Hispanic Chamber to Hold Annual College Aid Workshop

STOCKTON -- Parents of children about to graduate high school will get some help later this month in figuring out how they are going to pay for their child’s college education.  
The San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will hold its 9th Annual Student Financial Aid and College Awareness Workshop on Sunday, Jan. 29. The free event will be held at University of the Pacific, at 3601 Pacific Ave., in the Alex G. Spanos Center. Registration starts at 8 am. 
The half-day workshop is designed to help families with students in sixth through 12th grades prepare and pay for college. Families will receive assistance applying for grants, loans and scholarships and will be able to attend informational sessions on a range of subjects, including ones geared toward undocumented students and students with disabilities. Services will be offered in Hmong, Vietnamese, Spanish and English.

Organizers are expecting more than 3,000 people to attend the event, which attracted 3,400 attendees. The event is one of the largest financial aid workshops in the country. Families from throughout the region participate, including ones from the East Bay, Calaveras and Sacramento counties.
Nearly every major educational institution in the area is involved, including Pacific, Stockton Unified School District, San Joaquin County Office of Education, California State University at Stanislaus, and San Joaquin Delta College. La Tricolor 100.9 FM radio station will also be on hand.
“We are so very proud of how this educational event has evolved over the last eight years,” said Mark Martinez, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber.  “We started this event many years ago hoping to help parents overcome a difficult application process and now we are seeing parents come back with their younger children who are now looking to go to college.”

During the event, college officials will be on hand to help high school seniors, athletes, transfer students and their parents apply for federal financial aid online by providing step-by-step assistance in filling out the complex Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

 The FAFSA form is used to determine how much financial assistance and what type of aid college students receive from the government to help pay for college.

“The FAFSA opens the door not only to free money for college through Cal Grants, but also to many other forms of financial aid assistance for paying college tuition,” Martinez said.
The event will also include sessions on college preparation, study habits, extracurricular activities and how important parent participation is to a student’s success. The keynote speaker will be Tim Rios, Senior Vice President for Wells Fargo’s Social Responsibility Group.

Last year for the first time, the chamber incorporated financial literacy into the sessions, including tips on how to save money for college. After receiving a great deal of feedback, the chamber plans to do the same this year, Martinez said. Representatives of the McDonald’s, PG&E and Hispanic scholarship funds will also be on hand.

For more information on the event contact the chamber office at (209)943-6117.