This document discusses resources from the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office to help organizations promote awareness of financial aid opportunities and engage students. It introduces the new Financial Aid Toolkit, which consolidates resources for counseling students. It then describes various tools on the toolkit including guides on learning about aid, conducting outreach, accessing training, and searching resources. The presentation also provides details on utilizing FSA's social media presence, videos, infographics, publications and other materials to support outreach efforts. Attendees are encouraged to leverage these free materials and tools to help students.

1. How to Leverage FSA Resources to
Drive Awareness and Increase
Engagement with Students
Jared Anderson and Wendy Bhagat | Dec. 2013
U.S. Department of Education
2013 College Week Live Webinar

2. StudentAid.gov Homepage
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3. Financial Aid Toolkit
Consolidates and organizes FSA resources and content into a
searchable online toolkit
• For organizations and individuals that interact with, support, or
counsel students and families on funding a postsecondary education
•
•
•
FAAs may use toolkit to support
student outreach efforts
•
•
Targeted to high school guidance
counselors and college access
professionals
FAAs can also help spread the word
about the toolkit to organizations that
work with students and families
Replaces FSA4counselors.ed.gov
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Old FSA4counselors Website

4. Homepage
Site structured
around four main
content areas:
•
Learn About
Financial Aid
•
Conduct
Outreach
•
Get Training
•
Search Tools and
Resources
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5. Learn About Financial Aid
•
Provides individuals
who are new to
financial aid with
some basic info and
tips for working with
students
•
Topics include:
•
•
•
Preparing for College
Types of Aid and
Eligibility
The FAFSA
•
•
•
•
FAFSA Updates
FAFSA Completion
Data
Loan Repayment
Basics
Links to
StudentAid.gov for
detailed info
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6. Conduct Outreach
•
Highlights key
outreach topics and
resources
•
Topics include:
•
Hosting a financial aid
night
•
Reaching certain
target audiences (e.g.,
military and borrowers)
•
Using social media
•
Articles and e-mails
•
Public service
announcements
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7. Get Training
•
Shares information on
professional
development
opportunities
including:
•
•
Webinars
•
•
Classroom training
Resources for selfinstruction
Provides information
on the National
Training for
Counselors and
Mentors initiative
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8. Get Training–NT4CM
National Training for
Counselors and
Mentors (NT4CM)
provides free training
and resources/tools
for federal, state, and
local financial aid
programs
• Topics include:
•
•
Program details
•
Participating states
•
Training dates and
locations
•
Materials and
resources
• FAAs
have
opportunity to be
trainers and/or help
spread the word
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9. Search Tools and Resources
•
Searchable
database of
resources
•
Filter your search
by:
•
Resource Type
(e.g., videos,
presentations,
how to guides)
•
Audience Type
•
Topic (e.g.,
FAFSA
completion, loan
repayment)
•
Time of Year
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10. Search Tools and Resources
•
Results display in
the search page
•
Results include:
•
Link to
open/download the
resource
•
Short description
•
Links to related
resources
•
You can refine your
search criteria
•
You can subscribe
to RSS feed to be
notified when a
resource is added
or updated
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11. Federal Student Aid Resources
•
Social Media
•
Videos
•
Infographics
•
Public Service Announcements
•
Publications
•
Other Resources
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12. Facebook
www.facebook.com/FederalStudentAid
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13. Facebook Post Examples
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14. Leveraging Facebook Content
“Like” our page and you’ll get all our content in your
Facebook feed
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15. Leveraging Facebook Content
“Like” a
specific
post or
piece of
content
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16. Leveraging Facebook Content
“Share” our content
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17. Leveraging Facebook Content
Posts you can use
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18. Twitter
www.twitter.com/FAFSA
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19. Twitter Post Example
Shortened link
to info on
StudentAid.gov
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20. Leveraging Twitter Content
Follow Us
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21. Leveraging Twitter Content
Retweet Us
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22. Leveraging Twitter Content
Tweets you can use…
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23. Add the @FAFSA Stream to Your Site
Go to: http://twitter.com/widgets (must be logged in)
This is what it will look like
on your site
COPY & PASTE THE FOLLOWING CODE INTO YOUR WEB SITE: <a class="twitter-timeline" data-dnt=true href="https://twitter.com/FAFSA"
data-widget-id="258219635218972673">Tweets by @FAFSA</a>
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id))
{js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitterwjs");</script>
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24. #AskFAFSA Office Hours on Twitter
•Integrates social media and
customer service
•Different topic each month
•Tweet questions using
#AskFAFSA
•SMEs available to answer
questions live
•Summarize for those not
able to attend
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25. Hosting Office Hours
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26. Storify
www.storify.com/FAFSA
All the Q&As from
each #AskFAFSA
Office Hours are
captured in
Storify. This is a
good resource for
content.
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27. YouTube
www.youtube.com/FederalStudentAid
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28. YouTube Playlists
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29. Leveraging YouTube Content
Subscribe to our
YouTube Channel for
the latest videos
Download any of our videos:
FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov
Click on the video you want to
automatically download
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30. Embed Videos into Your Web Site
Instructions:
•Go to YouTube.com/
FederalStudentAid
•Select the video you’d like to
embed
•Click “Share” which will show you
a new menu
•Click the “Embed” option to
receive the code
•Copy and paste code to your site
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31. Infographics
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32. Leveraging Infographics
www.visual.ly/users/federalstudentaid
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33. Add Infographics to Your Web Site
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34. Video and Infographic Topics
Topic
About FSA
Video
Infographic
X
Why Go to College
X
Overview of the Financial Aid Process
X
Myths about Financial Aid
X
Types of Federal Student Aid
X
FAFSA Overview
X
How to Fill Out the FAFSA
X
Eligibility for Federal Student Aid
X
X
X
FAFSA: Determining Dependency Status
X
After the FAFSA: What Happens Next
X
Responsible Borrowing
X
Repayment: What to Expect
X
How to Manage Your Student Loans
X
X
Repayment Plans Overview
2014
Income-Driven Repayment Plans
2014
Budgeting
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2014

