AzCAN News & Updates

February 2024

New AzCAN Member Benefits!

Scholarship Opportunity

Education Forward Arizona offers a need-based $6,000 scholarship for high school seniors to pursue a bachelor’s degree by way of community college or university. This scholarship is renewable for up to four years, totaling $24,000. In addition, comprehensive mentoring is provided to each scholarship recipient.

The application is open NOW and will close on April 1, 2024, at 11:59 pm. Scholarship eligibility has changed to scale the reach, affording more students the opportunity to apply. The new eligibility criteria specifies that the applicant is affiliated with an AzCAN member organization – specifically, they attend a high school or participate with a college access organization that is a current AzCAN member. Students will identify this through a drop-down field that includes all current AzCAN member organizations.

Advocacy Alerts

As a valued AzCAN member we want to keep you in the know on critical education issues. Effective February 2024, AzCAN members will receive Education Forward Advocacy Alerts. Learn about our Advocates Network here.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

February Lunch & Learn

Don't miss out on the second-to-last Lunch & Learn for the '23-'24 school year! Learn about the different summer programs for students so they can be set up for success and find community before the fall semester.

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1:1 FAFSA Workshops

Thanks to a generous grant from Capital One, AzCAN and Ask Benji are able to offer in-person 1:1 FAFSA support to students and their families Jan-March 2024! January's event was very successful and we look forward to helping more students this month.

Where: Capital One Cafe @ Scottsdale Fashion Square

When: February 24th & March 23rd, 10am-2pm

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Webinar: Navigating the '24-'25 FAFSA & College Connect Updates

Friday, February 16th, 9-10am

Join us as we explore the latest updates regarding the recently launched 2024-25 FAFSA. We will share key takeaways and practical strategies to navigate this financial aid season successfully. Additionally, we will have members from the ASU, NAU, and UArizona admissions teams provide updates regarding their priority dates. Plus, we will have Arizona College Connect updates to share.

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The 2024 Arizona FAFSA Challenge

The 2024 Arizona FAFSA Challenge is underway through April 12, 2024. This year, we are aiming for a 50% FAFSA completion rate among 2024 graduating seniors. As an extra challenge, we're pushing each high school to increase their FAFSA completion rate by 5 percent or more, contributing to our statewide goal.

Learn More

Arizona Day of Discovery

Discovery Education and Discover Financial Services have partnered together to host a free half-day event on Saturday, March 2 at Mesa Community College that gives Arizona educators and administrators the opportunity to learn, grow, and connect around all things Financial Literacy.

Webinar: Arizona Decision Day

Join the Arizona Board of Regents on March 6 from 10:00-11:00 am to explore how Arizona Decision Day empowers students to take charge of their futures by committing to further education. Designed for school counselors, teachers, and school leaders, this session will provide participants with a Decision Day toolkit, ideas to celebrate Decision Day on your campus, and ways to showcase the diverse array of educational pathways chosen by Arizona’s graduating class.

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Jenn's Corner

Happy Career and Technical Education Month!!!

Congratulations to Zulema Fragoso for being honored as the Arizona School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA)! Nogales High School students are incredibly lucky to have Zulema as their advocate.

We are 45 Days into the 2024-2025 Better FAFSA and Additional Delays Expected

On January 30, the US Department of Education announced that colleges and universities will not receive FAFSA applicant data until mid-March.

This will be the soonest that students can make corrections to their FAFSA forms as well. Read more here. To make sure you have the most current tools and resources, be sure to access the 2024-2025 Better FAFSA Resource Hub.

CAP Training Courses

The spring 2024 CAP Training courses are open for registration. Completion of the four Financial Aid CAP courses results in an Arizona Financial Aid Specialist certification through AzCAN - register for your classes now!

El Valle Puede Scholarship

Through a partnership with Helios Education Foundation and the Phoenix Suns/Phoenix Mercury Foundation, this scholarship is designed to empower and support students of Latino heritage in pursuing higher education. Please consider forwarding the application details to eligible high school seniors within your network.

Free Spring Training Tickets for Students!

The Arizona Cactus League and the Arizona Board of Regents are teaming up to encourage college-bound Arizona high school seniors to fill out the FAFSA.

The first 1000 students who meet all promotion guidelines and apply will receive four free Arizona Cactus League spring training tickets.

NCAN News/Updates

NCAN launched a new webpage to share current updates to challenges, issues, and workarounds users are experiencing with the FAFSA - check regularly, as it will be updated often!

As the institutions directly serving the largest population of youth nationwide, public high schools are the most logical location to position the next generation for successful adulthoods. Yet, in important ways, high schools were not designed to prepare young people for the transition to postsecondary education and a successful career.

Read Rethink How High Schools Support Postsecondary Pathways.

Upcoming Webinars

Better FAFSA: One Month Out, What We Know Now - February 14, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Student Mental Health: Creating a Community of Care - February 20, 12:00 am to 1:00 pm

NCAN Annual Spring Institute

This year’s Spring Institute theme is “Pursuing Effective Advising for Every Student”. Join educators from across the nation as NCAN showcases a number of webinars, blog posts, and brown bag sessions at no cost!!!!