Aloha senior families!

October has been full of application work, the College Fair, and financial aid preparation.  And believe it or not, it is also time to do some preparations for graduation!

 

 

 It is time to order Caps and Gowns for graduation!  We order our graduation materials from Jostens (www.jostens.com). Be aware that there is a multitude of graduation paraphernalia available for your purchase, but there is only one REQUIRED purchase and that is the Cap and Gown Unit for $33.30.  This includes the cap, gown, and 2026 tassel.  Any other purchases are up to you.

 

The deadline to order is OCTOBER 31!  You may order after this date, but the price will continue to go up the longer you wait.  You may go straight to the Jostens website, put in Island School, and order from there.  Or you may use the link below, which will take you straight to the Cap and Gown Unit page.

 

 

You are free to use a sibling’s cap and gown, but please check the length and make sure it is clean and that the cap can be found.  If you will be re-using rather than purchasing, please send me an email to let me know.  I will still have to order you a tassel to match the others, which you will be invoiced for at around $8. 

 

Please complete these orders in the next two weeks for maximum savings.

 

 

 

On September 30, we had a guest from the Kauai Community College financial aid department come to work with your seniors on creating their FSA ID for the FAFSA.  Most students were able to get to the portion in their FAFSA where they invited you as a contributor.  This will generate an email to you indicating that your portion of the FAFSA is ready to be filled out.  The FAFSA works best when the student fills out their portion first and then invites you, rather than vice versa.  I am attaching the Steps to Create FSA ID Worksheet that we used in class.  This is the same process that you will use to create your FSA ID.  If you have older children in college and you have filled out the FAFSA before, you will use your same FSA ID (login) that you used for them.  Do not create a new one!

 

The FAFSA is fairly straightforward.  You will be using your tax documents from 2024.  I would suggest trying to fill it out this weekend and then if you have any questions, save your progress and then come to our FAFSA Help Night to get them answered!

 

The FAFSA Help Night will be with financial aid experts from KCC here at Island School.  Here are the details:

 

When: Wednesday, October 22 at 5:00pm

Where: Island School - Pratt Hall Computer Lab (PH3)

 

You may bring your own laptop or use our computers here as you prefer.

 

Remember, some colleges will also require the CSS Profile, which you can access from your student’s College Board account.  This will require a more detailed accounting of your assets than the FAFSA, but many of the questions are similar.

 

 

Once again, I am attaching my  Senior Task List for College Applications, as well as  my College Counseling Slidedeck, which is a comprehensive resource for this process.  (Financial Aid and Scholarships slides that we went over in Senior Seminar are slides 77-95.)

 

 

As always, I am available for phone calls, emails, or in person appointments if you have questions, concerns, or simply need to hear that everything is going to be ok.  🙂

 

With aloha, 

 

Renate McMullen
r.mcmullen@ischool.org