FAFSA Frenzy February!

January has come and gone....FAST! And February will too, with only 29 days! This means all you seniors better get a move on it, and get your FAFSA filed! March 1 is the priority deadline for most colleges, including the University of Wyoming.

Even if you haven't completed your 2011 taxes yet, you can still begin the process. First, start by applying for your pin number. This will allow you to sign and submit your FAFSA online. Signing with a pin number will drastically decrease the processing time! Next, you can begin to fill our your information, including your demographic information, school selection, and dependency status.

Get a step ahead and begin now! You never know what kind of financial aid is awaiting you!

Until next time fellow bloggers,

Faith

My Not-So-Dirty Little Secret

The ACT. One of the most intimidating tests a student will ever take. So far, all of the other advisors have brought up some awesome points about the ACT. The helpful tips that increase your success presented by Trent and the fact that you can increase your score by taking it again by Faith are awesome. Heck, even Aaron suggesting you channel your inner Thor was pretty neat. But I'm here to share my Ace in the Hole.

SparkNotes

Yep, that's pretty much it. Now, some of you might know SparkNotes better for helping you write a book report without actually reading the book, but that's only part of what it can do. The website has an awesome ACT prep section, with information ranging from general tips for the whole exam, what kind of things to specifically study for each section, and even practice tests. It's a great resource, and when it comes to the ACT, the more help you can get, the better. Check it out!

Git-R-Done
Tedward

The Best Test Forward

If I were to tell you that you had a 55% chance of winning the lottery tomorrow, would you go buy a ticket tonight? YES, you most likely would. I sure as heck would!!! Well, that same percentage of students will increase their ACT or SAT test score on a second attempt. However, students who put a little more effort into prepping before the big test often have higher odds than 55%!

I know that most high schools in Wyoming offer some sort of an ACT prep course, or like Aaron mentioned, there are several resources online to help you study. You can also check with your guidance counselors. They often times will have ACT study books you can use.

Just remember, test scores are a snapshot of who you were on a single day. Trent said it best, there are many factors that go into your well-being on the day of your test; sleep, nutrition, mental preparation, etc. So prepare yourself by getting plenty of sleep, eating breakfast, and going in with a confident attitude.

Good Luck and peace out!

Faith

Test & Test Again

                I can offer no excuse as to why you would want to ignore the importance of the ACT’s. The test has long term implications, and will be a measure of your academic potential for years to come; colleges, universities, and increasingly occupational recruiters will use this exam to determine your fit for their openings. With that focus being laid on thick however, I’d like to emphasize that there is no need to overstress the test.

                A low score won’t flatter you or anyone else that sees it, but that’s why the people behind the ACT (and SAT) offer a retake – because nobody can guarantee that the exam will take place without a hitch, and you could be testing without proper sleep, nutrition, mental preparation, or any one of a million dilemmas. Always do your best with the situation that you’re presented with, and take each test as if it was the only time you’ll take it… but when/if the outcome is undesirable, or just not up to your standards, know that there is still another shot at getting a better score.

T.D. Bjornestad

Dont worry its just the ACT!!

We all have heard about the ACT exam. We know that it can be a stressful test that requires the proper amount of time and dedication to prepare for. In my last post a wrote about conquering our obstacles that get in the way of accomplishing your goals through the use of "mjollnir", which is the tool used by the mighty Thor to get us through the loopholes of getting into college. In this instance "Mjollnir" is using the tools you have to prepare yourself to take the ACT. Some resources you can use are attending events such as an ACT prep course or meeting with your math and english teacher's to get help on example questions from the test. Don't be afraid to visit the ACT website at http://www.actstudent.org/. where you will find a link labeled Test Prep that can lead you to practice exams and simple questions related to the exam. Another place you can turn for prep materials is by visiting your guidance counselor's and above all else your COLLEGE ADVISOR!! Remember, its just a test, you will be fine, and you can always retake it if you need to.

"All the answers you seek will be yours, once you track down ACT preparation materials".

