IAF Scholarships and Award Tutorial

Imagine America Scholarship and Award Programs

Tutorial

About the Imagine America Foundation

Established in 1982, the Imagine America Foundation is a not-for profit organization dedicated to

serving the career education community by providing

scholarships and awards, conducting sector research, offering faculty

training, honoring achievement in career education, and promoting the

benefits of career colleges to the general public.

Since inception, the Foundation has provided

more than $50 MILLION in

financial assistance to STUDENTS attending

career colleges across the

United States and Puerto Rico.

Foundation Overview

Scholarships

The Foundation currently sponsors three scholarship and award programs, including: Imagine America for

graduating high school seniors Promise Scholarship Program

Military Award Program (MAP) for active duty, reservist or honorably discharged U.S. military veterans LDRSHIP Award

Adult Skills Education Program (ASEP) for adult learners Adult Excellence Award

Research

Educational research has been an integral component of the Foundation’s activities . Fact Book: A Profile of

Career Colleges and Universities (Annual)

Graduating At-Risk Students: A Cross-Sector Analysis (2009-10)

Filling America’s Skilled Worker Shortage: the Role of Career Colleges (2008)

AgendaOverview of Imagine America

Scholarship and Award Programs and additional benefitsFinancial Planning Made Simple

(FPMS)Imagine America

Promise Scholarship ProgramMAP

LDRSHIP AwardASEP

Adult Excellence AwardNeighborhood NewsProgram Search FeaturePromotional Materials

Through the Imagine America Promise Program

and LDRSHIP Award an

additional 1 MILLION in cash

grants have been awarded to career

education students.

Financial Planning Made Simple (FPMS)

The Foundation has released a new interactive tool, "Financial Planning Made Simple," for career college students. This online-based tool was created to help career college students protect

their future by making responsible borrowing decisions. It consists of an 18-minute animated video tutorial with the student's choice of two avatars to walk them through the

budgeting, borrowing and repayment process.

Included is a downloadable Student Financial Planning Tool, which gives

students the opportunity to calculate their own budgets. It allows users to

visually see exactly where their money is being spent in hopes of

helping students to decrease overspending and increase their

savings.

High School Scholarship Program

Graduating high school seniors who meet the recommended guidelines are eligible to receive a $1,000 tuition discount that can be used at you career college.

Recommended Guidelines: Applying between Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2011 (2012 high

school graduates can apply January 1, 2012)Enrolling in a participating career collegeRecommended GPA of 2.5 or aboveAble to demonstrate financial need if requiredDemonstrated community service in senior year

High School Application Process - Student

Students must apply online at www.imagine-america.org, by clicking on the High School Scholarships “Apply Now,” button.

Student must first choose their college by searching alphabetically, geographically, or by program of study.

After choosing the college, the student must select the high school they will graduate from. If the high school is not enrolled they can enroll by contacting us at [email protected].

Finally the student must fill our the application and click on submit. Student will receive a confirmation page and an application id. The application id can be used to check the status of their application.

Students must complete the FPMS video tutorial. Students can complete this by going to www.imagine-america.org/fpms and entering your application id. The student must watch the video to the end and click on the “Simulation Complete” button.

Application Process - FPMSStudents will have several opportunities to complete the Financial Planning Made Simple (FPMS) Video Tutorial.

1. After the student has completed the application a link to FPMS will be on the confirmation page.

2. When a student checks their application status a link to FPMS will appear.

3. Students who have not completed the FPMS will get reminder emails every two weeks.

4. Or student can go to www.imagine-america.org/fpms

Both the student and college will receive confirmation emails once FPMS has been completed.

High School Counselor Application Process

After student has submitted an application an email is sent to the high school counselor on record. If the counselor is not correct, they will need to contact us at [email protected] to update this information.

High school counselor receives email asking them to approve or disapprove student’s application based on recommended guidelines.

Counselor logs in to application management page and approves or disapproves the student’s application. An email is sent to student with an updated application status.

Application Process – Career College

College representative

receives email to approve or disapprove student’s

application.

College rep. logs in to application

management page to review

student’s application.

