College Options for This Fall

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Welcome, everyone. We'll get started in one moment. All

right.

All right, I think we will get started. It's the top of the hour. Welcome everyone. My name is Julie Shields Rutina and I am the director of college planning, education and training at MIFA. And I am here with a wonderful group of colleagues who is, uh, And this group is going to share so much information with you today, I'm going to have them introduce themselves to you in a moment and topic of the webinar right now is college options for this fall.

So, targeted to those of you recent graduates or others who just Haven't made a plan yet and, uh, to know that, uh, that there is still time and you still have time for, uh, this coming academic year. Uh, this webinar is part of a larger campaign that MIFA is, um, is, is presenting this, this, this summer, really in August.

And let me just show you the, uh, I'm just going to show you the website where you can go

share my screen.

Okay, and this is the the summer campaign. The time is now and there are lots of resources here for you as you think about your future. So I'll just quickly show you that we have a great free tool called MIFA pathway that you can use to explore options for yourself. We have other webinars and you can view those live.

Or after they happen, you can view them as recordings. And then we have other resources such as your Massachusetts community colleges, financial aid resources, and some other topics, blogs, et cetera. So I just wanted to call your attention to that. And please, uh, please come back often to, um, To look at all of those, all of those options for yourself.

Other than that, let me just go over a few logistics, um, for this webinar

and just know that you can type in any questions in the q and a section, and we'll be sure to get to those. Um, we'd, we'd love to make this interactive. Uh, so please put your questions there. If you would like to have closed captioning and see the words that we speak on the screen, hit the cc. Live transcript button.

And if your first language is not English and you'd rather see the words in another language across the screen, then you get to choose which language. On that option as well. So we want to give you that option. So other than that, I am going to, uh, we're recording the webinar and we will send you, uh, we will send you a recording of it tomorrow as well.

So with that, I am going to turn it over and have our panelists introduce themselves. And then we will start in on this, this great topic for today. I'll start with you, Iris.

And

Iris Godes: we need, yeah. Unmute. Unmute, uh, . Welcome. Um, thanks for joining us. I'm Iris Gotti. I am the Dean of enrollment at Framingham State University. Um, and I'll be talking to you a little bit about how to prepare, um, that it's not too late, um, and the options that you'll have, um, moving forward, how to think about it.

Um, so I'll turn it over to, is it Jill next?

Clantha McCurdy: Great.

Jillian Glaze: Thanks Iris. I'm Jill Glaze. I am the Senior Director of Student Financial Services at Bunker Hill Community College and I am really excited to share all of the great opportunities available at our community colleges in

Clantha McCurdy: Massachusetts. Thank you.

Monica Blondin: Hi, everyone.

My name is Monica Blondin. I am the Assistant Dean of Enrollment for Financial Aid at Assumption University, and I'm going to be going over, um, the perspective of the private college application process, and also it's not too late to apply.

Robert Dais: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Robert days and I'm the statewide director of gear up Massachusetts, which is part of a trio program which helps students, or get ready, using college and career readiness services.

So thrilled to be here and I'll be talking about the fact that not only is it not too late but there is a A tremendous amount of professionals out there who are excited to help you as you make those decisions, especially at this critical time. So having said that, thank you very much and I'll turn it over to Dr.

Clantha McCurdy: McCurdy. Good afternoon, everyone. It's very nice to see you, um, and be with you this afternoon. I'm Clancy McCurdy. I serve as a senior deputy commissioner and the interim chief academic officer with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. And in my role, I do oversee all of the state funded financial aid programs.

So really looking forward to sharing some of the information with you this afternoon. And it is not too late. Thank you. Back to Julie.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: All right. And Iris, I'm just going to have you kick us off on the topic. So

Iris Godes: thank you. Great. So as we've all been saying, it's not too late. And the time is now that I saw a title on, uh, one of the pages that Julie was showing.

Um, well, it's not too late. You do want to get going. Um, so the good news is that you're here and you're learning more about it. So you've taken step one, which is fantastic. And the other good news is there are lots of colleges around Massachusetts that still have openings and are still ready to welcome you for this fall.

