One week before the Super Bowl and all the festivities surrounding it, the University of Maine at Presque Isle will host an annual party of its own for high school and college students – College Goal Sunday.
Staff members will be on hand Sunday, Jan. 31 beginning at 2 p.m. in Folsom 105 to assist students in completing and filing their FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid] forms. This free event is open to the entire community. High school seniors and parents are especially encouraged to attend, along with currently enrolled college students needing assistance.
The University is one of three sites in Aroostook County hosting College Goal Sunday. The purpose of the event is to help students and families in completing the FAFSA form – the first step in receiving monetary help for college, and a step that is repeated every year that a student is in college. College Goal Sunday, sponsored by the Finance Authority of Maine and coordinated by TRiO Upward Bound at UMPI, is a free event that helps high school seniors and their families, current college students, or anyone needing to complete a FAFSA form.
“These forms can be daunting,” Darylen Cote, campus TRiO Upward Bound Director and Site Coordinator of College Goal Sunday, said. “This event will walk individuals through the form, line by line if necessary, to make sure they have a clear understanding of how to fill it out properly. If students bring all the necessary paperwork, they can actually fill it out and submit it during the event.”
Cote said that students and their parents should bring their most recent tax information, such as completed IRS 1040 tax returns, W-2 statements and other income and benefits information, along with their Personal Identification Number (PIN) to sign the form electronically. This PIN can be obtained in advance by going to www.pin.ed.gov. It also can be obtained the day of the event.
Both paper applications and computers to fill out online FAFSA’s will be available, as well as financial aid experts to assist. Cote and Danette Madore, also of TRiO Upward Bound, will serve as the University’s FAFSA program co-presenters.
During the event, students can register for a drawing to win one of 20 $500 scholarships from FAME. The drawing will be held the week following College Goal Sunday. Any senior in high school who attends the event is eligible for this drawing. Other door prizes will be available at College Goal Sunday sites across the state. Other participating Aroostook County sites include the Houlton Higher Education Center and the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
For more information about this event, contact Cote at 768-9456 or darylen.cote@maine.edu.