College approves or disapproves

student’s application. Student is

notified by email of application

status.

If student is approved by

college they will receive

instructions on how to get their electronic award

letter and certificate.

Application Management Log in with username and password to the application management page.

Your username and password will be listed in emails requesting review of applications. We recommend you bookmark this page for future use.

Once you log in, you will see a list of pending student applications. If the student has not completed FPMS it will be noted as Needs FPMS.

You can approve or disapprove student application one-by-one or all at the same time: To approve or disapprove one-by-one, use the pull down menu to the left

(the column is titled Approval Status), select approve or disapprove for each student.

When finished scroll down to the bottom and click on Update All Changes. Once the application is process it will be removed from the application

management page and you will receive a confirmation email. To approve or disapprove all applications at once, click on either Set All

To Approve or Set All To Disapprove. When finished scroll down to the bottom and click on Update All Changes. Once the application is process it will be removed from the application

management page and you will receive a confirmation email.

Program Search FeatureParticipating college can add or update programs of

study for their college.Colleges can log in to the application management

page, click and "Update College Profile.”Colleges can update the address for the school at

the top of the page.To add programs, click on “Add Programs,” then

search for your schools programs by alphabet or scrolling down.

Select the programs of study your college offers and click on “Add Programs.”

Colleges can also remove programs from this page.

High School Application Process - Final

Colleges will receive a confirmation email for each student they approve. Some colleges use this as verification of the award.

Students will receive an email with instructions on how to download and print their electronic certificate and bring to the college as verification of their award.

Imagine America Promise Scholarship Program

Each student who has received an Imagine America high school scholarship is eligible to receive a cash grant of $500 from the Imagine America Foundation. The Foundation begins collecting nominations for Promise in December with a February deadline. At that time applications will be available on www.imagine-america.org. Prospective recipients must meet the following scholarship criteria: Student must be nominated by his/her career college – each career college campus

may nominate up to 5 applicants per campus Student must have been an Imagine America (high school) scholarship recipient Student must have completed at least one term in his/her course of study Student's graduation date must be after April 30th, (subject to change) Student must have a college cumulative 3.5 or higher GPA Student must currently have a 95 percent or higher attendance record Student must obtain a written recommendation from a faculty/administrator

representative of his/her career college A copy of the student's transcripts must be sent with the nomination form

Military Award Program (MAP)

Imagine America's Military Award Program (MAP) is a national aid program that was established in

2004 by the Imagine America Foundation. This $1,000 career

education award is available to any qualified active duty, reservist, honorably discharged or retired

veteran of a United States military service branch for attendance at a

participating career college.

“As a result of receiving the scholarship, I was able

to stay in school, while indirectly saving Christmas for my family. This was the

first scholarship I have ever received and was deeply honored to be

chosen.”

-Noble Salerno, Imagine America MAP recipient, Grantham University

MAP Application Process - Student

Students should apply online at www.imagine-america.org, by clicking on the Grants for Military “Apply Now,” button.

Student must first choose their college by searching alphabetically, geographically, or by program of study.

Finally student must fill our application, and click on submit. Student will receive an onscreen confirmation and an application id. The application id can be used to check the status of there application online.

Students must complete the FPMS video tutorial. Students can complete this by going to www.imagine-america.org/fpms and entering your application id. The student must watch the video to the end and click on the “Simulation Complete” button.

Application Process – Career College

College representative

receives email to approve or disapprove student’s

application.

College rep. logs in to application

management page to review

student’s application.

College approves or disapproves

student’s application. Student is

notified by email of application

status.

If student is approved by

college they will receive

instructions on how to get their electronic award

letter and certificate.

