The office of financial aid and scholarships is hosting a FAFSA promotion to help students with their applications through Jan. 31. This week’s event is held in 124 Student Setzer Center, with another event held Jan. 27 through Jan. 31 in 229 SSC.
“This is just to ensure that everyone is reminded that they need to turn in their FAFSA and all the documentation to complete the priority deadline of Feb. 1,” Brenda McKay, assistant director of financial aid, said
Counselors will be available from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for students to bring any documentation and verification that they need to turn in.
“We are trying provide more outreach to the students, so that we can help them make this process easier,” McKay said. “We also want to let the students know we are available to assist them anyway we can.”
Two counselors will be in each room to help students, and more counselors can provided as needed, McKay said.
“We will be there if the students cannot make it to the Wimberly Building or if they do not want to scan the documents in,” she said. “We will be available for any question or issues they might have, and we will have laptops available so that we can assist them with filling out their FAFSA.”
The January agenda is to push students to meet the priority deadline, McKay said. February is Financial Aid Awareness Month, and McKay said they will host a ‘Turn it in Tuesday,’ event every week during the month.
“So, if students have any issues or documents they need to turn in to us, we will be available then also,” she said.
McKay said while there is no penalty for turning documents in after the Feb. 1 deadline, her office looks to see if students met the priority deadline when awarding scholarship any additional grant money that might be available.
“We will also introduce the newly established Money Management Program we have going on,” she said. “There will be presentation in January, February, March and April by Joe Malley.”
Malley is a financial literary specialist at Lamar. He said April is financial literacy awareness month so there will be event every week during that month.
“The money management program is dedicated to providing information to Lamar students on how to manage their money and take control of their personal finances,” he said. “It is basically all the things you never learned in high school.”
For more information about the FAFSA promotion, call 880-8450, and for more information about the money management program, call 880-8450 or visit www.lamar.edu/moneymanagement.