Postsecondary Counseling Newsletter

March 25th, 2024

Seniors and Families,

I hope you had a wonderful Spring Break! Contained in this newsletter:

• Important FAFSA updates
• TO-DO items from now until graduation
• Slides from the Gap Year presentation
• San Juan College tour this Friday!
• Transition to College workshop
• PCC scholarship opt out form

If you have not yet submitted the FAFSA, remember that in spite of all of the delays, you will not be eligible for financial aid AT ALL unless you submit the FAFSA. Please reach out if you need assistance - I am here to help! As a reminder it is a graduation requirement to submit the FAFSA.

FAFSA updates and Spring TO DO's

What you shoud be doing NOW: At this point, all admissions decisions have been released. You should check your application portal for your decision.

Create your admitted student portal: Once you've been admitted, activate your student account at each school to which you have been admitted. This will be a different username and password than your application portal. Check it weekly for updates to your financial aid status. Upload any additional documentation that has been requested. If you don't know how to do this, come get help from me! You should also pay special attention to the commitment deadline. Do you have to commit and pay an enrollment deposit by May 1st?

Housing: March is typically when students are applying for housing, but you will not be applying for housing until you have decided which institution you will attend. Most schools will adjust their priority housing deadline due to the FAFSA delays. If they require you to live on-campus your first year, they cannot deny you housing and will adjust the deadline to align with the FAFSA delay. If they do not have a first year live-on requirement, you will want to check each school that is still on your list for updates from individual schools about their housing application timeline.

Continue to apply for local scholarships

April: Continue to check your student account at each school to which you have been admitted weekly for updates to your financial aid status. If you receive a financial aid award and need help understanding what it means, come see me! You should wait to make a decision about a school until you are able to compare financial aid awards at each school to which you have been admitted.

Enrollment deadline: Many schools are holding fast to their May 1 commitment deadline. If you do not plan to attend a 4-year school, then there is usually not a May 1 deadline unless you are attending a 2-year school with housing.

May: Meet with Erin CR individually for your senior postsecondary exit interview.

Attend the Transition to College Workshop Wednesday, May 8th from 5:30-6:30 @ AHS.

San Juan College tour March 29th, 8:30am-1:00pm.

Are you interested in Welding, Automotive Technology, Building Trades, energy, or manufacturing? Come tour San Juan College's trades and technology programs!

Details:

• Cost: NONE
• Depart AHS (transportation provided) at 8:30, Return by 1:00pm
• Bring a lunch or let us know in the sign up form if you will be needing a sack lunch from AHS

Sign up HERE and Erin CR will get you a permission slip.

Gap Year Information Session Slides

If you were unable to make it to our virtual Gap Year information session, unfortunately we did not record it, but you can access the slides HERE. Our facilitator, Amber Latimer, would love for you to reach out to her if you have questions or would like to talk more about the Gap Year option. Her Contact information is in the slides.

Transition to College Workshop for students and caregivers

Wednesday, May 8th 5:30-6:30pm @ AHS

Please join me for this workshop that will provide you with helpful tips and resources to help you with the transition from high school to college

• How is college different from high school?
• Details like: What should I bring? How should I buy my books?
• Academic success skills and how to be a good student.
• Celebrate the upcoming milestone and transition to college
• Acknowledge that the college transition can be stressful and emotional for the student and everyone in the family
• Learn questions to help the student better advocate for themselves
• Learn techniques to overcome common first-year challenges
• Understand how to budget your time and money
• What support services are available to college students and how to take advantage of them

Pueblo Community College Cap & Gown Scholarship

Pueblo Community College offers all graduating seniors automatic admission and a scholarship. We will be releasing a list of our entire graduating senior class to PCC so that they can send your official admission acceptance and scholarship notification. If you wish NOT to have your information sent to PCC for this purpose, please use this form to opt out.

Scholarship details:

Up to $1,000.00 credit towards the first 12 credits of enrollment at PCC.

OR

If the student is enrolled in Advanced Manufacturing, Computer Science, Information Sciences, Construction, Education, Engineering & Technology, Family & Social Sciences, Health Professions, or Transportation they will instead receive a one-time scholarship up to $1,500.00 to help cover tuition, fees, books and equipment.

