GRADUATION! YOU MADE IT! Enough said!
July-August Pack your bags – get ready to go to college and begin the cycle all over again as a freshmen! You thought high school was great – College is even better!
THE BIG "E" PROJECT
Let's celebrate getting into college! It is a big dEal! Bring in a copy of your recommendation letter to Mrs. Williams or Mrs. Weber. We will give you a "BIG E." Fill out your name on the top arm of the E and on the bottom arm of the E you will write the name of the college/university in which you have been accepted/admitted! You will leave the BIG E with us and we will post it in the MULTIPURPOSE ROOM on the big windows!
You have worked hard! It is time to celebrate! This is the fun part!
COMPASS TESTING HAS BEGUN!
COMPASS Testing is an untimed, computerized test that evaluates a student's skills and places them in an appropriate class at the college level.
Students who haven't met the benchmark in English, Math and Reading will be required to take the COMPASS exam. We will be hitting this hard when we return in January. It is our plan to pull students from elective classes. Although this may not always be possible. If you have not met the benchmark in all three categories, please do yourself a favor and complete some ACT prep in the area where you need to concentrate.
Students can only take the COMPASS twice. We encourage you to take advantage of the time you have to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Remember to check out GALE and CERT as these are FREE resources on the ACT Compass web page: http://www.act.org/compass/sample/
We will be testing during the following weeks -
January 13th through 17th, January 27th through 31st and February 11th through 14th. Students will receive a reminder a few days before the testing telling them when and where they should report for testing.
GOOD LUCK!
SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS!
If you need a letter of recommendation or a fee waiver letter, OR MAYBE FIRST SEMESTER GRADES SENT TO A COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY -- you will need to complete the BLUE TRANSCRIPT REQUEST FORM available from Mrs. Williams.
If your college/university requires any additional information, this is the form that you will need to complete so we will know what to send and to whom it should be sent.
NEW ACCESS CODE!
We have a new access code!
75duhv
If you have parents that would like to log on -- tell them that they can type this url into their web browser and access our page - any time they are interested!
REMEMBER THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE MRS. WEBER POSTS SCHOLARSHIPS THAT SHE RECEIVES! COPIES OF THESE SCHOLARSHIPS ARE ALSO PLACED IN THE DRAWER!
ACT!
YOUR ACT SCORES ARE NOT INCLUDED ON YOUR TRANSCRIPT! YOU WILL HAVE TO REQUEST THAT YOUR SCORES BE SENT TO THE SCHOOLS OF YOUR CHOICE. GO TO WWW.ACTSTUDENT.ORG TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Be proactive and contact your college/university to be sure that they have all of the documents that they need to make an admissions decision.
It is your future - TAKE CHARGE!
CERT (ACT Prep)
Are you experiencing problems when logging into CERT?
If so - it could be your password.
TRY THIS!
FirstnameLastname
Be sure to Capitalize the first letter of your first and last name! Take out the period between your first and last name. Don't add any spaces either.
ILP - What is it good for?
Absolutely EVERYTHING!
Are you torn between two schools? Are you looking for money to finance your college education? Are you still considering careers? Get back into your ILP and put it to work for you! You can compare college costs, search for scholarship money - even build your resume! AND - YOU WILL STILL HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR ILP INTO THE SUMMER! I know - this is too exciting and you will need to sit down and rest after this shocking news.
ACT REGISTRATION! ONLY TWO TEST SESSION REMAIN!
The next ACT will be offered on SATURDAY, April 12th. Remember, you must register before Friday, March 7th at midnight. If you are interested in registering - do so early! Go to www.actstudent.org. Remember, if you are a student on fee waiver, see Mrs. Weber to get a fee waiver paper for the ACT!
IF THIS IS TOO LATE FOR YOU - AN YOU KNOW THAT YOU WANT TO GO TO A PARTICULAR COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY - BE SURE TO CALL THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE TO SEE IF THE SCHOOL OFFERS A RESIDUAL ACT. IT WILL COST A LITTLE MORE - BUT YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO USE THE SCORE AT THAT COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY. IT WILL NOT BE TRANSFERABLE TO ANY OTHER COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY. If you are certain about where you want to go, this may be an option that you would wish to explore.
OPEN HOUSES & COLLEGE PREVIEW PROGRAMS
Attending College Open Houses and making college visits is a good way to start exploring the type of college you would like to attend. This is the best time of year to start this process – it is not too late! Please check the college or university website to verify this information and to receive more info on attending an open house.
Asbury University – Jan. 23/24 March 27/28
Bellarmine University – Jan 26
Eastern Kentucky University – Feb. 1
IU Southeast – March 8
Murray State University – Mar. 29
If a school of interest to you is not listed, check the website for its dates for visits. Eastern encourages you to make visits on non-school days. As always, in order to attend an excused college visit during a school day, you must have an educational enhancement form approved no later than one week in advance of the event. See Ms. Harris in attendance for that form and return it for approval to the principal.
Keep in Touch!
Heidi Weber, Senior Counselor
EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL
12400 Old Shelbyville Road
Louisville, KY 40243
PHONE: 502.485.8596 (direct) 502.485.8243 (school)
FAX: 502.485.6082