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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
College Preparation Checklist
This resource can help students of all ages to prepare academically and financially for education beyond high school (PDF, 28 pages). It provides an overview of options for financial aid for college, and checklists for students and parents to reference at each stage of a student’s education.
Share With Youth: Budgeting for College
ED’s Office of Federal Student Aid reminds students about the importance of budgeting to achieve future financial goals and prepare for unexpected bumps in the road.
Share with Youth: FAFSA Overview
The Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education provides an overview of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA takes about 30 minutes to complete, is free, and provides students access to grants, loans, and work-study funds from the federal government.
Share with Youth: Types of Federal Student Aid
The Office of Federal Student Aid offers more than $150 billion to students each year in the form of grants, loans, and work-study funds. While some colleges can also offer private student loans, federal loans often have lower fixed interest rates and other benefits.
Share with Youth: After the FAFSA — What Happens Next
This Office of Federal Student Aid video explains what happens after students complete and submit their FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education will process the application and indicated colleges will be notified. Students will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) and can check their student aid status online.
Resource: Program-Level Gainful Employment Earnings Data
This data set provides information on program-level outcomes of college students preparing for gainful employment that can be used by prospective students and their families to weigh their options. Overall, the data show graduates of career training programs at public institutions generally fare better than those of comparable programs at for-profit colleges, earning higher salaries and being more prepared to enter higher earning fields.
Report: National Student Loan FY 2014 Cohort Default Rate
These data describe the FY 2014 cohort student loan default rate, which increased slightly from 11.3% to 11.5% for students who entered repayment between fiscal years 2013 and 2014. During the tracking period, more than five million borrowers entered repayment and 580,671 of them defaulted on their loans.
Resource: Digital and Social Media Financial Aid Collateral
This website provides digital and social media resources to help teachers and counselors share important federal student aid information with students and parents. It features sample social media posts, messaging guidelines, blog posts, infographics, presentations, videos, and fact sheets on a variety of financial aid topics.
Food and Nutrition Service List of State Distributing Agency Contacts
These contacts provide information about partnership with the National School Lunch Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program. They can also provide organizations with access to food during times of disaster.
Food and Nutrition Service Faith-Based and Community Organizations
This site provides information about programs and grants that faith and community groups are eligible for within FNS, as well as technical assistance for interested organizations.
Nutrition Assistance Programs
This site lists links to program information for Nutrition Assistance Programs through Food and Nutrition Service.
Team Nutrition
Team Nutrition is an initiative of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to support the Child Nutrition Programs through training and technical assistance for foodservice, nutrition education for children and their caregivers, and school and community support for healthy eating and physical activity. Team Nutrition's Goal is to improve children's lifelong eating and physical activity habits by using the principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid
Resource: Summer Meals
This resource kit is designed to be used by summer meal site operators to teach kids and families about healthy habits. It uses music, games, art, and movement to motivate kids and families to make healthy food and drink choices, exercise, and limit screen time.
Resource: Federal Food Assistance
This webpage features English- and Spanish-language resource guides to help connect food insecure families to food assistance resources.
Resource: Local School Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit
This toolkit provides communication resources such as flyers, presentations, newsletter articles, and social media posts that schools can use to educate and engage staff and parents in school wellness. Many of the tools can be tailored to represent Local School Wellness Policy activities.
Resource: Web-Based Prototype Application for Free and Reduced Price School Meals
This electronic prototype application serves as a model for how state and local program operators can develop effective and fully-compliant web-based applications for school meal benefits.
Resource: Summer Food Service Program
This website provides information on the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides nutritious meals to low-income children when school is not in session. Local organizations can use this website to learn how to be a part of the program. Families can use the search tool to find local sites serving meals.
Computers for Learning
The CFL program's ambitious goal is to make modern computer technology an integral part of every classroom so that every child has the opportunity to be educated to his or her full potential.
Parents, Lock Up Your Drugs
While children and teens are home on winter break, parents are encouraged to hide or secure their medications to avoid accidental ingestion or abuse.
What You Need to Know About Kids and Concussions
Featured by Kids.gov, this article provides parents with a general overview of concussions, including information about symptoms, treatments, when to seek help, and when it is okay for children to return to normal activities following a concussion. Follow the hashtag #CDCHeadsUp on Twitter or like the CDC's Heads Up Facebook page to receive updates and join the conversation about concussions.
Back-to-School Vaccinations: Be a Step Ahead
August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and with school just around the corner, it is a good time to ensure children and teens are up-to-date on their vaccines. This resource provides links to information about immunization and where parents can take children to receive vaccines
10 Tips To Get Ready for Back to School
Kids.gov developed 10 tips that can help parents make the transition back to school easier for students. Tips address topics like time management, back to school shopping, and talking with teachers.
Share with Youth: A Friend of a Friend Might Be a Scammer
This article describes a scam known as “farcing,” in which users receive a friend request from someone with whom they supposedly share mutual friends, only to have the scammer collect their personal data. It also provides tips for identity protection when using social media.
Share with Youth: Don’t Fall for These Scams: Phishing and Vishing
This article explains two kinds of scams: phishing, occurring through fraudulent e-mails that ask the recipient to verify personal information, and vishing, in which a scammer may make contact over the phone to request this information. It also provides tips for what those who think they may be a victim of one of these scams can do.
Resource: How to Get Food Stamps (SNAP Food Benefits)
This resource describes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as “food stamps,” and explains how to access benefits, become a SNAP food benefits retailer, and report fraud.