If you feel like Making it happen. This fall is going to be too quick for you. It's still not too early to start looking at possibly starting in January for most of us will have the opportunity for you to come in what we call the spring semester. So think about that as well. While you're listening to what we have to say.

Um, I realize that those of you that have joined this webinar may be at different stages of the process. Maybe you were thinking about college earlier in this year. Um, and never really got to the point of getting it done or getting your application done. Perhaps you start an application and never finished it, or maybe you haven't done anything yet.

So, again, it doesn't matter what stage you're at, you do have time to get it done. You just want to make sure you get going sooner than later. Um, and you know, check on who has openings and who doesn't. I can tell you that among the state universities, I think all of us are still, um, ready to welcome you to campus, whether you're living close by and you want to commute, um, or if you're further away and would like to live on campus.

Um, I can't promise every state university has every housing option available, but I would say most do have space. Um, so if you want to live in housing, you'll still have time to do that as well. So those are two things for you to be thinking about if you're not thinking about that, um, already. But like I said, it's not too late.

You do just want to get going sooner than later. Just about everybody will have the ability for you to apply through their website, um, and I'll let my other colleagues here talk about what their processes are, but if you look at within the state universities, most of us are on the common app as well as our own applications and you can find all that information.

On the college admissions pages, most colleges will have an apply button oftentimes right off of their homepage to try to make it as easy as possible for you to apply. And if you have questions and you're not sure what you should be doing or if it's right for you, then please don't hesitate to contact any of the admissions offices, everybody is happy to talk to you, whether you call on the phone or send an email.

Either way is fine. Um, and we'd love to help you through the process. So there's no stupid questions. Um, so try not to feel intimidated by any of us. We're really here to help you, um, and both help you with applying to college as well as getting financial assistance to help you pay. Um, so that can also be part of the same conversation.

Um, and you're going to be hearing more about that, um, with another presenter. So I'm not going to get too far into that. There will be a form in addition to applying for admission. If you haven't done that yet, then you will apply for financial aid through the FAFSA. Um, and all of us will require that. So that's all I'll say about that.

Um, but there will be another form that you're going to want to get done as soon as you can. I think that's sort

Clantha McCurdy: of the highlights. It's really, it might

Iris Godes: feel a little overwhelming at this stage if you haven't gotten too far into the college search process but if you try to just take a step back and just take it one step at a time.

So if you haven't applied yet, then just do that application and then the next step will follow and we'll help you through it if you've applied but you didn't finish your application you're not sure what to do and you sort of lost track of where you are in the process, then definitely get in touch with the admissions office again either by phone or email, and we'll let you know exactly, you know what we know and what we have and what you need to do next and we'll get you right back on track.

Um, and help you get through the rest of the process. It's not too overwhelming. Um, when you look at it just one step at a time so take it step by step and you'll get there and before you know it you're sitting in class. And really enjoying your college opportunity. So with that, I think I'll pass it on to I think Jill is coming up next.

And actually

Julie Shields-Rutyna: I'll mention one, one, one thing before, um, Jill speaks, you mentioned the FAFSA Iris and as I was going through that website quickly, but as part of what we're doing this August we are having what we call a FAFSA festival, where you can join another, another webinar just like this or a meeting just like this.

And be paired up with an expert and you can go off in a breakout room so you're alone with the one expert and you can complete your FAFSA online with help. So that's going to happen next Wednesday. So if you go back to that website, you'll be able to see that that's an option for you as well if you need to get that financial aid form done.

Iris Godes: That's great. We are just going to crank everybody right through this process.

Clantha McCurdy: All right, Jill. Thank you.

Thanks. I'm so

Jillian Glaze: excited to talk about the Community Colleges. August is our favorite month of the year in the Community Colleges. It's by far our busiest month. So if you're just getting started, you will not be alone. And we are set up to help you get through the process quickly and be ready to start in the fall.

