8 students will win $1,000 for college this summer

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1 your KHEAA COLLEGE CONNECTION June students will win $1,000 for college this summer Eight Kentucky students will win $1,000 college savings accounts in the 2015 Summer Reading Program at participating libraries. Summer Reading Superhero! is sponsored by the Kentucky Education Savings Plan Trust (KESPT) and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. The program gives Kentucky children a chance to win a $1,000 KESPT college savings account. Each winner s local library will also receive $500 for future reading programs. Parents, grandparents and guardians can enter for a child 18 or younger by completing an entry form at their local library. Entries must be postmarked by Aug. 14 and received by Aug. 19. Libraries across Kentucky offer a summer reading program every year as part of the national Collaborative Summer Library Program a group of states working together to provide high-quality summer reading program materials for children at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries. Our summer reading programs have more than 100,000 children participating statewide every summer. We re excited to offer Summer Reading Superhero! as part of those programs because it increases awareness about the importance of reading throughout the summer and saving for college, said Heather Dieffenbach, children and youth consultant at KDLA. And the $500 for the winners local libraries will go a long way toward improving future reading programs. KESPT is the state s official 529 College Savings Plan, which helps families and friends save for a loved one s future college education with tax advantages. It is administered by KHEAA and managed by TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing Inc. For more information about KESPT, visit kysaves.com or call toll free No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Visit kysaves.com for official rules and prize details. For help with your higher education and financial aid questions, visit KHEAA is an EEO employer. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

2 Gortney named advisor to college coach program Summer Gortney has been named the advisor to the Kentucky College Coaches Program by KHEAA. The Kentucky College Coaches program has helped thousands of students prepare for and enter college, Gortney said. I look forward to working with the college coaches, the Kentucky Campus Compact and other program partners who have made it a highly regarded and credible program across the state. College coaches are recent college graduates who work in local high schools to help students prepare for and apply to college. The Kentucky Campus Compact is a group of 18 presidents of Kentucky colleges and universities. Partners for Education at Berea College also works with the program, which is funded by AmeriCorps. KHEAA sponsors 30 coaches across the state. Gortney, a native of Frankfort, was most recently KHEAA s regional outreach counselor in Central Kentucky. She has a bachelor s degree from Georgetown College and a master s degree from Kentucky State University. While an outreach counselor, Gortney twice received the Outreach Excellence Award and worked with the Kentucky Latino Education Alliance (K LEA). Scott named outreach counselor for Central Kentucky David Scott has been named KHEAA s outreach counselor for central Kentucky. I am honored and excited to continue the efforts of KHEAA and its partners in promoting higher education in central Kentucky, he said. In addition to schools, Scott will work with adult education centers, state agencies and other groups. He can be reached at dscott@kheaa.com or Scott, a native of Olive Hill, was most recently the counselor on KHEAA s College Info Road Show, a mobile classroom equipped with wireless Internet access. Before joining KHEAA, Scott was an employee of the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice and a special education teacher. 2

3 College checklist for your freshman year This year s high school graduates can use the summer to prepare for a smooth transition to college. Below are a few suggestions. Attend freshman orientation. Find out who your roommate is and get to know him or her over the summer. , texting or a social media site is a great way to get started. Put your heads together and come up with a list of what you will take to college so you don t duplicate. Work out a budget and come up with the best way to pay for the things you re going to need. You ll need your parents input on this one. Make sure you have all your personal care items before you leave for school. Parts of state s college planning guide now available in audio Sections of Getting In, the state s college planning guide, are now available as audio files. The audio versions include Chapter One and the first part of Chapter Two. Chapter One is a guide to the college admissions process, while the first part of Chapter Two helps students and parents navigate the financial aid application process. KHEAA had the sections professionally recorded to provide important college planning information to students who may benefit from a narrated version of Getting In. To access the audio version, go to com and click on the Other Resources tab. Then click on Publications and Getting In: Class of 2016 under the Kentucky heading. Have a plan for keeping in touch with your family. If you were unable to attend orientation or have not taken the time to become familiar with the campus, make sure you take the time prior to the beginning of classes to familiarize yourself with where your classes will be held each day. 3

4 Don t be taken in by something that sounds too good to be true Parents of college-bound students often hear from companies that promise to help them find financial aid to pay for college. But families don t have to pay for this kind of information. That information can be obtained free by working with a school counselor, checking out sources in the library, doing free online scholarship searches or contacting the financial aid office of the college the student plans to attend. If you decide to use a company to help you find financial aid, make sure you re dealing with a reputable one. The Federal Trade Commission cautions students to be especially skeptical about scholarship search companies and websites that make these claims: You ve been selected by a national foundation to receive a scholarship. Check with a school counselor to find out if the foundation is legitimate. Be especially wary if you re notified that you re a finalist in a scholarship contest you didn t enter. We ll do all the work. It s highly unlikely that the company will fill out all the applications for all the financial aid sources it sends you. Students should follow these tips for managing money Students need to know how to manage money and to make it grow. Knowing what to do with your money helps you manage your income and expenses throughout your life. Entire sectors of the economy are dedicated to separating you from your hard-earned cash. Here are some tips to help you keep more of your money. Every time you consider buying something, whether it s a soda or song download, ask yourself, Do I really need this? If the answer is no, don t buy it. Follow these tips: Don t get in over your head with buying clothes, eating out or living a lifestyle you can t pay for. Buy smart by being a good consumer and researching your options. Avoid buying something on impulse, especially a high dollar item. Comparison shop you might find bargains elsewhere. Always have a budget, monitor your bank account carefully and check your credit reports once a year for accuracy and possible identity theft. I just need your credit card or bank account number to hold this scholarship. Never give these numbers to a person or company you re not sure about. You re guaranteed to get money for college or your money back. Read the fine print. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 4

5 KYAE purchases more $20 GED test vouchers Kentucky Adult Education has been able to purchase an additional 5,750 of the $20 GED test vouchers to help the state s students. Vouchers are given to students who go through the adult education programs. Students interested in obtaining and using a voucher should contact the adult education center in their county. The adult educator requests the voucher by ing the following information to GED@ky.gov: Student name. Date of birth (no Social Security numbers, please). County where the adult education program is located. Content area modules requested. The student must pass a GED Ready test module before becoming eligible to receive the $20 voucher for that same GED test module. This can be done one content area module at a time, so there is no need to pass all four before a request can be made or a test scheduled. One voucher is provided per content area module per student. No voucher is needed for retakes. GED Testing Service already discounts the cost of retakes to $10 for up to two additional attempts per content area module. Because the vouchers are single-use, they will not combine in the checkout at MyGED. Schedule the tests one content area at a time. State board considers more career, tech education funding Funding for career and technical education (CTE) in Kentucky is inadequate, according to an independent report presented to the Kentucky Board of Education at its June 4 meeting. The report was prepared by an Indianapolis consulting firm. Kentucky funds CTE programs in high schools, local technical centers (CTCs) and state-operated area technology centers (ATCs) using federal funding, state SEEK and general fund dollars. The report made seven recommendations: Base funding for CTE on state goals and business and industry needs. Set up a committee to explore ways of funding ATCs and CTCs equally. Provide enough funding for CTE in order to meet the priorities set by the state. Create a process of funding large equipment purchases and maintaining or upgrading current equipment. Allow CTCs and local schools to set a budget for the entire school year. Consider an additional per-pupil funding formula. Explore CTE performance funding. Currently, 68 percent of all high school students take CTE courses, and the majority of students who concentrate in a CTE pathway graduate college- and career-ready. 5