Mississippi College Goal Sunday
OXFORD, Miss. – A group of University of Mississippi higher education graduate students are volunteering their time and counsel this month to help high school students apply for financial assistance and college admission.
It’s all part of the third annual Mississippi College Goal Sunday, a nonprofit program designed to help high school students get their paperwork ready for college.
As part of an online graduate course, Contemporary Issues of Higher Education, 25 students will visit schools throughout north Mississippi during the week of Feb. 19-25. On Feb. 25, the majority will visit South Panola High School in Batesville and Holly Springs High School in Holly Springs to advise students in filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The FAFSA is considered a major financial step in a high school student’s transition to post-secondary education and is the application most colleges use to determine eligibility for federal, state and college-sponsored financial aid, including grants, loans and work study programs.
“Our goal is to get first-generation college students to apply for financial aid,” said John Holleman, clinical assistant professor of leadership and higher education coordinator at Ole Miss. “Funding for a college education is a big consideration for high school students. There’s not always an awareness of the tremendous amount of financial aid that’s out there.”
In preparation for the event, students received hands-on training from the university’s Office of Financial Aid.
“We put the FAFSA in context so graduate students can understand the different types of aid, the population and how high school students might qualify for it,” said Katie Tompkins, UM financial aid adviser and former site coordinator for College Goal Sunday. “The FAFSA isn’t as complicated as it’s widely rumored to be, but some parents and students may be uncomfortable with correctly answering questions about tax information and finances.”
If available, students and their parents are asked to bring:
– A copy of parents’ 2011 federal tax returns 1040, 1040EZ and 1040A
– Student and parents’ driver’s license and Social Security numbers
– Student and parents’ 2011 W2 Forms and other records of money earned
– Current bank statements or amounts in savings and checking accounts
– Current business information
– Total amount of investments not in retirement accounts
– Alien registration card (if not a U.S. citizen)
– Date of parents’ marriage, divorce or separation
“We’re prepared to help people understand what information they will need,” said Megan Buning, a doctoral student in higher education. “Even if students and parents don’t have all in the necessary information, we can go through a hard copy of the FAFSA and answer their questions. It’s important for higher education to play a bigger role in stepping out into communities and letting people know there are opportunities out there.”
College Goal Sunday is sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Since the program’s start in Mississippi in 2009, it has grown from 20 to nearly 60 sites across the state.
For more information about the School of Education visit http://education.olemiss.edu/.