As Iris mentioned, if All feels a little bit too quick for you. We have applications open and we're starting to look at January as well. So that is an option available to you too. We have some great financial aid programs. I'm going to let Clantha talk about those available at the community colleges. So be aware that there's definitely opportunity to have your classes paid for at the community colleges in Massachusetts.

Um, I can speak for all of our campuses, we have both in person and virtual assistants with With admissions and financial aid, um, both you can walk onto campus and get assistance. Um, and we can even help you get registered for classes. What I do want to go over are some, some insider tips to help you get through the process in one day.

If you can bring a few key things with you onto your community college campus, we can most likely get you through the whole process. You're FAFSA filed, accepted to the college, into a program, and advised within the same visit. The first thing you want to bring with you is a photo ID. This just helps us find you in our systems, make sure that everything's getting connected the way it should.

The second thing that's really helpful is a high school transcript. This helps us place you into the right classes to get you started. If you don't have a high school transcript, that's fine. You have a G, GED or high set or your diploma. Those are great to help you get through the admissions process but that transcript does give us a little more information on where you might be as far as taking math classes and English classes.

If you've taken college classes anywhere before and you can get a copy even if it's unofficial of your transcript. Definitely bring that with you. We want to make sure that you're getting credit for anything you've earned in the past and taking that into consideration, right, as you get started, so we can get you on your fastest path to success.

And of course, if you're looking to file a FAFSA and you want some help with that, if you can bring your 2021 tax information with you, and if you're under 24, your parent information as well, will help you get the FAFSA filed and on its way. And then of course, if you're working and you have a work schedule, it's helpful to have that information available so advisors can help you find classes that work within your schedule.

And also the last one, and this one isn't always super obvious, but your health insurance information. Um, and that's so we can help get that cost waived off your bill that takes a big chunk of money off your bill at the community colleges. So if you've got health insurance and you've got your card, make sure you bring it with you and we'll help you get that process taken care of as well.

So we do have weekday FAFSA assistance, as well as admissions assistance at Bunker Hill and many of the other community colleges, but also there are a ton of special events going on in August. I know Quinn Sigmund Community College has a Super Saturday scheduled for August 26 from 9 to 1. Greenfield Community College has a virtual enrollment day scheduled on 8 19.

Bunker Hill has Start Now Saturdays every Saturday in August from 8 to 1 30. And those are just a few of the events that are happening across the community college system, where you can get help with all of these processes and be on your way to taking classes for September.

Clantha McCurdy: Thank you, Jillian.

Monica Blondin: Hi, everyone. So as I mentioned earlier, my name is Monica Blondin and I work at Assumption University. And what I'm going to talk about in the next few minutes is really the perspective of the private college or university, whether you're in Massachusetts, or you're thinking applying to a school outside of Massachusetts.

Well, I certainly can't speak for every private college university, I can give you some information on how things work at Assumption, and also give you some tips, um, not necessary tricks, but tips in terms of reaching out to other schools if you're interested in other schools. So at Assumption, similar to what Jill and Iris had indicated, it's not too late.

Um, our fall semester classes actually start August 28th. So it's only three weeks away, but it's three weeks away. So I mean, depending on how you're looking at it, you can certainly get things done and be ready to rock and roll and start classes on August 28th, but you do have to start soon. Um, so in terms of the application process for admissions, we do require the common app.

Um, and what we would have you do is fill out the 2425 Common App, um, because the 2324 one is shut down at least for Assumption. So if you are looking to apply for the fall semester, we would ask that you fill out that Common App, which a lot of schools do require that form, and then email our admissions team to let them know that you're interested in starting either in the fall semester or the spring semester of this coming academic year.

Um, and then what they'll do at that point is you'll get connected with an admissions person, and they can walk you through the process. Um, in terms of the financial aid process, we would ask that you fill out the FAFSA form. And at Assumption, we're a FAFSA only school, meaning that is the only form you need to fill out to apply for financial aid.

