Apply Kansas
April Cozine, State Coordinator Assistant Director of Admissions Wichita State University 316-978-5485 applyks@kacrao.org
The American Council on Education is pleased to provide a home to the American College Application Campaign, a multi-state effort to increase college access through dissemination of ideas, development of practices, and technical assistance for implementation of a College Application Campaign event. The ACAC initiative began in 2005, in a single GEAR UP North Carolina high school in Chatham County. Since that time, the program has expanded statewide in North Carolina with every district and over 470 high schools participating annually. Since 2008, the number of states implementing a College Application program has been growing; in 2014 ACAC took place in all fifty states. Kansas joined the effort in 2014 in one test location, expanding efforts to 11 high schools in 2015 with 2273 applications filed. GCHS College Application Day Event- October 18 in GCHS Library- all day (seniors) Follow-up- FAFSA Completion- workshops October 21 and 21 (parents and students) College Planning Conference- October 25 in GCHS Gym 8:45-10:45 (juniors and seniors)
In 2015, the pilot year of Apply Kansas: 11 schools hosted events 1,543 students participated 2,273 applications were submitted
Become a Site Coordinator! If you are interested in facilitating an Apply Kansas event for your school in October 2016 contact the Apply Kansas Coordinator at: applyks@kacrao.org. We will provide training, resources and tips along the way to help you host a successful event! Become a Volunteer! If you would be interested in assisting with an area Apply Kansas event in October 2016, complete the volunteer registration form by September 16, 2016. We will provide training, resources and tips along the way to help you assist with hosting a successful event!
I want to thank you again for those of you that were able to make it to the Apply Kansas Site Coordinator training! I ve tried to make a (brief) summary of some of the resources and information that was shared for those of you that were unable to attend as well as some highlights for the upcoming Apply Kansas: College Application Month Campaign. -Apply Kansas Events Confirm Date/Time of your Event: If you have not submitted your finalized date and time of your Apply Kansas events, please do so immediately. Do you still need volunteer assistance at this point? IF so confirm, the number and time slots needed and we will try to help you with coverage. It is important that this information is received as soon as possible. -Apply Kansas Site Coordinator DropBox: You have all been added to a dropbox that contains several resources that can aid you in your preparation for your Apply Kansas event. It contains some of the following resources: -Apply Kansas Site Coordinator Guide -Editable Apply Kansas Resource Guide -Site specific graphics (coming soon) -Apply KS video -ACT Profile Resource Information- Free tool for college & career planning -Apply Kansas: Fee Waivers: Kansas community college/technical schools do not charge an application fee Private institutions in the state of Kansas have agreed to not charge an application fee during the month of October Public universities in Kansas (including Washburn) have agreed to use a single Apply Kansas: Application Fee Waiver form. (This is located in the manual as well as in the dropbox) -Social Media: -Facebook: www.facebook.com/applyks *Facebook Closed Group- Apply Kansas Site Coordinators For those who wish to join, it s a great place to share ideas, tips, & successes with other Apply Kansas coordinators across the state. -Twitter: www.twitter.com/applyks -Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/applyks (Idea board that includes many examples of bulletin board designs) Take pictures, upload to Twitter and Facebook with hashtags, #ApplyKS, #IApplied, #YouKan. We want to share coverage of your events!! -Press Release: The Kansas Board of Regents is planning on putting together a press release of Apply Kansas efforts and sites as well finalizing the details of the Governor s Proclamation declaring October 2016 as college application month again here in Kansas. If I have NOT received your finalized confirmation of participation as an Apply Kansas site including date/time, your site may not be included in the press release. Please send to me as soon as possible and I will make every effort to ensure it is included. -Site Expectations: As an Apply Kansas site, you will need to submit the following information back to me as the Apply Kansas State Coordinator after your event: -# of students who participated -# of applications submitted -if possible a breakdown of number of applications by sector: community college, technical, private, public -Complete Exit Survey- Will be emailed to you in November 2016
DID YOU SEE THE WORDS, FEE WAIVERS?
