• Attention seniors, are you interested in seeking an Associate’s degree from UNG, Blue Ridge campus? Admission representatives will be here for Quick Admit Day on Tuesday February 28th from 9 until 1:15. UNG will waive the application fee on this date. Interested Move On When Ready candidates may also apply. Please see your counselor for an application and transcript. The deadline to request a time slot is Monday February 27th. Time slots will fill quickly, don’t wait until the last minute to make your request.

• Attention seniors: Need help with the FAFSA? Rebecca Hammond of the Educational Opportunity Center is accepting appointments at GHS to assist students and their parents in completing the application on Wednesdays beginning February 8th. Appointments with Mrs. Hammond can be made in the Attendance Office with Mrs. May. Please see your counselor for more details.

• Move On When Ready information sessions are held at GHS from 11:30-1:00 every other Friday. These fill up fast, so contact your child’s counselor to set up a date or to get more information.
• The following are some scholarships with February deadlines:
• The Vegetarian Resource Group Scholarship – Application Deadline: 02/20/2017
• Albert Lee Wright, Jr. Memorial Migrant Scholarship – Application Deadline: 02/24/2017
• Georgia Mining Foundation Scholarship – Application Deadline: 02/24/2017
• Georgia Mining Foundation Technical College Scholarship – Application Deadline: 02/24/2017
• University of North Georgia Army ROTC Scholarship – Application Deadline: 02/28/2017
• Links to all of these scholarships and more are on the GHS scholarship page at https://sites.google.com/a/gilmerschools.com/ghs-scholarship-page/home. Please check this site on a weekly basis throughout the spring semester, and fill out those applications!

This Week’s Feature: FAFSA and Financial Aid Resources

Students, you may have recently seen or heard the following announcement at school: “Attention seniors: Need help with the FAFSA? Rebecca Hammond of the Educational Opportunity Center is accepting appointments at GHS to assist students and their parents in completing the application on Wednesdays beginning February 8th. Appointments with Mrs. Hammond can be made in the Attendance Office with Mrs. May.” You may also have heard the FAFSA discussed in class meetings or during advisement.

However, you may still have questions about the FAFSA, so following is the information in brief. FAFSA is an acronym that stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This is an important document to fill out if you are applying for financial aid as part of your planning to start college after high school graduation. If you have not already done so, you will need to set up an account online at fafsa.ed.gov in order to fill it out. It is important to keep track of your login information for that account, as no one at school can access that for you if it is lost. This also requires the involvement of any parents or guardians who claim you on their taxes, because tax information is required. Some people are not sure how to fill this form out or have a family living situation that is unique and are not sure how to answer certain items. If that is the case, you may want to make an appointment with Rebecca Hammond as in the above announcement for free assistance with the form. Even if you do not think you will qualify for federal aid, it is important to fill out the FAFSA, since it can affect whether you will get consideration from other potential sources of financial aid. Now is the time to get the FAFSA done if you have not already done so; the sooner the better with this form.
More information on the FAFSA and other federal student aid programs may be found at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/resources.