And there's still financial aid available, um, through Assumption, as well as federal and state resources, which I know Clantha indicated she's going to go over those. momentarily. Um, I cannot, like I said, I cannot speak for other private colleges and universities, but if there is a school out there that you're interested in, I would highly recommend that you reach out to their admissions team.

They may tell you it's too late for fall, but if you're interested in transferring it or actually starting in the spring, you have plenty of time to get things in order. So if that's something that you want to do, the first step is just to reach out and have people guide you through that process. At Assumption University, once you fill out your Common App, get in touch with someone from admissions.

If you haven't done so already, we'd ask you to fill out that 2324 FAFSA form. Um, I would also recommend that you reach out to the financial aid office at Assumption, so we know that you've submitted your form, so we can jump on it right away once you get admitted. And we look at students for need based financial aid as well as merit based financial aid.

We are also a division two school, so if you are interested in playing sports, we do offer athletic money at this stage of the game. Chances are you wouldn't get athletic money for the fall, but you possibly could get it for the spring. And if you decide to attend Assumption, you might even get it for future years here.

So again, at this point in time, I just would stress Just reach out and ask, because there are a lot of schools out there that are still willing and able to take you on for the fall semester. Don't make any assumptions, because the worst thing you can do is ask, and they'll guide you through the process.

We're here to help, as everybody has said, and we want you to be successful in what you're doing. Well

Robert Dais: said, Monica, and everyone else. So, what I was thinking is, I wanted to use an analogy that might help, because as students are in this transition, stage. Maybe you started out this year in the spring, you went to graduation and you thought you might go enroll in the military, or maybe you thought your game plan was to move out of state or pursue a career and something happened.

Where now you, here you are in the summer and you're, you've changed, things have changed, you're pivoting, and you're wondering what your options are, and that's what we're, today is really about, is talking about your options. The analogy I like to use, and I like to have a little fun, so I'm going to clown around with you here, I hope it's okay, is how many people by show of hands have ever woken up late for something?

Woken up late for a bus, woken up late for, to get to work, maybe overslept, something happened, where you had a game plan. You said, I'll be all right. I'll be on time, but you woke up and you were late. Yeah, we've all been there. So I'll use the school bus analogy. I remember as a boy, occasionally I'd wake up, hit the snooze button, hit the snooze button.

Next thing you know, you hear your friends outside, they're at the bus stop. And all of a sudden you wake up and realize you're running late. It's a good analogy because it's the same thing. It doesn't mean you've missed the bus. It just means you're going to have to hustle to get on that bus. And if you listen to our college professionals here and our financial aid professionals, what we're saying is, we're here to help you catch that bus because it's not too late, but you got to get moving.

So, Gear Up is one of the TRIO programs, we're federally funded, and we're run out of the Department of Higher Education. And our goal, if you look behind me, is to help students in numerous cities, seven cities throughout the Commonwealth, get ready for college or career or whatever comes next. And that's what we're here talking about today.

I like the fact that folks have said, other people are out there, you're not alone. So if you're sitting at home thinking, Oh man, I feel like I didn't get it together, you're beating up on yourself. Guess what? You're not alone. There are many, many other students whose plans have changed. And they're looking at what are my options.

Maybe you got into a job and you realize, I really don't like what I'm doing. I can't see doing this for the rest of my life. That's okay. You're identifying the fact that you want to reset things you want to take another look. That's what we're here talking about. So I'm also going to talk to you about as we're using this bus analogy, you're sprinting for the bus, you're trying to get there and you're hearing all these people who are cheering for you as you go, all this support.

And that's really what I want to share, no matter what city you're in. And I'm going to focus on Massachusetts because my program's in Massachusetts. Uh, and we help students. So let's say, for example, you decided you want to apply to college. Maybe you want to go part time. That's fine. But if you made that decision now and it's not too late, but the time is now, you can also connect with some of your peers because maybe you're more comfortable connecting with some of your, your, your, your teachers or your school counselors in the schools that you've attended.

I want to let you know, oftentimes those folks are around. Our gear up program is 12 months out of the year. We're in the buildings. If we had a student come in and said, I'm, I'm, I know I'm late, but I'm excited and I really want to get going. I really want to apply to Bunker Hill or, or Assumption or Framingham State.

