Setting up for CASFAA Participation at the NACAC and 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. The California fairs are attended each year by about 60,000 college bound students. Each fair has a financial aid information center that is staffed by high school counselors and CASFAA volunteers.
Basically, the premise is that CASFAA volunteer’s will attend the fairs to hand out financial aid information and to answer student questions on obtaining financial assistance for college. The great majority of attendees are high school juniors.
November (by the prior committee)
1. Request formal permission from the NACAC and WACAC headquarters offices to send CASFAA volunteers to their fairs in the Spring. It is suggested that you obtain permission from the “top down.” This means start at the national level for NACAC and regional level for WACAC.
2. Remember to pass this document onto the next committee chair
January (preferably earlier)
1. If it hasn’t already been done by the prior committee as one of their last actions, request formal permission from the NACAC and WACAC headquarters offices to send CASFAA volunteers to their fairs. It is suggested that you obtain permission from the “top down.” This means start at the national level for NACAC and statewide level for WACAC.
2. Get the college fair schedule from the NACAC, www.nacac.com, and WACAC, www.wacac.org, websites or directly from the regional or national coordinator.
3. After receiving permission from the higher up people, contact each fair coordinator individually to make sure they know of our intention to attend. Contact them every month until the event and always just before the event.
4. Communicate your ideas to the coordinator on how best you can serve students at the fair. For handing out materials, a full table is best. This gives several students access to counselors during crowded moments. Some locations will have prepared signs but there should be CASFAA banners available from CASFAA that can be used at the tables. Some fairs are really tight on space so you should clearly explain that it’s best if you have a full table.
Also, ask the coordinator if they need financial aid presenters for the special sessions they hold at many of the fairs. Suggest that CASFAA can supply volunteers for these presentations.
5. Also, be aware that depending on whom you talk to, there may occasionally be confusion on whether CASFAA is a paying participant, like the schools, or a service provider that gets in free! CASFAA should get in free!
6. Sometimes fair coordinators change part way through the year. This can lead to communications problems. Be aware that the person listed on the NACAC or WACAC website may no longer be the person coordinating that fair. Be sure to maintain contact so you are advised of any changes.
At time of first HS Relations Meeting – Hopefully no later than mid-March
Create a CASFAA volunteer sign-up list or matrix to pass around at the first HS Relations Committee meeting. Be sure to include the show fair dates and times. Once you know the initial number of volunteers, you can then contact other persons to fill in the holes. Be sure to contact the CASFAA membership, the CSAC Outreach Department and the EdFund Client Relations managers to see if they can send volunteers.
Prior volunteers have expressed interest in buttons or badges to designate them as CASFAA volunteers. Some lenders have offered to produce these badges (about 26 persons were involved in 2004.
Early April
Arrange shipping of materials to hand out. Shipping costs are of a concern. Some sites charge high fees, such as $73 per hundred pounds or $30 a box to accept workbooks and brochures at the fair site. Therefore, we have tried in the past to bring our own materials into the fair. You should ask if any school people who are volunteering at a site can bring any extra workbooks they have from their campus. At some sites, there is no charge for shipping so if using “Fund Your Future” workbooks or brochures, simply contact the EdFund warehouse to ship directly to the site. Another tactic is to ship to one of the CASFAA volunteers so they can deliver the materials when they come to the fair.
Deliver directions and other fair specifics to each volunteer. You want to jog their memory that they agreed to participate plus you need to make sure they know where and when they are to go.
Just before the fairs
Send all volunteers instructions on how to best assist students. Basically, what do students really need to know about financial aid? See the basic guidance outlined in “At the Fairs” below.
Contact the fair coordinator one more time to make sure that the CASFAA volunteers are expected and that there is a place for them to handout materials.
At the fairs
Most of the students attending the fairs will be high school juniors but there may be some sophomores, seniors and others. Many students will only come by and grab a workbook or brochure. Other students, and their parents, may ask questions. Although most volunteers are very knowledgeable on the subject of financial aid, here are some suggestions on how to most efficiently cover financial aid in a short amount of time.
Generally, with only a minute or so to get an important message across, try to mention the “foursources” offinancial aid. Hold up four fingers for emphasis and to add a visual that the student or parent can remember later on. The four sources are for Federal, State, Institutional and Private sources of financial aid.
Federal = FAFSA Have the student visit FASFA on the Web and file first thing in January.
State = FAFSA and GPA certification from high school. The student must ask their high school if the school will be sending in his or her GPA to CSAC. Filing deadline is March 2.
Institutional = Students must contact every college under consideration to determine what the school’s scholarship deadlines are. The deadlines will vary. Usually the school website will have this information.
Private = This means a scholarship search, like FastWeb, but also it means an appointment with the student’s high school counselor to determine local scholarships such as Rotary Club, Elks Club, 4-H, etc. FastWeb may not be perfect (pop-ups, magazine ads, etc!) but it is the largest legitimate scholarship search engine. You can advise students about other search engines if you want. Students should start looking in the summer preceding their senior high school year.
Become familiar on the content of the handout that you are using. For example, on which page would you find information on FAFSA on the Web or where is the FastWeb internet address listed? Be able to point out these addresses to the student or parent or mark them with a highlighter.
One last thing: Please keep track of how many handouts you use. We’ll need to know this to fine tune shipping for next year. Report the number used to the High School Relations Committee chair.
When a fair is over
If you are assisting at a fair that has another session later in the day or the next day (in 2004 these were Ontario, San Diego, Ventura or Pasadena) just leave any left over materials for the next session. If you assist at the last fair session at that location, you can take the remaining materials (if any) with you or just leave them.
Thank the coordinator for allowing CASFAA to participate. Tell them how many total pieces (materials) you handed out.
Be sure to contact NACAC and WACAC again in the Fall to request permission to participate the next Spring so the cycle can start all over again. Add you comments to this document for the next fair coordinator.