Home: Newsroom: Newsletter: March 2004: College Goal Sunday attendance surges

In an effort to reach as many high school seniors as possible, Stapleton and her site coordinators recruited guidance counselors to distribute brochures, display posters and offer pep talks about the program, which provides assistance to families in filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Since the program’s introduction in 1989-1990, College Goal Sunday volunteers have guided more than 100,000 participants through the FAFSA, and the program has expanded to 15 states. "The counselor buy-in really helped to encourage students to come and see what it's all about," says Stapleton.

"I'm preparing my own daughter for college next year, and it requires a voluminous amount of work," admits Dolores Mize, associate vice chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and chair of that state's College Goal Sunday program. "Having someone who is knowledgeable about all the intricacies of filling out the FAFSA takes a huge burden off the parents. About 90 percent of the feedback we get from families says that they might have been able to do this work on their own, but there is no way they could have done it as well."      

With the help of a government grant, Oklahoma has blended its 2-year-old College Goal Sunday program into a multi-faceted statewide initiative that promotes higher education. One successful component of the initiative is an hour-long telethon —"Cash for College" — that invites residents to call in and ask quick financial-aid questions. "After the first year, when we fielded over 400 phone calls in an hour, it was clear that people needed information in a deeper way," says Mize. "College Goal Sunday came along at a perfect time. Now the financial aid experts who answer the telephones encourage people to attend their local College Goal Sunday event."

Fine-tuning of College Goal Sunday is ongoing, and some of Oklahoma's sites are experimenting with seminars on residential life, campus employment and federal work-study options. Even in Indiana, where the program got its start in 1989, the planning committee continues to add features in response to changing needs. The availability of Spanish translators at 15 of the state's 34 locations was new for Hoosiers this year. A "quick answer table" is another option, geared to persons "who pretty much have completed the forms but have one or two questions," explains Janet Trimble, co-chair. Similar to Kansas and Oklahoma, Indiana reported an increase in overall attendance in 2004, with the most dramatic spike — 100 percent — occurring in Lafayette.

"The demand for College Goal Sunday's services was evident," says Marvin Smith, Lafayette site coordinator and associate director for client services at Purdue University Division of Financial Aid. "We met an exasperated mother who said she would have been willing to pay for help with the FAFSA but was so grateful that the service was available to Indiana families at no charge."

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College Goal Sunday

Although the 15 states that host College Goal Sunday^SM events have the option to tailor the program to their population, the core objective never varies.

College Goal Sunday is a hands-on approach to college admission. Campus-bound students and their families gather at a central location on a Sunday afternoon in February for help in applying for financial aid. Community volunteers join staff members from various college financial aid offices to distribute information and personally guide families through the complex application paperwork and financial aid jargon.

Since the program's introduction in 1989-1990, College Goal Sunday volunteers have guided more than 100,000 participants through the daunting Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).