Students were offered numerous workshops and opportunities to ask questions to staff during Operation 14-15, which is the Financial Aid Awareness Week at Bakersfield College.
The workshops emphasis for Feb. 25 was focused on Smart Borrowing.
On Feb. 26 the emphasis was to Achieve the Dream and Feb. 27 and to focus solely on Financial Aid Programs.
The main point stressed by financial aid staff is the inside.BakersfieldCollege.edu website. Here, many workshops are offered, along with opportunities for students.
Connie Singh, the Financial Aid loan processor of the department for nine years, said, “The most underutilized tool of Bakersfield College students is the insidebc website available to them. Many questions that are asked of financial aid faculty can be answered through the website, and knowledge of navigating the site is crucial.”
Singh lead the workshop for information on the loan process on Feb. 25.
All the workshops were held in the SS151 building, and there was a different keynote speaker or leader for each one. Students were captivated with the keynote speaker Tom Zarate and his workshop “Best Kept Secrets to Financial Literacy and Budgeting Wisely.” Zarate was informative, as well as comical in his demeanor.
Student Domingo Ramirez said, “This was a really good event. I liked the booth that the Financial Aid Department had set up. I loved the information that was available. I think they should do this every year. Tom Zarate was so funny.”
The workshops that were being offered are the first of its kind, at least in the last nine years that Singh has been on the Financial Aid staff.
“They use to do workshops, throughout the year, before I was on staff. This is the first year I can recall there being something like an ‘Operation 14-15’, or so many workshops being offered at one time. I think the turnouts were not probably as good, in the past. I think this year, the turnout was great, a lot of students got questions answered and it all around benefits the students.
The Financial Aid Department can get really backed up with general questions that takes time from processing applications.”
The inside.BakersfieldCollege.edu website will direct you to your own private web page, detailed for you.
There are places to sign up for workshops all year long. There is an event calendar, along with helpful reminders on what date the deadlines are for FAFSA applications, BOGW information, EOP&S reminders, and Academic and Progress Disqualification workshops.
The insidebc website is the tool that will assist with financial aid the most, as you can print pretty much any application needed for the program.
You can also use the different tabs to select your personal financial aid information.
In that section, will be information on your payment schedules for the different disbursements happening throughout the year.
If there is something that cant be answered online, then go to the Financial Aid offices.