GBC sets student fiscal aid session
Students squirming over applications for financial aid can find relief Jan. 28 at an informative seminar called College Goal Sunday.
The Great Basin College campuses (Elko, Ely, Pahrump and Winnemucca) will hold a seminar to help students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and to help advise them on ways they can afford college. Current college students and high school seniors are encouraged to attend.
The event begins at 2 p.m. in the High Tech Center on the Elko campus, the Ely Center on Bobcat Drive, the Pahrump Valley Center on Calvada Boulevard, and the Winnemucca Center on Kluncy Canyon Road.
“The FAFSA is a tough form to fill out,” said Scott Nielsen, GBC’s student financial services director. “We hope to lower the anxiety level.”
The FAFSA is a mandatory step in securing financial aid, Nielsen said. The federal government uses the application to determine students’ and their parents’ expected contribution and how much money they are eligible to receive toward their education. Financial aid can come in the form of need-based grants and federally backed student loans.
Volunteers from the colleges’ student services and academic affairs offices will be available to walk students and their parents through the forms. Lynn Mahlberg, GBC’s vice president for student services, said the seminar will also connect students with the financial aid officers they’ll be working with.
“It’s a great opportunity for students and parents to meet financial aid officers and begin financial planning. It’s a good example of the kind of service a Great Basin College can provide to the community,” she said.
College Goal Sunday is based on a program established by the Lumina Foundation for Education, a private foundation based in Indianapolis. It has been successfully implemented in Indiana, Arizona and now Nevada to help improve access to higher education. The state of Nevada applied for and received a $170,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation to host College Goal Sundays for the next three years, always either right before or after the Super Bowl.
GBC’s Mahlberg and Jeanne Rosenthal, GBC’s grants coordinator, led the effort in Nevada. Mahlberg said students should apply for a personal identification number to fill out the FAFSA application online in advance by visiting www.pin.ed.gov, but students can also fill out a paper application at the sites.
If under 23, students should bring their parents along with a copy of their 2005 income tax information for both student and parents. Students 24 and older only need their own tax information.
For more information, visit the college Web site at www.gbcnv.edu and click on the College Goal Sunday link. In Elko, call 753-2399; in Ely, 289-3589; in Winnemucca, 623-4824; and in Pahrump, 727-2000.
Great Basin College is a member institution of the Nevada System of Higher Education and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. For 40 years GBC has provided opportunities in higher education for central and northeast Nevadans. GBC awards certificates of achievement, associate and select baccalaureate degrees using a variety of instructional methods.
