Get 'Cash 4 College' This Weekend

For the first time Saturday, Cabrillo College will hold a community-wide event to help students and their parents get help filling out forms for federal financial aid.

Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz staff members, as well as financial aid counselors, will lend their expertise at "Cash 4 College," an event designed to assist students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), a requirement to receive many forms of higher education funding.

The event will be 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in Cabrillo’s Student Activity Center Building (SAC), Room 202, Aptos Campus, 6500 Soquel Dr., Aptos.

“Statistics indicate that only 50 percent of students are receiving the financial aid they qualify for—many are leaving money on the table,” said Dennis Bailey-Fougnier, vice president of student services at Cabrillo College. “The only way to find out if you qualify for financial aid is to complete the FAFSA. ‘Cash 4 College Saturday’ is designed to demystify that process and to help students and parents get the FAFSA completed as quickly and easily as possible, so they can receive the aid they need.”

Cash 4 College is open to all parents, students and prospective students, regardless of where they plan to attend college.

Approximately 40 trained Cabrillo and UCSC staff members and financial aid counselors will be on hand. Assistance will be provided in both English and Spanish.

No appointments are necessary. Attendees will be assisted on a first-come-first-served basis. Students should bring the following items:

• Student's Social Security Card and driver's license/state ID.
• Parents' Social Security numbers and birth dates, for students under 24.
• Student's and parents' 2010 Federal Tax Returns and W2s (if 2010 taxes are not completed yet, income estimates will suffice).
• Student's and parents' 2010 bank and investment statements.
• Records of untaxed income, such as child support, housing allowance, workers comp or disability.
• Student's Alien Registration Number, for those who are not citizens.
• Student's and parents' FAFSA Personal Identification Number (PIN), if they have one.

The Cash 4 College event Saturday comes less than a week before the March 2 FAFSA form submission deadline to determine eligibility for Cal Grants and for financial aid programs at several universities.