College Goal Sunday
2 p.m. (local time)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
36 sites in Indiana
Filling out financial aid paperwork can be complicated and time-consuming, but College Goal SundaySM makes it easy.
College Goal Sunday is a program that helps college-bound Indiana students, who qualify for undergraduate admission to a college or technical school in 2008, and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). College Goal Sunday provides on-site help from financial aid experts, primarily from Indiana colleges and universities. Most colleges, universities and vocational/technical schools in the nation require students seeking federal financial aid, including grants and loans, to complete the FAFSA. Your FAFSA form must be received by the federal processor on or before March 10. And Twenty-first Century Scholars must complete and submit a FAFSA form to claim their Twenty-first Century Scholarships. College Goal Sunday will help all college-bound students, including Twenty-first Century Scholars, complete the FAFSA properly.
College Goal Sunday 2008 will take place at 2 p.m. (local time), Sunday, February 17, at 36 sites in 30 Indiana communities. The program will begin promptly at 2 p.m., and most sites close by 4 p.m.
Students should attend with their parent(s) or guardian(s) and bring their parents' completed 2007 IRS 1040 tax returns, W-2 Forms and other 2007 income and benefits information. If students worked last year, they should also bring their income information. Students, 24 years or older, may attend alone and bring their own completed 2007 IRS 1040 tax return, W-2 Form or other 2007 income and benefits information. Pens and FAFSA forms will be provided, but students are encouraged to bring their own FAFSA forms and their U.S. Department of Education Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) if filing online. Parents will also need to obtain a PIN to file online. Obtain your PIN prior to College Goal Sunday by going to www.pin.ed.gov
Students who attend any of the College Goal Sunday sites and submit a completed evaluation form will automatically be entered in a drawing for an educational prize. Three educational prizes, worth $300 each, will be awarded statewide - one for northern Indiana, one for central Indiana and one for southern Indiana. The winners will be notified in March; prizes will be sent directly to the higher education institutions selected by winning students.
To learn more about College Goal Sunday or for answers to your specific financial aid questions, call the Learn More hotline toll-free at 1-800-992-2076. Families needing assistance from a Spanish interpreter, sign language interpreter, or who may have other special needs should call 1-800-992-2076 to report which site you will attend. We will try to ensure someone is there to meet your needs.
Now in its 1th year, College Goal Sunday is a charitable collaboration involving the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association (ISFAA), in cooperation with the Learn More Resource Center, the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana (SSACI), and the Twenty-first Century Scholars program. College Goal Sunday is co-funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., Lumina Foundation for Education and USA Funds, three Indiana-based non-profits with a particular interest in higher education.
College Goal Sunday- a National Project
(Information provided by Lumina Foundation for EducationSM)
College Goal SundaySM, a program that helps low-income families clear the paperwork hurdle when applying for college financial aid, has proven effective for 19 years in Indiana. In the past several years, it also has been active in numerous other states across the country.
College Goal Sunday began in Indiana in 1989 as a joint project of the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association (ISFAA) and the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana (SSACI), with funding from Lilly Endowment, Inc. Like most successful projects, it was designed to meet a specific need. Research had shown that Indiana families often cited high cost as the main barrier to college attendance, even though tens of millions of dollars in various forms of financial aid were available to Indiana students. Too many families- particularly those of color, low income and no tradition of pursuing an education beyond high school- simply were not applying for those funds.
It was clear that the mere availability of funds wasn't enough to push these students over the threshold to higher education. These students and their families needed two more things: first, they needed to receive more information through a variety of channels about the availability of financial aid; second, they needed expert assistance in filling out the paperwork required to qualify for that aid.
A two-part strategy was devised to address the problem. First, ISFAA members, who primarily staff college financial aid offices throughout the state, volunteered their expertise on one particular day of the year. On College Goal Sunday (traditionally, a week or two after Super Bowl Sunday), these professionals would fan out to select community sites in Indiana to help families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the universally required financial aid application. Second, as a prelude to College Goal Sunday, the group implemented an extensive public information campaign to reach low-income Indiana residents. The campaign used the news media, direct mail and celebrity appearances at key high schools to inform the public about the importance of an education beyond high school, the availability of financial aid, and the existence of College Goal Sunday to help them complete the FAFSA.
Over time, College Goal Sunday has attracted a number of important and loyal allies in Indiana, including the Learn More Resouce Center (formerly known as Indiana Career and Postsecondary Advancement Center (ICPAC)), the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program and former NFL standout Bill Brooks, who volunteered his personal endorsement for the first College Goal Sunday and remains the program's faithful celebrity spokesman.
College Goal Sunday also has garnered generous financial support beyond that of Lilly Endowment. For several years, USA Group (then, the nation's largest guarantor and administrator of student loans) and its affiliates co-funded the program with the Endowment. Also, employees of USA Group and its philanthropic division, USA Group Foundation, served as College Goal Sunday volunteers. In addition, the Foundation provided matching grants to replicate the College Goal Sunday program in Arizona in 1997, in Kansas in 1999, in Kentucky in 2001, and in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area, Hawaii and California in 2002. Lumina Foundation is committed to expanding College Goal Sunday nationwide and is pleased to provide the funds and the model to help establish the program in other states.
Lumina Foundation leads this effort with the encouragement of ISFAA because College Goal Sunday works. In the past 19 years, the program has assisted more than 70,000 Indiana residents. The event has more than tripled its reach from 10 sites statewide the first year, to 36 sites in 30 Indiana cities and towns in 2008. Volunteer and media support continue to be strong- both important indicators of the program's success. Also, exit surveys conducted at College Goal Sunday sites clearly demonstrate the program's strength: that it helps the targeted population complete a vital and often difficult task, that volunteer support continues to be vibrant and committed, and that more Indiana communities want to initiate their own sites.
Ultimately, through a combination of Lumina Foundation grants and support from locally based organizations in each of the involved states, involved organizations hope to make College Goal Sunday a nationally prominent initiative that will serve students and families for generations to come.
For answers to specific questions about organizing or operating a College Goal Sunday program, contact Jeanna Keller at 317-951-5330 or via e-mail at jkeller@luminafoundation.org.