Upcoming College and Career Events

4/3: 9th Grade Career site visit field trips

4/13: Admissions Case Study @ AHS 9:00am-12:00pm (9th-12th)

4/17: PSAT testing day (10th)

4/18: SAT testing day (11th)

4/19: PSAT testing day (9th)

4/24: Rising Seniors night

4/25-5/1: Sophomore Inspire Week (10th only)

5/1-5/21: LINK (Juniors only)

5/8: Transition to College workshop (seniors only) 5:30-6:30pm @ AHS

College & Career Events Calendar

Scholarships

MARCH

1st: Colorado County Clerks 

1st: Meaningful Opportunity through Learning and Advancement Scholarship (MOLAS)                   

1st: LPEA Scholarship

1st: LPEA John Voelker Scholarship

1st: LPEA Line worker Scholarship

1st: Tri-State Generation & Transmission Scholarship

1st: Basin Electric Scholarship

1st: The Denver Foundation scholarships - click for list, must create account to have access to apply

​1st: Latin American Education Foundation (Colorado residents)

11th: Always 100% Effort – Joe Burtoni Scholarship ($1,000) 

11th: Brinton Family Girls’ Swimming Scholarship ($1,000) 

15th: Durango Elks Lodge #507 scholarship

15th: Durango Elks Lodge Fred Zimmerman memorial scholarship

15th: Durango Elks Lodge Veterans scholarship

15th:Winifred R. Reynolds Educational Scholarship

15th: Sachs Foundation

15th: Colorado Water officials association 

18th: Independent Bankers of Colorado Scholarship

18th: Durango Area Association of Realtors

19th: RMACAC Scholarship

19th: IBC Bank Scholarship

30th: United Methodist Thrift Store Scholarship

31st: Young American Creative Patriotic Art Scholarship

31st: P.E.O Wanda Greve Memorial Scholarship-FEMALE ONLY

31st: Society of Women's Engineers Scholarship-FEMALE ONLY

31st: Grossman Scholarship

31st: Durango High Noon Rotary Scholarship

31st: USDA/Forest Service/Rocky Mountaineers scholarship

31st: Society of Women Engineers Pikes Peak section

APRIL

1st:  La Plata Cattlemen & Cowbelles Scholarship Association (5 Scholarships-1 you do not need to be a part of the organization!)

1st: NNMSMGA Scholarship

5th: CESDA Scholarship

5th: La Plata Conservation District Scholarship

5th: Colorado Burglar & Fire Alarm Association’s 2024 Youth Scholarship 

9th: Women's Energy Network: Kelly de la Torre Scholarship

10th: National Council of Jewish Women

15th: Colorado Second Chance Scholarship

15th:  Denver Scholarship Foundation - will take you to a page with multiple scholarships listed, create account to apply

15th: Southwest Colorado Bar Association

15th: Dorothy Gore PEO Scholarship-FEMALE ONLY

16th: Kit Faragher Scholarship

19th: MCA Denver Failure Scholarship

26th: Student Scholarship Essay Contest (9th & 10th Grade)

27th: Colorado State Fair Fiesta Queen Scholarship

30th: United Methodist Thrift Shop

30th: Cibrowski Family Scholarship ​

30th: South Fork Fire Rescue Scholarship

30th: High Noon Rotary Scholarship

30th: CESDA Scholarship

​

​MAY

1st: LaPlata Conservation District

1st: Southwest Colorado Bar Association Scholarship

31st: Forward Steps Foster Youth Scholarship: Application & Info sheet

JUNE​

1st: Kelly de la Torre Scholarship (females STEM)

​15th: Excelsior Scholarship

15th: Helen M. McLoraine Nonprofit Employment Scholarship

​August

1st: Summit Disability Law Group Scholarship

Also remember that you should be applying for Institutional scholarships.  (these are scholarships awarded by the colleges to which you've been accepted). There is usually one general application that is accessed through your student portal that you create after you've been accepted. Examples include:

• University of Utah - DUE 2/1
• Montana State - Feb 1
• Fort Lewis College Foundation DUE 4/6
• Colorado State University DUE 3/1

National Scholarships

Also check out web search engines and apps:

• Scholarship Owl
• Bold.org
• Cappex Scholarship List
• College Board
• Going Merry
• Fastweb
• IEFA International Scholarship Search Tool
• Peterson's
• Raise.Me (More like a scholarship predictor/estimator for specific schools)
• Scholarships.com
• TFS Scholarships
• Unigo

The Denver Foundation scholarships are open now. Click here to apply

Resources

March resources for 12th-graders

• Senioritis: This is not the time to slack off. Colleges will see your final transcript this summer, and they do have the right to rescind (i.e., take back) their offer of admission if your spring grades drop significantly (gulp).
• Admitted student events: If possible, attend in-person and virtual events for admitted students to get your questions answered and help inform your decision-making process.
• Scholarships: Search for possible fits based on your academic interests, gender, religion, and more.

Opportunities

Erin Cummins-Roper (she/her)

Dean of Career & College Counseling  

Animas High School |Tel: (970) 247-2474 | x2272 | Cell: 970-903-1617

www.animashighschool.com 

Schedule an appointment with me!

Office hours:

T/TH 1:00pm-3:00pm

Fridays: 9:00am-12:00pm

Financial aid and scholarship help every Friday 12:00pm-3:00pm