2005 High School Relations Committee
Project Descriptions and Fund Development Request
1. High School Counselor Workshops
The High School Counselor Workshops have been co-sponsored by CASFAA in collaboration with the California Student Aid Commission and its not-for-profit loan auxiliary corporation EDFUND each fall, for the last 12 years. The series includes sites in 14 locations statewide north to south, conducted in October and November.
The project is designed to primarily train high school counselors, but also trains student service providers from a variety of secondary and postsecondary outreach organizations throughout the state. The training focuses on the application and award process for federal and institutional student financial assistance programs, Cal Grants and other state aid, the application, award and notification processes for these various programs and a comprehensive review of the FAFSA. We believe the workshops are the best series of its kind in the state and represent the best value, time wise, for very busy high school counselors who have a choice on where to receive training and updates on the college financial aid process.
These workshops serve between 2000and 2200 participants each year with increases in attendance every year. Post-workshop surveys show high satisfaction with the workshops and great appreciation for the workshop materials and the opportunity to interface in persons with college and industry financial aid staff.
We intend to continue to provide the6 hour format with general sessions in the morning and dynamic and useful breakout sessions in the afternoon. Attendance patterns from 2003 showed approximately 65% of morning attendees elected to participate in afternoon sessions.
The division of responsibility for the High School Counselor Workshop series has traditionally been:
EDFUND supporting the project by:
arranging/paying for equipment
arranging/paying for facilities for the workshops
developing and disseminating the workshop announcement
handling registrations requests
providing staff time, travel and lodging expenses for staff to present at all of the workshops statewide
coordinating and paying for the development of printed workshop materials
developing and printing collateral materials provided for workshop resource bags
developing A/V presentation(s)
providing staff time, travel and lodging expenses for staff to participate in 2-3 committee meetings
summarizing and disseminating the workshop evaluations
CSAC supporting the project by:
arranging/paying for equipment
arranging/paying for workshop facilities(specifically, afternoon breakout sessionfacilities)
maintaining the HS and Outreach mailing label databases
providing staff time, travel and lodging expenses for staff to present at all of the workshops statewide
coordinating the development of printed materials
developing and printing collateral materials provided for workshop resource bags
developing A/V presentation(s)
providing staff time, travel and lodging expenses for staff to participate in 2-3 committee meetings
CASFAA supporting the project by:
provide fiscal support for refreshments
providing volunteer support from membership, as well as some travel/lodging expenses for presenters at all of the workshops statewide
coordinating the development of printed materials
developing A/V presentation(s)
provides coordination of project,provides fiscal support for the scope of HS Relations Project(s) for volunteers to participate in 2-3 committee meetings and conference calls, facilitate 14 workshops and to conduct the other business of the Project.
2)Financial Aid Night Network (FANN)
The HS Relations Committee began work on this project in 2000 and continued to build on the concept through the 2004 year. This year the committee fully anticipates the development of FANN as a web-based resource for volunteer participants involved in disseminating financial aid information to students and their parents in their communities. The initial intent of FANN was to develop a referral list or database of trained and qualified volunteers available to high school counselors and community service coordinators to contact for assistance with presentations or questions. Also, we plan to include information on financial aid (pre-collegiate calendar and activity checklist, financial aid program and process descriptions), PowerPoint presentations (Completing the FAFSA and Nuts and Bolts of FA) and links to other relevant internet resources.
3)Maintaina permanent CASFAA presence at the NACAC/WACAC College Fairs
The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC) hold annual college fairs in April and May. The fairs allow high school students and their parents to visit and talk with college marketing and admissions representatives. These fairs annually are attended by nearly 60,000 presumably college bound students. Each fair has a financial aid information center that has traditionally been staffed by high school counselors. The participation of CASFAA members at most of the financial aid centers over the last three years has greatly improved the quality of financial aid information to the students and parents. The maintaining of a permanent CASFAA presence at all the college fairs will benefit attendance as well as solidify CASFAA’s reputation with high school counselors.
4)Ongoing commitment to professional development of membership volunteers
Over the last four years we have fulfilled a commitment to the professional development of membership in the area of public speaking, outreach and presentation development. In continuing the Association’s commitment to membership training, and extending the HS Relations Committee efforts to develop a volunteer corps of FA presenters, we anticipate sponsoring at least onebreakout session at the CASFAA Annual Conference. This training opportunity will provide for personal and professional development as well as encourage participation in our committee projects.
Fund Development Request for High School Counselor Workshops project
The committee would like to offer lenders the opportunity to include marketing and premium items in the workshop material bags, given to each attending high school counselor/outreach service provider. Items are limited to one 8 ½ x 11 marketing publication of no more than four pages and a small premium item (pen, pencil, post-it notes, etc.). The cost for this placement is requested to be $1100. We anticipate that we will have 5 lenders interested in this fund development project based upon a similar number from 2004.[$5500]
Also, as a separate fund development request, we would like to solicit sponsorship of the snack item that is given to each attendee at the workshops. The total cost associated with the snack is approximately $600, which could be divided among a larger number of lenders, usually from representatives on the HS Relations Committee. Once an exact number of supporters would be known, we would calculate the actual amount for each sponsor to pay. Sponsors would receive either verbal or written mention of their sponsorship at each workshop.[$600]
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