Imagine America LDRSHIP Award

The LDRSHIP Award offers up to $2,500 in cash grants toward college tuition to active duty, reservist, honorably discharged or retired U.S. military veterans attending a participating Imagine America institution. The Foundation begins collecting nominations for the LDRSHIP Award in January with a March deadline. At that time applications will be available on www.imagine-america.org. Criteria: Must be nominated by career college – each career college campus may

nominate 5 applicants per campus Must be an active duty, reservist, honorably discharged or retired U.S. military

veteran attending a participating Imagine America institution Must be currently enrolled in his/her course of study with a graduation date

after May 30th (subject to change) Must have a cumulative 3.5 or higher GPA Must currently have a 95 percent or higher attendance record Must obtain a written recommendation from a faculty/administrator

representative of his/her career college Must include a copy of his/her current college transcript with application If applicable, must include a copy of his/her DD214/DD215

Adult Skill Education Program (ASEP)

This $1,000 award was established to assist adult, non-traditional learners in their quest for higher education.

Prospective enrolling Imagine America ASEP students who are applicants must meet the following guidelines: Be enrolling in a participating college Meet eligibility requirements of the college Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident Be at least 19 years of age and have a high

school diploma, GED or pass an Ability to Benefit test

Not be a previous recipient of any other Imagine America Foundation scholarships/awards

Complete the NCCT Educational Success Potential Assessment

“With today’s economy, more adults are finding

they need to get a higher education, however, there

is not much help financially, which is why I was extremely excited to

receive the Imagine America ASEP award.”

-Carolyn Crump, Imagine America ASEP recipient, Medical Careers Institute

ASEP Application Process - Student

Apply online at www.imagine-america.org, by clicking on the Scholarships for adults “Apply Now,” button.

Student must first choose their college by searching alphabetically, geographically, or by program of study.

Next the student must fill our application, and click on Submit and Complete Survey. Student will then be asked to complete the student assessment survey created by the National Center for Competency and Testing.

After completing the survey the student will receive an onscreen confirmation and an application id. Students can check the status of their application at www.imagine-america.org with their application id.

Students must complete the FPMS video tutorial. Students can complete this by going to www.imagine-america/fpms and entering your application id. The student must watch the video to the end and click on the “Simulation Complete” button.

Application Process – Career College

College representative

receives email to approve or disapprove student’s

application.

College rep. logs in to application

management page to review

student’s application.

College approves or disapproves

student’s application. Student is

notified by email of application

status.

If student is approved by

college they will receive

instructions on how to get their electronic award

letter and certificate.

Imagine America Adult Excellence Award

Each student who has received an Imagine America high school scholarship is eligible to receive a cash grant of $500-$1,000 from the Imagine America Foundation. The Foundation begins collecting nominations for Promise in July with a October deadline. At that time applications will be available on www.imagine-america.org. Prospective recipients must meet the following scholarship criteria: Student must be nominated by his/her career college – each career college campus

may nominate up to 5 applicants per campus Student must have been an Adult Skills Education Program scholarship recipient Student must have completed at least one term in his/her course of study Student's graduation date must be after December 31st (subject to change) Student must have a college cumulative 3.5 or higher GPA Student must currently have a 95 percent or higher attendance record Student must obtain a written recommendation from a faculty/administrator

representative of his/her career college A copy of the student's transcripts must be sent with the nomination form

Neighborhood News Our Neighborhood News program allows

us to publicize all Imagine America scholarship and award recipients! This

program allows us to send press releases to Imagine America recipients local

media outlets announcing the student’s scholarship and career college

enrollment. Students or colleges can download the card to be filled in at

www.imagine-america.org/studentguide

The card can be faxed to 866.455.2063 or mailed to:

Imagine America Foundation1101 Connecticut Ave., NWSuite 901

Promotional Materials Available

To help promote the Imagine America scholarship and award programs to your students, we have created promotional materials such as one-page flyers, how-to-apply posters and web banners. Web banners are available to be placed on your school's web site to let students know that your school participates in our Imagine America scholarship and award programs.

Imagine America Web Banner Scholarship and Award Flyers How-to-Apply Posters Informational Slide for Power Point Presentations Guidance Counselor List Scholarship Program Descriptions User Guide

Imagine America Foundation Contacts

Andrea Spisak, Dir. of Strategic DevelopmentPhone: 314.378.2958E-mail: [email protected]

Cheri Rudd, Client Services Rep.Phone: 314.304.1179E-mail: [email protected]

Torian Brown, Dir. Of OperationsPhone: 202.336.6719Email: [email protected]