2010 Cash for College Workshop Registration: 

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the Cash for College Workshop series?
• What are Cash for College Regional Coordinating Organizations?
• Who can register to host a workshop?
• What are the requirements to host a workshop?
• How do I register to conduct a workshop?
• When does the workshop series begin?
• What is the Web-based Student Exit Survey?
• Where do I order materials?
• How long will it take my materials to reach my school, campus or organization?
• Where can I get workshop tools such as presentations and other forms?
• What is the Cash for College Scholarship?
• How do students qualify for a Cash for College scholarship?
• What qualifies a workshop to offer a Cash for College scholarship?
• How many scholarships are offered at a Cash for College workshop?
• Who can I contact if I have more questions?

What is the Cash for College Workshop series?
California Cash for College is a partnership effort which brings together high schools, community college and university financial aid experts and community organizations to offer low-income and first-generation college-bound high school seniors and families hands-on help completing the FAFSA and other forms to apply for financial aid. Multi-lingual workshops are held each year starting in January through the March 2 Cal Grant application deadline at sites throughout the state. Many workshop sites also offer assistance for students who may not qualify for state or federal financial aid, volunteer assistance with tax forms and help researching private scholarships and other financial aid options.

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What are Cash for College Regional Coordinating Organizations?
Six regions in the state have established broad regional coalitions to plan, promote, coordinate and in many areas conduct Cash for College workshops. Regional Coordinating Organizations, or RCOs, include community organizations, three Cal-SOAPs, a higher education campus and a school district. Each offer a venue to include all stakeholders locally, to ensure resources are maximized and duplication of effort is avoided. If your area is not within these coverage areas, the statewide Cash for College office will be your point of contact, at cashforcollege@csac.cagov

Current regional coverage areas and corresponding contacts include:

• Far North State: Butte, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. Please contact Marylee Boales, Shasta Union High School District, mboales@suhsd.net
• Capitol Area: Sacramento and Yolo Counties.  Please contact Monica Roberts, Sacramento Cal-SOAP/ Cash for College Coalition, mroberts@scoe.net
• East Bay Area: Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.  Please contact contact Cynthia Gonzalez, East Bay Cal-SOAP/Cash for College Coalition, cynthia@eastbayconsortium.org
• South San Joaquin Valley: Kern and Kings Counties. Please contact Frank Ramirez, UC Merced, Bakersfield Center, framirez7@ucmerced.edu
• Los Angeles: Los Angeles County.  Please contact Alma Salazar, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, asalazar@lachamber.com
• San Diego:  San Diego and Imperial Counties. Please contact Linda Doughty, San Diego Cal-SOAP Consortium, ldoughty@ucsd.edu

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Who can register to host a workshop?
College and university campuses, high schools, Regional Coordinating Organizations, government and community organizations can offer workshops.

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What are the requirements to host a workshop?
Cash for College is a partnership effort which offers a series of tools and support to Cash for College organizers to organize, promote and conduct a financial aid workshop, and also asks Cash for College workshop organizers for assistance in outreach and evaluation to make the workshop and scholarship program a success. Below is a list of what Cash for College workshop organizers are offered and what is asked as part of the partnership.

What we offer workshop organizers:

• A $1,000 scholarship to be offered at each qualifying Cash for College workshop (to learn more, see additional FAQs). Workshop organizers inform scholarship recipients of their award. Awards will be announced in announced in late May or early June, 2010.
• Financial Aid Power Point presentations that provide a step-by-step guide on completing the FAFSA on the Web (FOTW) Worksheet;
• A collection of customizable planning tools (i.e. sign in sheets, templates, scholarship recognition letters, and student surveys) to help coordinate and implement a successful event. You will have access to these tools under your organization’s account;
• Follow up assistance or referrals for students requesting more assistance after the workshops;
• Increased coordination of local, regional and statewide marketing efforts to increase participant attendance;
• Access to marketing resources and tool kits;
• Access to specialized trainings and resources (i.e. volunteer financial aid training and AB540 presentation materials and guidebooks)
• Access to coalitions of Cash for College RCOs, where applicable, to help direct students and parents to your workshop. See FAQs for a list of coverage areas and regional contacts.
• Site support in the amount of $300 is offered to the school or organization conducting a qualifying workshop. To be eligible for funds, workshops must be registered at this website and submit 25 or more student exit surveys. These funds are meant to help defray the costs of the workshops, including, but not limited to, materials, janitorial service, community site space rental, technology or assistance with computer lab set up.

What we ask of workshop organizers:

