Important Financial Events for Senior Parents

Burlington High School will be hosting two upcoming financial aid events. We highly recommend Burlington High School senior parents attend ( Class of 2015 ). Since both events are in January we felt it was important to remind parents before the December vacation. Please be sure to check out the side bar on the Guidance Blog for links to more specific information in regard to financial aid and scholarship information. Below are descriptions of each event:

Event: M.E.F.A. (Massachusetts Educational Financial Authority) Financial Aid Seminar
Date: Thursday January 8, 2015
Location: Burlington High School
Description: This seminar covers the financial aid process in detail. A Financial Aid Advisor will be the presenter beginning at 6:30 P.M. in the BHS auditorium.


Event: FAFSA DAY 2015- http://www.fafsaday.org/
Date: Sunday January 25, 2015 1 :00 P.M.
Location: Burlington High School
Description: This is a non-profit volunteer driven effort across the state. Parents and students will receive:

• Free assistance completing the FASA

• Access to experienced financial aid administrators, and FAFSA experts, available to answer FAFSA questions.

• Guidance on the financial aid process and next steps after filing the FASA.

Parents MUST register at http://www.fafsaday.org/. Although computer labs are available, it is highly recommend that parents bring a laptop that day. Also if any parents are interested in volunteering as a Support Volunteer (registration tables, setup, cleanup, etc)  please feel free to register at http://www.fafsaday.org/volunteer.php

KAPLAN Program

For the past ten years roughly 90 % of BHS seniors take the SAT exam. The Guidance Department strongly recommends that juniors take the exam in either March, May or June. SAT registration information can be accessed through collegeboard.org

The KAPLAN program offers SAT/ACT test prep courses at Burlington High School. Burlington juniors receive a subsidized rate of $249.00. Please click here to see the KAPLAN schedule and enrollment instructions. We recommend that BHS Juniors take advantage of the free ACT/SAT practice test on Saturday February 7th, 2015 at 9 AM. This practice test is offered at BHS. Please register by calling 1-800-KAP-TEST.

* In addition, Kaplan offers Free on-line PSAT, SAT and ACT test prep using the below access codes effective January 1. Go to http://www.kaptest.com/College/SAT/sat-prep-courses.html and select On Demand (regularly $699). The codes beginning January 1, 2015 will be:

For SAT:          KAS1215SAT               (This is for practice SAT)

For ACT:          KAS1215ACT              (This is for practice ACT)

PSAT Scores released

PSAT score reports will be mailed home to parents on Friday  December 12, 2014 to Sophomores and Juniors that participated in the exam on October 15, 2014. The PSAT/NMSQT exam is a measure of three key areas: critical reading, mathematics problem solving and writing skills. The exam prepares students for the same types of questions on the SAT exam. In addition, juniors who achieve high PSAT/NMSQT scores may qualify for National Merit competition and corporate scholarships.

The PSAT score report is very parent/student friendly. Parents/students should take notice of the section at the bottom of the score report called "Improve your skills”. This section gives specific data based on the student’s individual PSAT exam. All Sophomores and Juniors will have an assembly on January 13^th in which the BHS Guidance Department will give an overview on interpreting and using these results. Also the BHS Guidance Department will host a "PSAT Results" breakfast on January 28th at 8:30AM