1. Senior Night
Graduation Requirements, College Applications, and Financial Aid
Bloomingdale High School Counseling Department

2. Meet Your Counselor ROMINA MCEACHERN A-C Ext. 233 ELL Chair
BENITA HOLMES
D-H
Ext. 234
CST Chair
JOE MARTINO
I-Mc
Ext. 257
Dept. Head
MANDY RASCHKE
Me-R
Ext 232
AP Chair
JENNIFER YOUNG
S-Z
Ext. 231
Access Chair
MINDY EDGEMAN
College & Career
Counselor
Ext. 293

3. Graduation Requirements
24 Credits
Passing Scores on:
FSA Reading
Algebra 1 EOC
Unweighted GPA- minimum 2.0

4. Credit Breakdown 4 English 4 Math 3 Science 3 Social Studies
Algebra 1 and Geometry
3 Science
Biology and one additional lab science
3 Social Studies
World History, US History, US Government, Economics
1 Practical Art/Performing Fine Art
1 HOPE
8 Electives
At least one course must be completed online

5. Credit Recovery
May 1st Deadline

6. ACT/SAT Concordant Scores
FSA Retakes – September 2017
Seniors who have not yet passed the FSA can use the SAT or ACT
Current Concordant Scores:
SAT – 430 Reading or 24 on Reading Sub-Scale
ACT – 19 Reading
Seniors who have not yet passed the Algebra 1 EOC may take the PERT
PERT – 97 Math

7. ACT/SAT Concordant Scores
Concordant score updates
Possibility that concordant scores for FSA Reading may be increased
SAT – 500 EBRW (Combined Reading and Writing Score)
ACT – 19 Average of English and Reading Tests
Students who have already met assessment graduation requirements via concordant scores will not be required to earn new scores, should they take effect.
There is currently no timeline for when these new scores could go into effect.
Advise to seniors: Register for the SAT and ACT as soon as possible to take advantage of current, lower concordant scores.

8. SAT/ACT: How Do I Register
SAT
Links to both websites on the BSHS Guidance page
Bloomingdaleguidance.org
Fee Waivers

9. College Admissions Timeline
If you haven’t already, sign up for the SAT and/or ACT
Continue researching colleges and organize a list of schools to which you plan to apply
Begin application process as soon as possible
Complete career interest inventories if unsure of college major
Complete FAFSA and Bright Futures applications as soon as possible after October 1st

10. College Applications: What You Will Need
Student data
Student essay
Supplemental forms
Official transcript
SAT/ACT scores
School report/counselor rec.
Teacher rec. (2 week notice…provide resume/info sheet/brag sheet)
Mid-year school report
Final transcript
Application fee

11. College Admissions Apply online through each schools website
Fill out one application and send it to multiple schools
Common App
Universal College Application
Coalition Application
Only application accepted by UF

12. Applying To College Prior to starting the process
Get a copy of the permanent record summary sheet from Guidance
Have a copy of full senior schedule
Prepare a resume of activities and awards from 9-12th grade (Brag Sheet or Resume’)
Apply EARLY (Meaning Now!) Most of them are due by November 1st!!! Some as early as October!!!
Proofread your information for typos and errors. Avoid text lingo!
Submit your application, even without test scores.

13. Applying To College Seniors should sign up to retake or take SAT/ACT.
Any student on free/reduced lunch qualifies for 2 fee waivers for SAT and 2 for the ACT.
Students can also qualify for college application fee waivers if given SAT and ACT waivers or took the Junior Free SAT and qualified for Free/Reduced lunch last year.
Sending Transcripts
Request forms are available in the Guidance Office.
Transcripts sent electronically or for scholarships are free
Paper copies for Private Universities or Universities outside the state of Florida are $2.00 each.
It can take several days for colleges to receive transcripts (even electronically), so send them early.

14. Career & Technical Schools
Erwin Technical College, Hillsborough Ave.
Aparicio-Levy Technical College, Ellicott Street
Brewster Technical College, N. Tampa Street
Leary Technical College, Hillsborough Ave.
Tampa Bay Tech Adult School, Orient Road

15. Military Opportunities

16. Applying for Financial Aid
First step is to complete the FAFSA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid
FAFSA collects financial information from the family and, through a mathematical formula, determines what the family is expected to be able to contribute toward education expenses. Once the FAFSA is complete, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR), which lists your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC is the same at all schools.

17. Expected Family Contribution
Determining Need
Cost of Attendance
Expected Family Contribution
Need
Cost of Attendance minus the Expected Family Contribution equals your financial need.
Expected Family Contribution remains the same at each college, but your level of need will depend on the cost of attendance.

18. Cost of Attendance
COA is the average cost to attend a particular college for one academic year (fall through spring). COA includes:
Tuition and Fees
Books and Supplies
Room and Board
Transportation
Personal Expenses
Your COA may differ from the posted COA depending on factors like your major, living expenses, transportation, etc.

