CASFAA 2005 High School Relations Committee
Last updated: November 4, 2005 at 2:47pm

SUMMARY - HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELOR WORKSHOPS

---ARTWORK---
Beryl brought along an example of the mailer that will be sent to high school counselors and outreach personnel.  Also, Beryl showed an example book cover using the same artwork for the 2005 workshops.  Dennis found an example of this artwork on the EdFund website.  It looks a little like this:

---IMPORTANT DATES---
Dennis went over some important dates, and here are the outstanding dates we will need to contend with:

• August 30
  All last-minute suggestions for changes to the presentation slides need to be submitted to Nina by today.  This will give her time to meet the deadline below for printing the workbooks.
• September 5
  The workbook must be finished and readied to print.
• September 30 / EXTENDED to October 7
  All items that are going into the bags must be at our "stuffing" location.  Bryan has said that CSAC will stuff the bags for us again this year.  Here is the address to ship items directly to:

  Justin Ngo
  Brenda Metzger
  California Student Aid Commission
  10811 International Drive
  Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
  
  Phone 916-526-8963
  Phone 916-526-7981
   

• Early-mid October
  Bags are stuffed and ready to go.
• October 10
  We'll do our Train the Trainers session through CCC Confer A/V conferencing.  Meeting MONDAY, OCTOBER 10 from 9am to Noon.  If you did not receive an email from Dennis and you are presenting at a workshop, please email dennis at denniss@glendale.edu.   He'll send you the sign-in information
• October 25: First workshop in California.

Because of the time span between our final in-person meeting (August 4) and the date the workbooks must be finished (September 5), we have a few weeks where we can still make adjustments to the presentations, the selecting of materials for the bag, and the selecting of reference items.  Because we will not have enough time to schedule a meeting for all the committee members (even if we teleconference), the presentation slides will be posted to the website for review by committee members.

---BAG ITEMS---
In addition to the workbook, we also hand out bags with other items to all the attendees. Based upon items we included last year and comments from the committee this year, here is the list of items for bags for 2005:

• Fund Your Future- Counselor's Guide I-4
• Fund Your Future- student workbook I-2
• Spanish Fund Your Future brochure I-3
• Tax Benefits for Higher Education booklet I-91
• Credit for College booklet I-110
• Junior/Senior Checklist
• FAFSA (or most recent draft version)
• WACAC information and membership application
• Goodies, including pens, pencils, Post-It notes, etc.
• Really yummy granola bar
• CA Cash for College sign-up form (from Despina); this may be added to the workbook in the Reference section

We will also add in the premium items and printed items from the sponsors.

---SESSIONS AND PRESENTATIONS---
Here is the rundown of sessions we'll be offering at the workshops.

In the morning, all attendees will see: Federal Program and Application Process Changes for 2006-07, covering:

• FAFSA & Application Processing Changes
• Important Dates
• Other Changes & Noteworthy News

This session is presented by the "CASFAA" person (the person from CASFAA or, in many cases, our committee).

The next session is the Cal Grant Update, covering:

• Cal Grant Programs
• Calculating the GPA
• Electronic Submission of GPAs

This session is presented by the CSAC/EdFund person (self-explanatory, I hope).

The last session for the morning is California Cash for College, covering:

• Reasons to Send Students to the Cash for College Workshops
• How to Link School Events and Cash for College

Despina (CA Cash for College coordinator at CSAC) will have regional or local CA Cash for College personnel or other volunteers lined up to present this session.

The afternoon has two tracks: Section A is meant primarily for newer counselors, and covers two sessions:

• Federal Financial Aid Programs
• Financial Aid Applications and Awarding Process
• Presenting Special Circumstances

And the second part of Section A is a FAFSA Review Line-By-Line.

Section A is presented by the CASFAA person.

Section B has our two new sessions and is presented by the EdFund/CSAC person. The sessions offered are:

• Scholarships vs. Self-Help Aid
• Making Your Money Last

And the second part of Section B is Helping Families Who Don't Qualify for Need Based Aid, covering:

• AB 540
• Use of Financial Aid Consultants
• How to Avoid Scholarship Scams

• SunTrust - paid for 2800 granola bars
• Citibank - $1100 for "5 Steps to Financial Aid" mini-poster and mini calculators
• Comerica - $1100 for printed item and mechanical pens
• Sallie Mae Fund - $1100 for printed item
• Sallie Mae - $1100 for "CollegeAnswer.com" printed item and pens
• AES - $1100 for "Education Planner" printed item and lanyards
• Wachovia - $1100 for "Paying for College" printed item and post-it notepads
• ALL Student Loan - $1100 for "Pre-College Financial Aid Guide"

As of today, I do not know if all lenders have made payment to Kat Clough, but according to our information all lenders mentioned above have supplied items that have been stuffed into the bags received by workshop attendees.

Other items of importance
Below are some emails I've cut/pasted with important information about the project

Email from Despina (CSAC) regarding a school district wishing to sponsor lunch at one of the workshop sites:

Email from Ron Lee (EdFund) confirming with the above person to allow them to sponsor the lunch at the Redding workshop site:

Email from CA Community College Chancellor's Office (and responded to by Dennis) regarding items they were supplying for the workshop bags:

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This page was created on August 10, 2005