• There will be a college PROBE fair at Fannin County High School on Thursday, Oct. 20th, from 5-7:00 p.m. Gilmer County 11th and 12th grade students and their families are invited to attend this north Georgia area event to get information on post-secondary education for students in Georgia. Hundreds of colleges from across the nation attend PROBE each year to reach thousands of Georgia high school juniors and seniors. Before the day of the PROBE Fair, students can register at http://www.gaprobe.org/ if they would like to already have their name in a databank for the colleges they are interested in. Registration is not mandatory, but it is recommended. A barcode will be used to gather information about the students for each college. The colleges will scan the barcode and add the students to their college’s database instead of students having to fill out pen and paper information cards at the representatives table.

• For students and parents interested in Dual Enrollment/Move On When Ready for spring 2017, an information session will be held on 10-14 at the school during lunch. Space is limited, so you must contact your child’s counselor in advance to see whether your child is eligible and to sign up for these sessions.

Feature of the Week from GHS Counselors: How Do I Pay for College?

Every student applying to a technical school, college, or university may fill out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) starting in October of senior year. This form requires tax information from parents/guardians, so students will need help from a parent/guardian to fill this out. Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov to find out more. Once you set up an account, keep the account information! Parents/guardians: If you are confused about the form, please contact your child’s counselor to find out possible resources for free help filling it out. There is no fee for this form.

At the state level, Georgia offers HOPE Grant and Scholarship, Zell Miller Grant and Scholarship, and the Strategic Industries Workforce Development Grant. For more information on eligibility requirements, program applications, award amounts, participating institutions and other program-specific information, visit www.gafutures.org. This web site also offers a scholarship search feature that lists over 2,200 pages of scholarships!

Financial aid opportunities may also be found on the Gilmer High School counselors’ Scholarship web page at https://sites.google.com/a/gilmerschools.com/ghs-scholarship-page/home. Check this page weekly for updates on local and national scholarships.

In addition, there are scholarship search sites such as www.fastweb.com, www.schoolsoup.com, and www.zinch.com that list thousands of scholarships. You can sign up for notifications on some of these when a new scholarship is listed for which you may want to apply.

Do not forget to check with the financial aid office of your post-secondary school of choice, your place of employment, or your parents’/guardians’ place of employment to see what scholarships or work study programs might be available for application.

Finally, remember that you should never have to pay a fee to get information about or apply for any type of financial aid.