MAY 2022
​San Diego & Imperial Counties Cal-SOAP (California Student Opportunity and Access Program) offers free services to help students pursue a postsecondary education, especially students who are low-income or will be first in their families to pursue a college degree. Through advisement and academic services, Cal-SOAP helps students and families understand the college-going process and how to do everything from applying to college to filling out the FAFSA or CA Dream Act to searching for the perfect career fit. Connect with us!
San Diego County: www.calsoapsandiego.org,
FB and Twitter @SanDiegoCalSOAP
​Instagram @calsoapsandiego. 
Imperial Valley: FB and IG @ivcalsoap. https://www.icoe.org/news/find-your-path

Top Stories

Senior Focus: FAFSA, California Dream Act, WebGrants

Every high school senior and their parent(s) should complete either the FAFSA or CADAA. Not finished and need one-on-one help? Make an appointment in the Cal-SOAP Virtual classroom. Want help via text? Personal FAFSA assistance chatbot available: FAFSA help by text. After you have completed your FAFSA or CADAA, you must create your WebGrants 4 Students account! This is where you will be able to accept and view your Cal Grant award or Middle Class Scholarship. On this website you must confirm your GPA has been verified and if it is not, contact your school counselor. Once you have made your final decision on which college you will be attending, you need to input your college into the "school of attendance" section. This will ensure that your award (grants, etc.) goes to the correct college. Do not submit until you have made your official decision about which college you will be attending. This account is very important and if you do not create one, you can miss out on money for college! Here is a video tutorial that will help you set up your WebGrants 4 Students Account.

Cal-SOAP Financial Aid Webinar Series

Cal-SOAP offers a series of different webinars about paying for college. All webinars are on Wednesday evenings, 6pm-7:30pm. Register here.​​
  •  May 11: Cal Grants A, B, C. Financial Aid that can be used in California

Scholarships

Community College Applications & Promise Scholarship:
Planning to attend a community college starting Fall 2022? Applications open now. Mesa/City/Miramar. Southwestern College. Grossmont College. Cuyamaca College. Imperial Valley College. The San Diego Promise covers the cost of tuition for up two years at San Diego City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges, and provides textbook grants of $400 per year to students who also qualify for a fee waiver (the California College Promise Grant, formerly known as the Board of Governors Fee Waiver). Apply to the San Diego Promise here. Download the San Diego Promise checklist. Learn more about the San Diego Promise at these upcoming sessions

University of California Admissions Updates 

UC San Diego update: Read this article about how UCSD is focusing on admitting more California residents.
Statewide Update: effective beginning with the fall 2023 admissions cycle (applicants filing in fall 2022), the University of California has changed the application filing period. The new filing period will be October 1 – November 30.  Note: the deadline will not change. UC recognizes the month of November can be stressful for students, who are possibly navigating the submission of multiple college applications, preparing for end-of-term finals, and the onset of the holiday season. 
Allowing students to submit their application as early as October 1 could ease some of the pressure students normally feel at the end of the year, as well as those worsened by the pandemic.​

Junior Focus: FSA ID, SAT/ACT, Scholarships, SWAG 
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FSA ID

Watch this webinar to learn how to get an FSA ID so you are ready to fill out the FAFSA in October of senior year. Students who do not have a social security number: you will fill out the CADAA instead of the FAFSA and will not need an FSA ID. CADAA help is available at Immigrants Rising.

SAT & ACT

 See if your college of interest requires an SAT or ACT test. You can check here, or directly on the freshman admissions webpage of your college of interest. Note that some private and/or out-of-state universities do not require the SAT or ACT for admissions, but might use a score for placement purposes or scholarships. Here is an article about the hundreds of universities that have dropped SAT/ACT requirements. 
○ SAT/ACT required at: Thomas Aquinas College, MIT, Gallaudet University, US Air Force Academy, US Merchant Maritime Academy, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Appalachian State University, East Carolina, UNC Charlotte, UNC Greensboro, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Wilmington, NCSU Raleigh, Florida State University, University of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, Florida International, New College of Florida, Florida Institute of Technology, and more. Check here. 
○ TO (Test Optional)--Universities that consider/recommend an SAT or ACT include: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Cal Tech, University of Chicago, Brown, Duke, UPenn, Swarthmore, and many more. Check here. 
○ TF (Test Free)--Universities that are Test-Free/Test-Blind for admissions: all UCs (University of California campuses), all CSUs (California State University campuses), and many more. Check here. 
○ Upcoming 2022 SAT Dates: May 7, June 4, August 27, October 1, November 5, December 3. 
○ Upcoming 2022 ACT Dates: June 11, July 16, September 10, October 22, December 10. 
○ Taking the SAT and want free SAT Preparation? Sign up with Kaplan for a free online SAT Boot Camp. And access the free resources at Khan Academy. 

Scholarships for Juniors
  • Make yourself eligible for $500 and $40,000 scholarships each month. Big Future will award two $40,000 scholarships each month and hundreds of $500 scholarships. Earn entries in monthly drawings for scholarships by completing steps to plan for college. The sooner you start and the more steps you complete, the more chances you’ll have to win. No essay, no minimum GPA, no test score. 
  •  Apply to UCSD’s free Virtual Triton Summer Academy (applications due May 20, 2022.)
  •  Enter the Breakthrough Junior Challenge by creating a 90-second video (ages 13-18.) 

SWAG: Students With Academic Goals ​

Are you in Grade 9, 10, or 11 and looking for a FREE summer enrichment program? Apply to SWAG (Students With Academic Goals). Program Dates: June 21-July 1; program is primarily online. Possible field trips to UC San Diego and San Diego State University (TBD.) April 25 was the Priority Deadline, but we are still accepting applications. 

Spring College Fairs ​

NACAC will be hosting a variety of free College Fairs this spring, some virtual and some in-person. Register at nacacfairs.org. Attending an in-person fair? Check out this video. Attending an online fair virtually? Here are dates and a video about virtual fairs.

College: Make It Happen 
​Webinars for Middle School

Middle school students and their families are invited to attend any of our online College: Make It Happen webinars. Learn about options for college and career after high school. Spanish translation available. Pick your preferred date (Feb 28, March 16, April 14, May 18) and register here. ​

Spotlight on...

...College readiness coaches

Meet  Annysa Rodriguez , one of our hard-working College Readiness 
I attend UCSD majoring in Education Studies and minoring in 
Human Developmental Sciences. This is my 2nd year working with 
Cal-SOAP. I joined when we were in the midst of the pandemic. The 
most rewarding part of the job is seeing the results from the 
collective efforts of myself, the counselors, and the school. Knowing 
that I helped students get a strong foothold with their college journeys gives me fulfillment in helping others take charge of their futures. I aspire to be an academic counselor in either K-12 education or in college with student affairs. I like to spend my time reading and playing games with my friends.
​
Photo used under Creative Commons from focusonmore.com