I'm really in focus. They would drop everything and help you do that. So you've got support at the, the college and the university level. You've also got resources at the high school level, in addition to MIFA and some other institutions. The bottom line is if you want to get on that bus, you can still make it happen.

Don't give up. Don't sell yourself short, get going, and get those documents together, because again, you're not alone, and there are people here who will help you up, and, and, and again, once you get yourself on that path, boy, you'll look back, you'll laugh about it, but at the end of the day, you'll feel so much better, because you made a decision, and you got going.

So that's what we really want to just encourage you to think about, is the fact that It happens to all of us. You're not alone. You've got support. You've got resources. And right here, you've got about six of the most talented people in the game, uh, cheering for you. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr.

McCurdy. She's going to talk to you about the money and how that helps because that really helps to have some finances. So it's all

Clantha McCurdy: yours, Clantha. Thank you, Robert. And, um, I want to give you a little bit of background information before I get to the good part, which is all about the money. And we've been talking to you about it's not too late, and you need to do certain things catch that bus.

So, what are you doing, you need to complete that FAFSA. Why? Because there's financial aid that's available, and it comes in various forms. There's scholarships and grants. There's work study on campus. And of course, their loans and you can get that aid through various sources. At this point, you may be a little late catching outside scholarships that you might apply for in competitions or through local organizations, corporations and things like that.

But you're not too late at the state level or the federal level, especially for a Pell Grant. So when you complete that FAFSA, that's gonna right away tell you if you qualify for the largest grant in the country and that is the Pell Grant. And from there, your college will know what kind of aid that they can assist you with.

And as you consider. The different forms of aid and knowing that your college will have a to give you either scholarships grants. maybe even loans or what have you, your state has made a tremendous investment in financial aid. And I want to share that good news with you in a moment. Um, but there are also opportunities to help you with that cost.

Um, and sometimes you need to do a little bit more work to find out, well, what will it cost and what? Kind of financial aid is a good financial aid package for me, or, um, for my family or what have you. This is the kind of information that your college financial aid office can help you with, or the webinars that you are attending right now through MIFA.

There are all kinds of tools to help you with that. But suffice it to say, Most students like to look for aid that you don't have to pay back, and there's a lot of that. The good news is today, uh, for Massachusetts, Governor Healey signed the FY 24 budget that doubled the state's commitment to financial aid.

A lot of this aid is going to go to students who attend. Public colleges, but there is a there for our independent college students as well. And I want to talk about a little bit of that as you start to complete your FAFSA. And by the way, you have to complete that FAFSA every year that you want to go.

Um, but everyone on this screen can help you with that process, and you should not have any fear about, well, how do I know what to do, or who's going to help me out? A simple phone call, in fact, for my office, go to the website. It's www mas.edu. And we tell you all about financial aid, how to apply. We also link to the websites of everybody that's on this page.

There's a link to Jillian's school. There's a link to Iris school. There's a link to MIFA. There's a link to Monica. So everything's out there if you want to do a little research. But for today, since you're trying to get on that bus, Don't worry. If you complete that FAFSA, I'm going to tell you about some funds that are there for you.

And this comes in the form of grants. Scholarships and more grants. So what happened in this past year, financial aid was funded at about 194 million. That's if you combine all of the different sources of aid. This year, we are starting out at no less than 300 million. 40 million in state financial aid.

What does that do? The state has made a commitment that any Massachusetts student who attends a public college will receive enough assistance to pay for your tuition, your fees, and your books. How does that work? Well, when you file that FAFSA, Iris can tell you, Jillian can tell you, but what I'm going to tell you is that we are equipping, we, meaning the legislature, the governor, and my agency, the Department of Higher Ed, which basically administers these programs, we are equipping our institutions with enough resources to to do that.

One program is called mass reconnect. Now that's designed for people who are age 25 and over maybe started school, didn't finish up or they want to start for the first time. Have no fear. Those resources will help you With enough resources to pay your cost at the community colleges. Well, what if you're going to a four year college for your public have no fear, and it's not too late.

