Make Financial Literacy Month Year-Round

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE \| 03.15.2010
	Make Financial Literacy Month Year-Round
	Link Your Students and Parents to FAFSA Help
	Any Knowledge Gaps in Your Department?
	Volunteers Honor EdFund Employees

FEATURE

Your Guide to Higher Ed
Tax Benefits

You can help your students and families see if they qualify for tax credits or deductions on tuition. EdFund's updated tax guide is a great resource for information on the newly introduced American Opportunity tax credit, which is in effect for the 2009 and 2010 tax years, as well as additional tax benefits. It also features an at-a-glance grid that gives a high-level view of the various tax credits and benefits available to students and families.

Make Financial Literacy Month Year-Round
Resources that can help are a click away

Yes, April is Financial Literacy Month, but with the need for students to know how to manage their finances ever greater, this should really be an all-year, all-hands effort.

Teach your students about budgeting, saving and credit with EdFund’s Building Futures™ curriculum. Workbooks, videos and speaker’s notes that can help your students develop healthy financial habits are available at www.edfund.org/BuildingFutures.

Link Your Students and Parents to FAFSA Help
Make sure your students don’t miss out on aid

Students sometimes fail to submit a FAFSA because the form is just too intimidating. Here’s an icon you can place on your Web site to link students and families to an EdFund on-demand webcast titled “The Financial Aid Application Process: What, When and How.”

Simply right click on the image and select “Save Picture As . . .” to save it to your computer. Provide the image to your webmaster with the following URL: www.edfund.org/Videos.

The ten-minute webcast will help students and parents complete the FAFSA by reviewing:

what information they need to apply,
how to go about entering parent information,
if a student is dependent or independent,
how to enter income information, and more.

You can refer your students to www.edfund.org/Students for additional helpful information on this subject. Be sure to remind them to complete the online application no later than June 30, 2010, for the 2009-10 school year. Applying early has its advantages, including consideration for state financial aid, so encourage students and families to act now. Don’t let students miss out on any of the aid that is available to them.

Any Knowledge Gaps in Your Department?
EdFund webinars can help

Stay on top of the many changes, large and small, that you have to integrate into your work day with an EdFund webinar. Each webinar typically only takes one hour of your time, and you can ask the EdFund trainer questions as they occur to you, live. Register today! (All times are Pacific Time.)

Date (click to register)	Topic (click for description)	Time (PDT)
March 16, 2010	Borrower Success	10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
March 17, 2010	Return to Title IV	11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
March 18, 2010	R2T4: Post-Withdrawal Disbursement	11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
March 18, 2010	Loan Counseling	1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
March 19, 2010	Incorrect Data Challenge	11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
March 23, 2010	IRS Data Retrieval	9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
March 24, 2010	Year-round Pell Grant	10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
March 25, 2010	Professional Judgment	10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Check www.edfund.org/TrainingCalendar to learn about the trainings available in April.

Cordova Community Council Honors EdFund Employees

Volunteer groups in Rancho Cordova, CA recently voted to honor the civic contributions of EdFund’s employees with the Distinguished Community Business Partner award.

“This award honors the tremendous contributions to the Rancho Cordova community of some of our most active local businesses,” said Shelly Blanchard, Executive Director of the Cordova Community Council. “We look to recognize companies like EdFund, whose corporate culture prizes volunteer contribution and service to the community.”

EdFund has been headquartered in Rancho Cordova since 1997, and in 2008-09 EdFund employees donated:

over 17,500 diapers to the local food locker via the company’s inaugural “Diaper Derby”
a truckload of both perishable and non-perishable food in support of 44 homeless families, including 95 children
holiday gifts for 67 abused and neglected children
school supplies for the children of homeless families so they can continue or catch up on their education while in transition.

Every year, the company hosts bi-annual blood drives, walks for breast cancer and raises money for the American Cancer Society. Through its annual charity golf tournament, EdFund has raised over a quarter of a million dollars and devoted it to groups including foster youth and under-served, minority students. “EdFund looks forward to building on its tradition of civic engagement in the years to come,” said EdFund President Sam Kipp.