Aaron Taylor - Riverton High School College Advisor

Running out of time?

ACT… three letters that bring fear and stress to many juniors and seniors.  Warning students: THIS TEST IS NOT A JOKE.  Take it seriously, okay?

Now I could tell you to study in advance, don’t cram (thanks Heather!), or stay calm.  These are all good pieces of advice, but sometimes they just do not work.  One piece of advice I will give you is to ANSWER EVERY QUESTION! Your ACT score is based only on the number of questions that you answer correctly.  Finally!!!  You can take a test that doesn’t count incorrect answers against you. 

People will say to take your time on the ACT.  Sometimes, this piece of advice is not realistic though. The ACT is long, has a lot of questions, and a lot of reading. A majority of students run out of time.  Start filling in those bubbles if you realize you have run out of time.  It’s not a good idea to leave 15 answers blank.  Like I said, wrong answers do not count against your score.  You never know, you may be a lucky guesser.

"I'll be back!"

Lauren  

YOU CAN"T CRAM FOR THE ACT!!!!!!!!!!

In education, cramming is the practice of working intensively to absorb large volumes of informational material in short amounts of time. It is often done by students in preparation for upcoming exams.

Cramming is a pretty common form of studying. Allowing students to do nothing approximately 95% of the time is usually why it is chosen over a variety of other methods. Most tests are on a certain part of a subject, like the first five chapters of your world history book. Cramming is definitely not the best method to study for your world history test but it will work in a pinch. The ACT is different than your average run of the mill subject test. Essentially it’s a compilation of every test you have ever taken in your academic career. You can’t stay up the night before the ACT and relearn everything you have ever learned. But you can start this week reviewing information commonly seen on the ACT. Pace yourself, spend some time doing ACT prep each week. Sheridan High School Juniors take the ACT on April 25^th……So that’s 13 weeks to prepare.J

The ACT is a no-cramming zone!

Miss G………as in Gifford not as in the symbol for gravitational acceleration

Failing at Financial Aid

Everyone knows there are many different forms of financial aid… FAFSA, scholarships, loans, grants, work study.  Everyone also knows that it takes time and effort to receive these forms of financial aids.  Another thing everyone (should) know is that you may FAIL to receive a certain type of financial aid.  You may take an hour to fill out a scholarship form but it ends up going to someone else.  You may file the FAFSA and learn you do not qualify for work study at your college. 

Do not become discouraged if you do not receive something though. That is one life lesson to learn… it is okay to fail at something.  Failing to receive one form of financial aid does not mean you will fail at receiving every form of financial aid. Keep trying! Remember to file your FAFSA, fill out as many scholarship applications as possible, contact your college and find out if they have any special financial aid options for you, and do not quit!   

It is said that Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before inventing the light bulb.  He accepted failure.  You can too!

May the force be with you!

Lauren Johnson 

FAFSA Frenzy!!!

Be sure to check with your local school to know when your FAFSA Frenzy/FAFSA completion initiative is! This is something you will want to attend. Financial aid experts will be available to assist you and your family in understanding the financial aid process, and questions you may have while filling out the FAFSA! There will even be opportunities for you to win scholarships!!!

For more information on the date, time, and location of your FAFSA Frenzy/FAFSA completion initiative visit wyo4ed.org for a complete listing!!!!

Until next week,

Faith Helton

Let's get real for a second here. We're talking about financial aid. Going to college is quite the endeavor; paying for it is just as intense. But fear not. It's not near as stressful and/or scary as it may seem. Now, we've already talked about "The Pie" and how you have to Commit to the process. These are both awesome points. But I'm here to add one more little tid-bit:

RELAX!

While filling out the FAFSA and applying for scholarships can be intense, it's nothing to lose sleep over. There's almost always someone to help you with it. If you're freaking out over it, go ask your school counselor for help with scholarships or the FAFSA. If you're confused about how your school of choice handles financial aid, call up their financial aid office. They're always willing to help out new students. Heck, if you're lucky, you can even asked one of your beloved WyCAC advisors. What a spoil of riches!