19. Updates to 2018-2019 FAFSA FAFSA now opens on October 1st, 2017
October 1st launch date started last year
Previously opened in January
FAFSA will use information from the tax year
Previously would have required information from 2017
For many Florida colleges, the FAFSA must be submitted by December 1st.

20. Benefits of FAFSA Updates
Timing
Many college applications are done in the fall, so you’ll be able to complete the FAFSA at the same time.
Certainty
No need to estimate tax info, since you’ll be using 2016 information.
IRS data retrieval tool available immediately (automatically uploads tax information from IRS website).
EFC is known earlier, which helps with assessing total costs.
Less Pressure
More time before financial aid deadlines.
More time to compare colleges.

21. Completing the FAFSA What information is required?
Student’s demographic information
List of schools to receive your FAFSA data
Dependency status
Parent’s demographic information
Parent financial information
Student financial information
IRS Data Retrieval Tool can help with financial information.

22. Collect your Information
Student will want to have the following information available when completing the FAFSA:
Social security number
Parent’s social security number if classified as a dependent
Driver’s license number if you have one
Alien registration number if you are not a US citizen
Tax information for student and parent (W2, tax return)
Records of untaxed income (child support, interest earned, etc.)
Information on cash balances of checking/savings accounts, investments, real estate (not including the home in which you live), business assets, etc.

23. Who is an Independent Student?
To be classified as independent, a student must meet one of the following criteria:
Born before Jan. 1st, 1995
Married or legally separated
Already completed a bachelor’s degree
Veteran or active duty member of the armed services
Provide more than half of the support to their own children or other dependents
Emancipated minor, orphan, ward of the court, or homeless unaccompanied youth
If a student doesn’t meet any of those criteria, they must provide parental information on the FAFSA.

24. Who Counts as a Parent?
If legal parents (biological, adoptive, or determined by the state) are married, answer questions about both of them.
If legal parents are not married to each other but live together, answer questions about both of them.
If legal parent is widowed or was never married, answer questions about that parent.

25. Who Counts as a Parent?
If parents are divorced or separated, how you fill out the FAFSA depends on if they live together or not.
If parents are divorced or separated and don’t live together, answer questions about the parent with whom the student lived more during the past 12 months.
If the student spent the same amount of time with each parent, answer questions about the parent who provided more financial support during the past 12 months.

26. Who Counts as a Parent?
If parents are divorced or separated, how you fill out the FAFSA depends on if they live together or not.
If parents are divorced but live together, indicate marital status as “unmarried and both parents living together” and answer questions about both parents.
If parents are separated but live together, indicate marital status as “married or remarried” (not “divorced or separated”) and answer questions about both parents.

27. Who Counts as a Parent? What about Step-Parents?
If the student has a step parent who is married to the legal parent whose information is being provided, then the step parent’s information must be provided as well.
Exception: The questions about parent’s level of education refer only to birth or adoptive parents – step-parent is not a parent in these questions.

28. Who Counts as a Parent?
Students who live with someone other than their parents must still report their parent’s information unless they have been legally adopted by someone other than their parent.
If a student is unable to provide their parent’s information or parents refuse to provide their information, the FAFSA can still be submitted, but the amount and types of financial aid available to the student are limited.
The FAFSA does not ask about parent’s citizenship status. If a parent does not have a social security number, they may enter all zeros.

29. FSA ID
The FSA ID is a username and password used by students and parents to:
Log in to DOE websites
Electronically sign documents
Students and parents will each create their own FSA IDs at
This will save time and allow you to submit your FAFSA electronically.

30. What Happens Next?
Once the FAFSA has been submitted, print the confirmation page for your records.
FAFSA will send an within 3-5 days allowing you to access your Student Aid Report, which contains your EFC.
Colleges that were listed on the FAFSA will access your Student Aid Report and will send a financial aid letter detailing the amount of aid you are eligible to receive.
Note that some schools may require a separate financial aid application.

31. Types of Aid Grants (not paid back) Loans (paid back) Scholarships
Pell Grant (need based)
FRAG (private colleges)
FSAG (need based)
Loans (paid back)
Stafford Subsidized (need based)
Stafford Unsubsidized (non-need based)
Perkins Loans
Additional parent loans available (PLUS Loan)
Scholarships
Bloomingdale HS website
Free online scholarship searches
Florida’s Office of Student Financial Assistance
Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship Program
Federal Work Study
Working on campus to earn money towards tuition
Can accept all, part, or none of the aid package.

32. Scholarships
Can be based on any criteria, including need, academic, artistic, or athletic merit.
Free online search engines
Fastweb.com, scholarships.com, etc.
BSHS scholarship blog
Hillsborough County Schools scholarship matrix
Professional guidebooksSpecific college’s website
No limit to the amount of scholarship money a student can earn.
Students can receive a refund if they have more scholarship money than the cost of attendance.

