Get financial-aid advice at college event

Would you like to be going to college if only your wallet wouldn't head south with matriculation?

If you answered yes, put Sunday, Feb. 12, in your day planner.

It's College Goal Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. across the state that day, with financial-aid sessions scheduled at Flathead Valley Community College campuses in Kalispell and Libby.

"This targets those with no or little college-going tradition in the family," said Garth Ferro, development officer for Student Assistance Foundation.

The foundation sponsors the free seminars, which are a good idea for anybody considering a run at college.

"This is good for procrastinators," Ferro said, and for "parents who are intimidated by the application for higher education process."

At the sessions, financial-aid experts and other trained volunteers will help students and families fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly called the FAFSA.

Before you arrive, get prepared.

-First, obtain your personal identification number through the PIN registration Web site at www.pin.ed.gov.

Bring that PIN to the session.

Do this soon, because the number must be mailed to you through the Postal Service. The PIN is needed to file your financial-aid form online, a service offered at College Goal Sunday to help expedite the process.

Also bring:

-correct Social Security numbers,

-2005 federal tax returns for the student and parent (2004 taxes can be used to estimate, if necessary),

-W-2s, tribal income and any other aid information such as child support, TANF or other benefits.

For information about where to go at the Flathead community college campus, call Margie Williams at 756-3849.

Ferro said this is the second year Montana has participated in the annual College Goal Sunday, created in 1989 by the Indiana Financial Aid Association and held in 27 states across the nation.

Last year, just less than 1,000 volunteers and participants statewide helped conduct the seminars in 13 sites. This year, the effort has grown to 17 sites.

The sites are college campuses in Browning, Pablo, Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, Billings, Helena, Great Falls, Havre, Wolf Point, Poplar, Glendive, Miles City, Lame Deer and Crow Agency, in addition to Kalispell and Libby.

Student Assistance Foundation is a private nonprofit based in Helena that works with colleges, universities, high schools and middle schools across Montana. College Goal Sunday is supported by the Lilly Endowment Inc., and supplemental support from the Lumina Foundation for Education.