The Center for College Planning (CCP) has been hard at work experimenting with new ways to reach out to students and families across the state of New Hampshire. One new way that has caught on very quickly is the use of webinar technology.

What is a webinar? A webinar is an interactive web-based program where an audience cannot see the person presenting, but does see a presentation on their computer screen.  They can also hear the presenter talking through their computer speakers.  For our webinars, the CCP’s college counselor and technical advisor give the presentation from their home office in Concord and it is broadcast over the internet and can be seen and heard by all who register for the event. Students and families viewing the presentation on their computers have the ability to confidentially type in questions that the CCP counselor will address during the webinar. 

To date, the Center for College Planning has hosted four webinars with hundreds of people registering. The first three were “Filing FAFSA/CSS Profile Applications” and covered information on what these two financial aid forms want for information and how that information is used when determining financial aid. The most recent webinar was “Understanding the Award Letter and Funding Strategies.” This webinar focused on how to read a financial aid award letter and what the different options are for paying for college.

I am excited to inform you of three more webinars that have been scheduled for the month of April:

1) College Cost and Funding – This will focus primarily on how financial need is determined and what sorts of financial aid are available. A great session for parents of sophomores and juniors to watch.

Wednesday, April 8th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Click here to register.

2) College Prep for Juniors – This webinar is obviously intended for parents and students in their junior year of high school. It will discuss how to find the “right fit”, how to narrow the list of schools to a manageable amount, and a very light amount of financial aid.

Monday, April 13th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Click here to register.

3) Understanding the Award Letter – Want to know what the bottom line is a school expects you to pay? This is the session for you. A great presentation that will help parents and students decipher the financial aid award letter. It will also cover what the interest rates are for the different loan options, and where to find some scholarship opportunities.

Thursday, April 23rd from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Click here to register.

These webinars have been great in helping us reach out to families who do not have the ability to make it to our office in Concord, or to attend one of our high school night presentations.

Like all of the services provided by NHHEAF’s Center for College Planning, the webinars are entirely FREE! If any of these upcoming presentations look interesting to you, I encourage you to register and spread the word to any friends that might be interested as well.

Via the web,
Rich