33. Bright Futures Scholarship
Academic Scholars
Award covers 100% of tuition and applicable fees at a Florida Public College, plus $300 per semester for books, expenses.
Private Colleges - $211 per credit hour at a 4-year college, $104 per credit hour at a 2-year college
3.5 weighted academic GPA is required.
GPA is recalculated using only academic classes (English, math, science, social studies, foreign language)
Community service requirement – 100 hours
1290 SAT (R+M) or 29 ACT composite

34. Community Service

35. Bright Futures Scholarship
Medallion Scholars
Pays $77 per credit hour at a four year college and $63 per credit hour at a two year college.
3.0 weighted academic GPA is required.
GPA is recalculated using only academic classes (English, math, science, social studies, foreign language)
Community service requirement – 75 hours
1170 SAT (R+M) or 26 ACT composite

36. Bright Futures Scholarship
Gold Seal Vocational
Award amount depends on type of program
Career Certificate - $39 per credit hour
Applied Technology Diploma - $39 per credit hour
Technical Degree - $48 per credit hour
Minimum GPA is a 3.0 in graduation requirements
Must take three credits in a single vocational program and maintain a 3.5 in those classes
SAT – 440 R, 440 M
ACT – 17 E, 19 R, 19 M
PERT – 106 R, 103 W, 114M

37. Bright Futures Scholarship
Gold Seal CAPE Scholars
Similar to Gold Seal Vocational
Students must earn a minimum of 5 postsecondary credit hours through CAPE industry certifications which articulate for college credit
Upon completion of an associate in science degree program that articulates to a bachelor of science degree, GSC scholars may also receive an award for a maximum of 60 credit hours toward a bachelor of science degree program.

38. Weighted Academic GPA
The GPA Bright Futures will use to determine eligibility is different from the weighted GPA on a student’s transcript.
Bright Futures will recalculate a students GPA using only the grades in their academic classes.
Bright Futures awards an extra .5 point for weighted classes.

39. Weighted Academic GPA
Bright Futures will use the grades in the following credits to calculate GPA:
Four best English
Four best math
Three best science
Three best social studies
Two best foreign language
Bright Futures can use up to two extra credits in any of the academic areas if they help a student’s GPA.

40. Bright Futures Progress
Students can check their Bright Futures progress at
will list all of the classes a student has taken, their weighted academic GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and community service hours once they have been submitted.
Create a student portfolio and track eligibility throughout high school.
is updated every semester.
Also contains information on scholarships, colleges, and majors and careers.

45. Florida Pre-Paid College Plans
Florida pre-paid savings plans can usually be used in conjunction with other scholarships.
In most cases, scholarship funds are applied first, and then pre-paid funds go towards remaining account balance.
If the value of scholarship funds and pre-paid account is greater than the cost of attendance, pre-paid money can be refunded.
Check with your pre-paid program for details.

46. Upcoming District Events
Financial Aid Nights
6:00-8:00 PM
11/7/17 – Alonso High School
11/9/17 – Hillsborough High School
11/14/17 – Freedom High School
11/16/17 – Riverview High School
11/28/17 – Brandon High School
11/28/17 – Jefferson High School
11/28/17 – Gaither High School
11/28/17 – Plant City High School
College Nights
9/25/17 – Sickles High School
9/26/17 – Plant High School
9/27/17 – Chamberlain High School
9/28/17 – Brandon High School

47. Bloomindale Events College Visits – tons of them! Sign up asap!
HCC Rep – 2nd Thurs. of every month, all 3 lunches - in media center
ASVAB – Oct. 7:30am in the auditorium…sign up asap!
FAFSA Help – Oct. 7th, from 9:00am-12:00pm, in the library
College Application Day – October 18th during the school day
Erwin Field Trip – November 29th
UT Instant Decision day – December 5th in guidance
FAFSA Help – Feb. 15th, from 6:00pm-7:30pm, in the library
Brewster Field Trip – Febrary 21st
****More events may be added….keep your eyes and ears open!!!***

48. Keep in Touch…Pay Attention…Check Often!!!
Bloomingdale High School Counseling Department Website –
Edsby “Bloomingdale School Counseling Dept” group –
Rolling announcements on T.V.’s around the school
Remind – to 81010
Twitter – follow
Weekly newsletter
Edsby messages
Listen to morning show/afternoon announcements
Flyers posted
Very important announcements via parent link calls and/or the marquee

49. Wells Fargo In the breezeway Sharing resources
5 step summary for parents
Planning guide for students
Highlight steps in the process of paying for college & the funds available to families
Stop by and check them out…grab some free resources and ask any questions you might have

50. Questions?