35. Blog Posts
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(www.ed.gov/blog/topic/federal-student-aid)

36. Customer Engagement
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37. Web Banners
Available at: StudentAid.gov/link2us
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38. Social Media Campaigns
•
FAFSA Completion (Dec. 28 – March 31)
•
•
Heavily promoting the availability of the 2013-14 FAFSA and the
importance of completing it early
Loan Repayment Campaign (May 10 – June 30) and
(November 6 – Dec. 15)
•
•
•
Messaging about responsible borrowing, repayment plans, etc.
Messaging targeted to specific groups and geographic locations
Collaborated with the loan servicers on a Twitter Office Hours
UPCOMING (late December): Another FAFSA Completion campaign
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39. Social Media Toolkits
Social Media Toolkits are available for:
• FAFSA Completion
• Responsible Borrowing/Student Loan Repayment
The Toolkits contain topic relevant:
• Facebook Posts
• Tweets
• Videos
• Infographics
• Links to relevant blog posts
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40. FSA on Social Media
www.facebook.com/FederalStudentAid
www.twitter.com/fafsa
www.youtube.com/FederalStudentAid
FSA’s Social Media Guidance: StudentAid.gov/social
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41. Federal Student Aid Resources
•
Social Media
•
Videos
•
Infographics
•
Public Service Announcements
•
Publications
•
Other Resources
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42. Public Service Announcements
Goal:
•Create awareness of Federal Student Aid and the availability of
funding to help pay for college or career school
Components (English and Spanish):
•Television
•Radio
•Print
•Web
Airing:
•Through Dec. 2013
•English television and radio
will air through Dec. 2014
Available: StudentAid.gov/psa
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43. Federal Student Aid Resources
•
Social Media
•
Videos
•
Infographics
•
Public Service Announcements
•
Publications
•
Other Resources
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44. Publications
These and other FSA publications, including fact sheets, are available at StudentAid.gov/resources
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45. Ordering Publications
• Order publications from FSA
Pubs: www.FSAPubs.gov
• Use your OPEID to log in
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46. Federal Student Aid Resources
•
Social Media
•
Videos
•
Infographics
•
Public Service Announcements
•
Publications
•
Other Resources
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47. StudentAid.gov Homepage
47

48. StudentAid.gov/resources
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49. Link to Us
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50. StudentAid.gov New Features
Repayment Estimator
•Repayment plan calculator
•Available with and without log in
•In Spanish and mobile-optimized
Coming mid-December 2013
NSLDS Data Display
•Loan and grant details
•Loan servicer contact information
•Data download
Coming early 2014
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51. Other Resources
For you: FAFSA Demo Site at www.fafsademo.test.ed.gov
• User name: eddemo
• Password: fafsatest
For you & students: Federal Student Aid Information Center
• General info about federal student aid
• FAFSA, PIN, and SAR assistance
• 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243)
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52. Questions and Discussion
Questions on the information
presented today?
Any thoughts on current FSA
resources?
What resources are we missing that
you would find helpful?
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53. Contact Us
Wendy Bhagat, Director of Awareness and Outreach
wendy.bhagat@ed.gov
Jared Anderson, Digital Engagement Operations Analyst
jared.anderson@ed.gov
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