• Commit and plan to serve at least 25 students at each workshop.
• Complete the California Cash for College Outreach Action Plan.
• Use the California Priority High Schools targeted outreach list to guide selection of workshop sites. Or, if Priority High Schools are not identified in your area, prioritize outreach to low-income or disadvantaged students and first-generation college bound students. The Priority High School tool describes conditions which impact access to education beyond high school. Research-based indicators include family income, levels of poverty in schools, school counseling ratios, parent education levels, high school graduation rates, Cal Grant application rates and school or student submission of GPA Verification Forms. This tool is not meant to determine the level of outreach resources at each high school.
• Use the free California Cash for College/Cal Grant posters, adaptable regional and local flyers, and other tools as part of the organizer’s student, school and community outreach.
• • Aggressively promote the $1,000 California Cash for College scholarship program, or the Performance Based Scholarship program of up to $4,000 in scholarships, if participating in a Performance Based Scholarship study region.
• Provide students and their parents/guardians line-by-line assistance on the FAFSA and direct students to verify their Cal Grant GPA during the months of January and February and up to the March 2nd Cal Grant deadline.
• If offering workshops at high schools or college campuses, offer any available Internet-connected computers to workshop participants.
• Offer additional language support at workshops, as needed.
• Use attendance sign-in sheets at workshops and return copies to your regional or statewide office.
• Distribute the California Cash for College workshop evaluation/ scholarship entry form at each workshop, gather all surveys and return to the statewide or regional office. If you are offering workshops using computer labs, or other online venues, a web-based evaluation form will be made available instead of relying on paper forms.
• Following the March 2 deadline, to apply for site support funds, provide a summary of student and parent attendance and other relevant workshop information to help evaluate the workshop series.

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How do I register to conduct a workshop?
It only takes a visit to the Cash for College Registration Site  to create your online account, read through and accept the Partnership Agreement, create your outreach plan, request your dates, locations and time of workshops, and order materials. We will confirm your registration and activate your dates and times for the online listing so that students and parents can locate workshops nearest to them. Activation may take a few days or up to a week, depending on the volume of requests received. You will receive an email from us confirming when your workshops are activated and posted online. Our goal is to confirm and activate all workshops for the online listing prior to the December holidays.

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When does the workshop series begin?
The 2010 Cash for College workshop series begins in January and runs up to the March 2 Cal Grant deadline. In some areas serving year-round high school schedules may offer workshops in mid December.

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What is the Web-based Student Exit Survey?
Each year, Cash for College tabulates all student evaluations from each workshop to evaluate our progress in helping students successfully apply for as much financial aid as possible. Up to now, we have relied on a paper evaluation process.  An web-based exit survey increases the quality of survey data so that Cal Grant application and awards for Cash for College participants can be tracked.  An web-based survey can also ensure that email addresses are valid or that certain questions are answered. If you are interested to learn more about this new web-based feature, please contact the statewide Cash for College coordinator at cashforcollege@csac.ca.gov.

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Where do I order materials?
When you’ve logged into your account, you can click on the Order Materials link to place your orders. Most all materials will be shipped to you from the CSAC/EDFUND warehouse. Some materials will be shipped from CSAC Headquarters or your Regional Coordinating Organization, where appropriate.

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How long will it take my materials to reach my school, campus or organization?
CSAC/EDFUND Publications staff is very efficient in filling materials requests. Tell us your “need to receive by” date. Remember to build in time you’ll need to assemble your materials, as shipments will be targeted for receipt in time for your “need by” date.

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Where can I get workshop tools such as presentations and other forms?
2010 paper survey forms will be posted under Account Settings closer to the workshop series start date, in December. If you are offering workshops with online access for students, you will primarily use the web-based evaluation; however, you’ll want to have paper evaluations on hand in case there is a computer glitch. Please do not use outdated surveys or presentations. If you cannot locate the current materials on the website, please do not hesitate to contact the regional or statewide office to obtain updated information. 2010 Presentation materials can be accessed at the Cash for College Organizer page.

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What is the Cash for College Scholarship?
The Cash for College Scholarship is a $1,000 scholarship offered through generous grant funding from College Access Foundation of California.  More than 300 scholarships will be awarded statewide in 2010.  California Cash for College is participating in a national scholarship study of Performance Based Scholarships (PBS), and will offer more than 800 scholarships of up to $4,000 in study regions. Learn more about PBS here.

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How do students qualify for a Cash for College scholarship?
High school seniors who attend a Cash for College workshop, complete a student exit survey, and complete and send the required 2010-11 FAFSA and 2010-11 Cal Grant GPA Verification forms by the March 2 Cal Grant deadline, could qualify for a scholarship. After the March 2 deadline, at least one high school senior at each qualifying workshop who applies by the Cal Grant deadline will be randomly selected to receive a scholarship. Awards will be announced in late May or early June of 2010. To claim the scholarship, recipients must pursue an Associates or Bachelors degree path at an accredited 2-year or 4-year public or private degree granting institution in Fall 2010 within our outside of California.

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What qualifies a workshop to offer a Cash for College scholarship?
A workshop must be registered prior to the workshop date. . Student exit surveys must be collected at the workshop and returned to the regional or statewide office as soon as possible following each workshop. For sites using the web-based exit surveys are electronically submitted to the Cash for College website as soon as the student completes the survey. 

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How many scholarships are offered at a Cash for College workshop?
Each workshop is offered up to two scholarships!

One (1) scholarship is offered per workshop with 25 or more, returned, unduplicated student exit surveys.  If a workshop has fewer than 25 returned, unduplicated student surveys, we will consider rural and remote area workshops in determining whether student exit surveys are combined with another small workshop or whether the workshop will receive one (1) scholarship. An additional (1) scholarship is offered to workshops with 75 returned unduplicated exit surveys.

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Who can I contact if I have more questions?
You can contact your Cash for College Regional Coordinating Organization described in the above FAQs.  If you are not working within those coverage areas, or have general questions, please send an email message to the statewide coordinator, Despina Costopoulos, at cashforcollege@csac.ca.gov.

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