But seriously, relax. Enjoy the ride. You only get to do this once in your life. Might as well have fun with it, right?

Peace be the journey, y'all.
Tedward

Commit Now

I’ll skip the part where I explain what financial aid is – if you’re confused on that “Think about Pie.” What I’ll focus on, however, is how your commitment to the “process” is going to determine your success in this academic undertaking.

In the collegiate world of thinking, financial aid is viewed as a process; a process because the act of receiving financial aid can be lengthy and even when you’re DONE – you may not be DONE. There are due dates, deadlines, specifications to meet, and qualifications to uphold, and through it all, you have your commitments to being teenager. So how is this all going to work?

Commit Now:

·         To the task of recognizing that due dates for financial aid are not arbitrary.

·         To understanding that the possibility of $500 for the 15 minutes it takes to fill out a scholarship form is a great return on investment.

·         To spending downtime researching & applying for scholarships, grants, or other forms of aid.

·         To achieving a great GPA and holding it until the day you graduate (“Even when you’re DONE – you may not be DONE”).

·         To utilizing the resources made available to you through your school or district.

This list is not necessarily comprehensive, and the problems that you encounter will always beg you to consider your own circumstances, but the bullets above are nevertheless great guidelines for moving forward in the “process.” I assure you that every step you can take through financial aid to reduce your monetary burden will yield huge gains as you move into college graduation and onward with your life. As one last note to serve as an emphasis, Commit Now to engaging yourself fully in your financial aid, and leave yourself in a position to make college more fruitful and easier to attend.

T.D. Bjornestad

Financial Aid:Thinking about pie

What is financial aid? Financial aid is monetary aid to use in pursuit of higher education. You might be more familiar with the term money for college. An easy way to think of financial aid is in relation to a pie. The pie is divided in to slices and the slices represent different sources of cash that will be used to pay for college. When you put all the slices together they should equal the cost of attendance.  So your FASFA is like your order form for a pie. You submit your order form with your information and your parent’s information. That order form will get processed and sent to your college. Your college financial aid office uses that processed order form to build your pie. Pies can be made up of many different pieces: scholarships, loans, grants, work-study as well as how much cold hard cash your family will be expected to contribute. Yum Yum gotta love ya some pie.

Pie for breakfast...anyone?

Heather

Hakuna Matata

Happy New Year!!!! I hope you have gotten all of your college applications in. So now you’re ready to pay for that college education……right? If you’re like me the concept of forking over your entire semester’s tuition, out of pocket, just is not the cool thing to do. So let’s take a couple minutes and talk about scholarships, but before we have that conversation allow me to introduce myself. 

Heather Gifford your Sheridan High School College Advisor reporting for duty. I have recently graduated from the University of Wyoming. I spent lots of time in Sheridan growing up, but I went to high school in a little tiny town in Montana. I have six toes on both feet, love mustard and enjoy building bird houses competitively. Now those three facts are just straight up lies. Both of my feet are equipped with the normal number of digits, I have a strong dislike for mustard as well as most other condiments. I also strongly regret never taking any sort of wood working/shop class in high school. This means the only things I am qualified to build are out of toothpicks or Popsicle sticks. 

Scholarships! Scholarships! Scholarships! If you plan on paying for college with scholarships you have your work cut out for you. So jump on it and start applying. Once you get that array of scholarships you can relax and Hakuna Matata. It means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy. Hakuna Matata! NOT…. When your classes start you’re going to have to put in the study hours to keep those scholarships. Some scholarships are going to come with some sort of academic requirements. In order to keep that scholarship you may have to achieve a certain GPA. Make sure you are aware of any such requirements at the beginning of the semester.

Hakuna Matata

Heather 

The 'Waste of Time' Excuse

Have you ever thought applying for scholarships is a waste of time? If you said yes, you are not alone.  Countless students wander into my office making the grand statement, “Scholarships are a waste of my time.” Some students complain that they spent three hours last Sunday filling out several scholarship applications and… wait for it… hold on… “It was a waste of their time.”

