By EGP New Report
January 30, 2014

Need money for college? Help filling out all those financial aid and scholarship applications?

If the answer is yes you might want to consider attending one of more than three-dozen free Cash for College workshops taking place across Los Angeles County this Saturday, Feb. 1. An army of trained volunteers will provide one-on-one assistance to students and their families with the often complex process of filing for state and federal financial aid.

Many of the volunteers are bilingual and speak Spanish or one of several other languages in addition to English, They have been trained to provide assistance completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, FAFSA; California Dream Act Application (for eligible AB540 students) and the Cal Grant GPA Verification Form, all of which must be submitted by March 2 to receive priority consideration for state and federal financial aid, scholarships, grants, loans and work-study opportunities.

Completing the FAFSA is required whether you want to attend a four-year college or university, community college, or a vocational or technical school. It is used to process both federal and state aid such as Cal Grants, and to determine amounts for institutional scholarships, federal work-study, as well as the parent contribution to the student’s college tuition and living expenses.

To complete the application process, students and parents should bring documents from the following list, which they have and that apply to them, to the workshop:

Driver’s license; Social Security card or number; Alien registration number; student’s 2013 income information; parent 2013 income information; Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) – student and/or parents’; student tax and parent tax information (previous year taxes are okay for now if you don’t have 2013 tax information); 2013 bank statements; any records of untaxed income such as welfare benefits, Social Security benefits, or child support payments and the list of colleges student is interested in attending.

As an added bonus for attending, some workshop participants will be selected to receive a $1000 scholarship grant being offered by the California Student Aid Commission in partnership with ECMC Foundation. To qualify, high school seniors who attend a Cash for College workshop, must complete an exit survey and submit the FAFSA or California Dream Act Application and their verified Cal Grant GPA by the March 2 Cal Grant deadline. Recipients will be selected and notified after the March 2 deadline in May 2014.

The Cash for College scholarship must be used beginning in Fall 2014 to pursue an Associates or Bachelors degree at an accredited 2- or 4-year public or private degree-granting institution in or outside California.

While the majority of workshops in the L.A. region will take place this Saturday, a few more will be offered before the March 2 filing deadline.

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