Junior Newsletter
Spring Edition
Summer To Do List
- Narrow your college choices. Visit some college campuses this summer and check out college websites. Narrow your choices to three or four colleges by the time school starts.
- Become familiar with the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Beginning October 1, 2016, you and your parents can complete this form to apply for college financial aid. This is an earlier start date than previous years – and you will use 2015 tax information.
- Update your Activities Resume at EducationQuest.org. Include extracurricular activities, honors, awards, and part-time jobs.
- Look for scholarships. See below
- Draft a personal essay. Write a 1-2 page paper describing yourself. Include things like your goals and your values. Make sure you include things that make you stand out. You will use a personal statement when you apply to colleges and apply for scholarships.
- Find a summer job to help pay for college expenses. Ask prospective employers if they offer education assistance programs.
- Senior Pictures. Save some wallet size and/or digital copy of your senior pictures for scholarships and awards applications. Typically a picture from the shoulders up works best.
Some information provided by EducationQuest.
College Planning Website
Click this button to find a lot of useful college information
Start Preparing for Scholarships
Follow these tips to begin the scholarship application process:
- Start searching! Check in often on the NHS College Planning Website, and visit free sites including ScholarshipQuest at EducationQuest.org with over 2,000 Nebraska-based scholarships. Click here for other free scholarship searches.
- Get involved in extracurricular activities and community service - a critical component for many scholarships. Track your involvement using the Activities Resume at EducationQuest.org.
- Do your best to get good grades in school and good scores on your college entrance exams such as the ACT or SAT. These factors are especially important for college-based scholarships.
- Determine if you will qualify for need-based scholarships by completing the College Funding Estimator at EducationQuest.org.
- Learn about scholarships and tuition assistance programs offered by colleges that interest you. Programs such as Collegebound Nebraska at the University of Nebraska, NSCS Advantage offered by the Nebraska State College System, and Access NWU at Nebraska Wesleyan University, cover the cost of tuition if you meet income and academic criteria.
Scholarship warning…
If you receive offers for scholarship and financial aid services, investigate them if they
ACT
Website: actstudent.org
Next ACT: June 10, 2017 - register by May 19th with a a late feeWe recommend students take the ACT the spring of their Junior year and the Fall of their Senior year.
2016 - 2017 Test Dates:
September 9, 2017
October 28, 2017
December 9, 2017
February 10, 2018
April 14, 2018
June 9, 2018
Preparing for the FAFSA
The FAFSA application will be available earlier this next year! The FAFSA is an application for Federal Student Aid meaning government grants, loans, work study programs, and is used as part of many scholarship applications. Seniors will be able to start their application on October 1st. To complete the application the student and one parent will need to obtain a FSA ID. This is a username and password that is used to access the application. The video below by EducationQuest gives you a brief tutorial on obtaining the FSA ID. Remember to print off your FSA ID or write it down and put it in a place you will not forget.
How to Get Your FSA ID
Norfolk Senior High Counseling Center
Jose Hernandez A-D
Brandi Bartels E-K
Heather Marotz L-Ri
Kendra Marshall Ro-Z
Connie Ingram - Administrative Assistant
Location: 801 Riverside Boulevard, Norfolk, NE, United States
Phone: 402-644-2534
Twitter: @NHSGuidanceNews