College Goal Sunday Helps Students Apply for Financial Aid

Staff Writer

Photo by Candi Marshall

Financial Aid Help - Students gathered to receive assistance in filling out the FAFSA for College Goal Sunday Feb. 22. College Goal Sunday began in Indiana in 1989 as a joint project of the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association and the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana with funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

   Prospective students received help with filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by attending College Goal Sunday at the University of Arkansas at Monticello on Feb. 22 in the Memorial Classroom Building.

   College Goal Sunday began in Indiana in 1989 as a joint project of the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association and the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana with funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.  

   It is a nationwide volunteer program that helps students and families who need assistance in completing the financial aid forms. Thirty-seven sites in Arkansas host this event.

   UAM has hosted this event for the past three years.

   Becky Hammett, the assistant director of Financial Aid, said College Goal Sunday promotes the completion of the FAFSA. Feb. 22 remains the nationwide date for this event; however, some states choose other dates as well as make it a two-day event.

   Students were required to bring their personal identification number, latest tax information, 2008 W-2 forms, social security numbers, proof of social security benefits received in 2008, amounts of untaxed income received in 2008, amounts of child support received or child support paid in 2008, knowledge of their checking and savings account balances and knowledge of the worth of other family assets other than their homes.

   College Goal Sunday volunteers used the information provided and assisted students and parents with filling out the worksheet and filling out the online FAFSA application.

   Haley Belin, volunteer and a senior at UAM, said, “I was thinking about my freshman year and filling out the FAFSA remembering I didn’t know what I was doing. This event is very beneficial to students.”

   College Goal Sunday has been advertised through television and online. Monticello High School promoted it through its announcements.

   Amber Byrd, a senior at Monticello High School, said she tried filling out the FAFSA by herself and knew she needed help.

   Susan Brewer, director of Financial Aid, said, “College Goal Sunday assists high school seniors but I encourage the current students to fill out the FAFSA for the fall; the earlier the better, it takes a load of your shoulders.”

   For more information on financial aid and deadlines, visit UAM's financial aid site. To complete an online FAFSA, please click here.

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