Iris is going to get money from a program that's called mass grant plus that's going to have that same guarantee. In fact, there's more news that I need to share with my financial aid colleagues. You're waiting to find out how is this going to work. Well, good news. It's going to be about EFC, but we'll get to that part later for the professionals.

But at any rate, um, the legislature provided money for what was called financial aid expansion. And that was to make sure that we could fulfill that goal of making certain that there are sufficient resources for any student. Uh, who is at least part time, that's six credits or more, Pell eligible to receive that assistance.

And of course, there are always some, gotta read the bottom line on some things. So, the truth of the matter is that if you are eligible for Pell Grant, which means that you need a lot of help, usually, and it does, you're gonna be okay. Other students who are a little bit further up on that income level or whatever, We have money for you as well.

So we are very equipped and we just need you to make that decision to come join us. Um, in addition to that, and I'll share this with my colleagues as well. They're here for the first time, the state's primary grant program, mass grant. Is likely to increase to a level that we haven't seen since the early 90s.

So more to come on that. But that is the program also and you see the smiles that are on their faces. It's good news for everyone. But let's say that you don't qualify for those need based programs. Well, the state has made a commitment in what's called a high demand scholarship. Yep. It's not based on need.

We want to make sure in Massachusetts that we have enough talented and skilled employees to meet our workforce demand. So we have 50 million to put out there for public and private college students in high demand disciplines. That application for that program will open up On August 15. This is also new news to people on this screen here, but I'm just so excited about that because that's another way that the state's making a commitment.

If you desire to be a teacher. We are rolling out this year a new tomorrow's teacher scholarship program that offers up to 25, 000 a year for students who. Want to be a teacher. You want to give back to your community like you had teachers who mentored you throughout high school, elementary school, what have you.

We all have our favorite teacher. If that's a role that you desire, there's a program for you. And with that tomorrow's teacher scholarship, all you need to do is say massachusetts, I want to work in the school in this state. I'm going to get your money, your 25, 000 a year and become a teacher. That application is open right now.

www. mass. edu. You'll find that application there. Well, maybe you don't want to be a teacher. Maybe you're not going into a STEM field. You want to be a nurse. Have no fear. It's not too late. We will be rolling out a new nursing scholarship program for students in the public sector. Lots of money, lots of options for everyone, and we just wanna make sure that that's the message that you hear today.

There are a number of other programs that, um, we manage. And I won't go through all of those because you may have questions or what have you. But the message that you should take today take away from this session today is if you desire to enroll in college, and at least six credits or more, there is assistance that's waiting for you.

Today's August 9th. Most of the campuses, Monica's campus, Iris campus will be starting somewhere around the end of August or early September. It's still not too late. You've heard that. And there are resources available for you. So I'm going to end at that point. And just to let you know, I went off script because I was so excited about this budget.

I couldn't wait to share that. And I hope that you get that sense of excitement for me, because all we want to do is help change your future. So thank you.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you. I mean, I'm, I'm sitting here thinking, what else do you need to hear? There are so many opportunities, so much there's funding. And there's help for you.

So I guess those are the messages we want to get across today. And, um, I'll just open it up to see if there are any questions. But other than that, we will let you go, go on with your day, but please internalize those messages and reach out and take action. There's this whole, whole future. waiting for you.

So I'll wait one moment to just see if we have any questions.

I'm not seeing any come in. I think everyone might be just so overwhelmed with the good news that you shared. So with that, I guess then what I will say is thank you to all of you for sharing that very, very, uh, detailed, great information about the opportunities on your campuses, the help you can receive, and about Um, how much money is available and please stay in touch with.

Come back to MIFA. org and the MIFA. org slash your future website for other, other offerings. And then you also heard about the mass. edu website, which will give you all of the other information about all of those wonderful programs that Clantha just mentioned. So with that, thank you. And thank you all so much for joining us this afternoon.

Thanks.

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