CRC Connection

Date: April 18, 2023

Time: 6:30-7:30 PM

When your child turns eighteen, they are considered legal adults. With this milestone comes some important changes for them, for you and for your family. Once your child becomes a legal adult, your rights to their financial, medical, and educational records are limited without the proper authorization in place. During an unexpected critical situation and without proper documents in place, a parent may find themselves unable to assist their young adult child.

Caren Naidoff and Alan Press from the Shire Law Group will be the presenters for this webinar. This presentation discusses the essential documents that should be put in place as well as other relevant topics related to your child becoming a legal adult.

Date: May 5, 2023

Time: 7:45-8:40 AM

Where: West Gym

Join your classmates on May 5th to celebrate your Life After VHHS plans! All seniors are encouraged and welcome to attend this celebration!

This is our chance to celebrate every senior’s postsecondary plans: workforce, gap year, military, trade school, 2-year college, or 4-year college. We will have donuts and other breakfast snacks for seniors. This will be a chance to take pictures with your classmates and place your dot on the Class of 2023 map. Feel free to wear your college/career/military/trade school t-shirts for this celebration. If you don’t have a t-shirt, please send us an email (as soon as possible) and we will see if we can track one down for you (no guarantees, but we will do our best!).

May 1 is the National Candidate Reply Date. This is the deadline by which you must notify one college that you are accepting its offer of admission (many times there is an option/instructions for how to do this in the college portal). You must also inform your other colleges that you are declining their offers. An email to our admission representative or the admission office will suffice. Admission officer contact info can be found on this sheet.

All students planning on attending a 2 or 4-year college must make a Final Transcript Request. Fill out the final transcript form linked below to have your final transcript sent to the school you plan to attend. Final transcripts will be sent out in early June.

Seniors need to meet with their counselors during your SCHEDULED LUNCH period on April 24th. Counselors will be available periods 3, 4, 5, and 6. If you do not have a lunch period during those times, contact your counselor to set up another time to meet.

Counselors will meet with each senior to verify the following tasks have been completed–if the tasks are complete, the meeting will not take long. These tasks are REQUIRED and if you don’t complete them, your graduation tickets will be put on hold until you do. (Note: You will need to be signed into your school email account to access the forms below):

TASK #1: ORDER YOUR FINAL TRANSCRIPT (If you haven't decided which school you are attending by April 24, mention this to your counselor when you meet)

TASK #2: UPDATE YOUR APPLICATION DATA IN SCOIR

• When you log into Scoir, you will be prompted to update your outcomes for every college in your “Applied” column.

• You can also indicate non-collegiate outcomes as well like joining the military, entering a trade-school, or taking a gap-year.

• If you applied to colleges that are not appearing in your “applied” list, please add those by going to your “My Colleges” tab in Scoir.

• If you were deferred to any school, you should mark that outcome and then you will be prompted to indicate if you were eventually admitted or denied admission.

• For more details, you can see further instructions here.

TASK #3: FILL OUT THE SENIOR SURVEY

We have a lot of information and dates to share with students interested in attending CLC in the fall. Please click the button below to learn about placement tests, scholarships, and a field trip to visit CLC.

Financial aid awards are starting to arrive, and seniors and parents often struggle to decipher the different awards like grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships. If you filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), your financial aid package might include an offer for a mix of an academic merit-based scholarship(s), need-based grant(s), loan(s) and/or Federal Work-Study. Colleges will add up whatever total money you and your family will be offered and subtract that from the total cost of attendance. That difference will be the college’s offer for your out-of-pocket cost.

TIPS FROM YOUR CRC:

• This article on How to Read Your Financial Aid Letter may be helpful, along with this sample financial aid award.

• Make sure you understand the different kinds of federal loans: subsidized vs. unsubsidized, and Parent PLUS loans. Colleges often offer substantial PLUS loans to "fill the gap" between what your family can afford and their total cost of attendance--be cautious when considering a PLUS loan.

• If you are offered work-study (a campus job), consider taking it!

• Utilize ISAC's Financial Aid Award Comparison tool to determine your out-of-pocket cost at each college.

• If appropriate, consider appealing for more financial assistance.

• FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Application If you plan to complete the FAFSA, we encourage you to do so by the end of 2022.

• D128 FAFSA Nonparticipation Form - If you do NOT plan to complete the FAFSA, please complete the nonparticipation form as soon as possible.

• Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid - this allows undocumented students and transgender students to qualify for Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants to attend eligible in-state colleges and universities, and career education programs.