SUPER HELPFUL! Provided I Applied stickers for students Provided a reusable vinyl banner Provided our personal logo
Asked community for donations of visa cards to help students pay for application fees 187 seniors submitted college applications Had volunteers from Apply Kansas help them Check out their Twitter @DchsStudentSvcs
I provided an activity for teachers to do with their students- to talk about their college experiences. I sent it with this poster for them to display. I graduated from Wichita State University Ask me about it! Mrs. Hamilton
DCHS Request for Volunteers Hello! My name is Caitlin Hamilton and I am a Dodge City High School Counselor. I wanted to let you know about an exciting event here at DCHS. It will be taking place on October 27 th during 3 rd and 5 th block ( 10:10-11:35 and 1:36-301). We are hoping to help students apply to at least one college of their choice and give them as much help and information as we can about the FAFSA. We are also going to try to make sure they have their ID so they may actually fill out the FAFSA if they have time. We are looking for volunteers to help with this day (helping with applications, handing out transcripts, etc) and would love to have you help in any way! This is a great event for college reps to make connections with our students. I know October can be a crazy time, but we would love to have you here! Hope to see you soon! Caitlin Hamilton DCHS Counselor
Anti-Bully Week Junior Presentations Added College Application Day FAFSA workshops during P/T Conferences CPC How do we make these activities special and not just another Counselor Activity? We created College Blitz Week which included CAD, FAFSA, and CPC!
Press Release Logistics- where, when, what needed, who needed Communication- with teachers, students, parents, community Promotion- posters, windows, social media, emails Preparation- documents, folders Photo Booth USE THE RESOURCE GUIDE PROVIDED!
What s so great about College Application Day? I sent this email to students. Another email was also sent with an attached worksheet to prepare them for CAD. *** You get help completing your applications. Volunteers will be in the GCHS library 8-3:00 all day on Tuesday October 18th to help you complete your applications. Some schools have November 1 st scholarship deadlines! Get your applications submitted ASAP! ***Some schools are waiving application fees during College Application Month (October). Yes, all schools, besides community colleges charge a fee to apply, but private schools in Kansas are waiving the fees during October. Students who receive free/reduced lunch qualify for a fee waiver to Kansas universities. Fee waiver forms will be available in the library that day. How can you get ready for College Application Day? -Determine which colleges you will apply to and review those applications NOW. If the application requires an essay or personal statement, start working on yours TODAY! -Read your email regarding what you need to bring with you to College Application Day. Applying is not committing! You can apply to several colleges and then decide in the spring where you want to go to college. Seniors- be ready to submit your college applications on Tuesday!
Peer Pressure! Came with friends I Applied Stickers Social Media Help from teachers to bring them and make them do it. Guidance in completing the applications. (No concept or support to do it alone.)
Held it in our library with their computer lab area. Kids came every hour from their Government class We had 4 volunteers from FHSU and GCCC. They stayed all day (7 hours). 1 counselor to sign-in and out students 1 counselor for fee waivers 1 counselor for GCCC paperwork like TB forms 1 counselor for photo booth Each student received a folder of information to keep when they entered the library
OR Twitter @counselorsgchs Check out our Facebook page for more pictures- GCHS Counseling Office Did you know you can link your FB and Twitter accounts together so one post goes both places? I used the hashtags for the event on all posts- #iapplied #whyapply #GCBuffpride
Instructions for CAD Apply Fee waiver Make note of additional items you need Print out confirmation page Sign-out Follow up Complete Scholarship Application Register for your FAFSA ID Complete the FAFSA (Workshop dates/times) Spreadsheet for user names and passwords for colleges, record of dates completed, paid,.fafsa ID. What s Next- CPC, visit college reps when they are at GCHS, go on college visit trips with counselor, order Jostens, review the Senior Guide. Labels with social media info for CAD.
Garden City High School had 283 applications completed during College Application Day- 186 to community colleges/tech schools 70 to universities 27 to private colleges 189 students participated in our very first College Application Day. Spent about $200 for supplies of folders and photo booth.
NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS HOW TO FEED THEM? MAYBE HOLD OVER 2 DAYS SO IT IS NOT SO FULL AND CAN PROVIDE MORE INDIVIDUAL HELP WANT A PEP RALLY TO KICK OFF COLLEGE BLITZ WEEK AND CAD!