Wrong! It was not a waste of their time. One of those scholarships may reward them $250.  That does not sound like much now, but in college that is a fortune.  Even sitting down for two hours every week to apply for scholarships can benefit your financial situation in the end. (There are 168 hours in one week.  Obviously two hours is not that much time.)

Remember this: I cannot guarantee that you will receive a scholarship, but I can guarantee you will not receive one if you do not try.  So, stop ‘wasting’ your time and fill out those scholarship applications!

Live long and prosper!

Lauren Johnson

Unbinding Your Scholarship Search

     When looking for scholarships, it is rarely important to consider listing things that you’re not; you may not have college-quality athletic talent, or be a 4.0 student, but the focus of “I AM NOT” blurs the goal of recognizing the things that you are. Maybe you’re a middle-income seventeen year-old involved in volunteer work, and you happen to enjoy fly fishing; criteria as ambiguous as height has been used to establish a list of qualified candidates for some scholarships. All this to say -- In looking for scholarships, never limit your thought process to the obvious benchmarks of grades and athletics.

     Once you’ve recognized who you are and what makes you unique, turn those factors into a list and begin a search for applicable scholarships. A good place to start exploring is in your high school counseling office, student support centers, or at an online resource like fastweb.com. Enjoy the search!

T.D. Bjornestad

Wyoming Big Buck$

Happy New Year seniors! If you haven’t began the countdown until graduation, let me just remind you that for those students graduating on June 2, 2012  have approximately 143 days left (Rock Springs High School)! Time is of the essence, as the spring semester will be one of the busiest yet!

Quickly, I want to introduce myself! My name is Faith Helton. I am the College Advisor at Rock Springs High, and I am going on my second year, which I am thrilled about. I graduated from the University of Wyoming in December of 2010 with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. I transferred there shortly after receiving my Associates of Science in Accounting from Central Wyoming College in Riverton. I am recently engaged, and on top of my students keeping me on my toes, I am in the process of planning a wedding! But enough about me…..let’s talk about all the wonderful scholarship opportunities in Wyoming!

In Lauren’s blog back in November she went in depth about where to find scholarships, the different type of scholarships, scholarship scams, and the truth about scholarship deadlines, so I want to be more specific and list a couple scholarships available to Wyoming students, and only Wyoming students.

Walter Urbigkit Memorial Scholarship is for students who:

·         Are graduating from a Wyoming high school

·         Study the field of Aviation in college

·         Demonstrate financial need

Troy Yost Memorial Scholarship (www.wyfc.org)

·         Graduating from a Wyoming high school

·         Attending the University of Wyoming  or a Wyoming community college

·         Provide recommendation from Art teacher

·         Demonstrate financial need

College Access Challenge Grant

·         Must file and submit the FAFSA by March 1, 2012

·         Be considered “pell eligible”

Wyoming USBC Bowling Association

·         Graduating female

·         Minimum of 2.5 GPA

·         Be a member of the Wyoming USBC Young Bowling Alliance

Wyoming Admissions Officers Scholarship (www.wyomingadmissionsofficers.com)

·         Must provide a personal essay and recommendation letter from a high school administrator or counselor

Wyoming Trucking Association Scholarship

·         Plans to pursue a career in the highway transportation industry

·         Attend University of Wyoming or a Wyoming community college

These scholarships are just a few offered specifically to Wyoming students. For a listing of local scholarships, check the counseling office at your school. Remember, apply apply apply!!!

Good luck, and until next time….

Faith Helton J

Scholarships - Where to Begin?

Hey y'all! It's a new year, and for those of you looking to attend college next fall, it's a very important time. It's time to kick the scholarship search into high gear! If you haven't started your search, don't fret -- there's still plenty of time to find great scholarships. But with thousands of scholarships awarded every year, where does one start to look? One of the best ways to do this is to use a scholarship website. One of my favorite sites is www.studentscholarships.org. This site allows you to personalize your information to help find scholarships that may apply to you. Check it out!