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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Department of Defense STARBASE
The DoD STARBASE is an educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. Students can participate in challenging "hands-on, mind-on" activities in aviation, science, technology, engineering, math, and space exploration. The program provides students with 20-25 hours of stimulating experiences at National Guard, Navy, Marine, Air Force Reserve and Air Force bases across the nation.
National Guard Youth Challenge Program
The mission of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of at-risk youth to produce program graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults.
Online Community for Children of Military Families
MilitaryKidsConnect.org, a Department of Defense-sponsored website, features content for children, tweens, and teens of military families. The site provides an online community that allows these young people to support one another while learning coping and resilience-building skills
www.MyFuture.com
This site helps young adults plan their next steps in life by bringing together the most recently available information about colleges, careers and military services. Designed primarily for individuals between 16 and 24, the site features information drawn and collated from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education and Labor. The site contains information on more than 1,000 military and civilian careers and nearly 7,000 accredited colleges, universities and trade schools, and can serve as a central resource for valuable background on college admission requirements, employment trends and military benefits.
DoDEA Virtual High School
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) offers a Virtual High School (DVHS), which provides more than 70 online courses to students in DoDEA secondary schools to meet DoDEA eligible students’ academic and career-oriented goals. DVHS also offers the Domestic Transition Program, which provides students transitioning from an overseas DoDEA-supported program or Non-DoD Schools Program to a local public school or an accredited educational program in the United States, allowing for continuity in students’ education.
Resource: Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness
This clearinghouse helps providers identify, select, and implement evidence-based programs and practices to address wide-ranging family and mental health issues. The searchable database includes effective and promising intervention programs as well as resources and strategies to ensure the welfare of military families.
2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
Using survey data from approximately 95,000 undergraduate and 16,000 graduate students, this report from the Department of Education provides information on the percentages of students receiving various types of financial aid and how much they received, by institution, attendance pattern, dependency status, and income level. The study indicates that 71% of undergraduates and 70% of graduates received some type of financial aid.
2014 Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Awards
Forty-eight schools were honored as 2014 Green Ribbon Schools for their exemplary efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, promote better health, and ensure effective environmental education, including civics and green career pathways. In addition, nine districts were honored for the District Sustainability Award.
5 Ways to Pay Off Your Student Loans Faster
This blog post, from a representative from the Office of Federal Student Aid, features advice on paying off student loans faster. Tips include signing up for an automatic debit payment plan and using tax refunds to pay off of part of a loan.
7 Ways to Promote FAFSA Completion at Your School
This blog entry provides ideas for how counselors and other school professionals can promote the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at their high school or college campus. Examples include using social media and hosting a FAFSA night on campus.
3 Ways to Get Your Loan Out of Default
Borrowers who default on still have options. This blog post outlines steps that borrowers can take to get their loans back in good standing, including loan repayment, rehabilitation, and consolidation.
7 Common FAFSA Mistakes
This blog entry outlines seven common errors that students make when completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and presents resources to help them avoid these mistakes.
5 Things To Do After Filing Your FAFSA
This blog post from the Department of Education features information for students on the next steps they should take after they have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
6 Things You Must Know About Repaying Your Student Loans
This blog post and video from the Department of Education can help students and recent graduates understand the details of loan repayment, including when repayment starts, who to pay, how much to pay, and how to make payments.
5 Steps for Picking a College
The Secretary of Education Arne Duncan shares his advice for students when picking a college, laid out in five steps.
4 Things to Do Before You Make Your First Student Loan Payment
This blog entry outlines the four things recent graduates should do as they prepare to make their first student loan payment: get organized, contact the loan servicer, estimate monthly payments, and select a repayment plan. Learn more.
21st Century Community Learning Centers
This program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low performing schools. The program: helps students meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs; and offers literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children.
4 Reasons Why Community College Was Perfect For Me
Talla Hashemi, a junior at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and ED intern, shares why attending community college, and then transferring to a four-year university, was the best choice for her.
Action Guide for Emergency Management at Institutions of Higher Education
This guide has been developed to give higher education institutions a useful resource in the field of emergency management.
Achievement Gap Narrows as High School Graduation Rates for Minority Students Improve Faster than Rest of Nation
According to new data from NCES, graduation rates for black and Hispanic students increased by nearly four percentage points from 2011 to 2013, outpacing the growth for all students in the nation. The data also show that the gap between white students and black and Hispanic students receiving high school diplomas narrowed over that time.
A School Counselor’s Tips on Tying Up Loose Ends Before You Head Off to College
This blog post written by a school counselor in South Dakota provides tips for students as they prepare to head off to college. Tips include making a financial plan and ensuring credit is received for high school courses.
A Guide to School Vulnerability Assessment Key: Principles for Safe Schools
This guide is a companion piece to the Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities (above). It emphasizes a valuable part of emergency management planning—ongoing vulnerability assessment—and is intended to assist schools with the selection and implementation of an effective vulnerability assessment tool.
Adolescent Literacy Research Network
The Adolescent Literacy Research Network is a partnership of The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), designed to support each agency's effort to enhance literacy and employment skills of young American adults.
A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Making College More Affordable
This fact sheet outlines President Obama’s new plan to increase college affordability. Facets of the plan include creating a new ratings system that measures college performance and value; eliminating barriers to competition and innovation, particularly in the use of new technology; and helping student borrowers struggling with their existing debt by capping loan payments at 10 percent of income and directing ED to reach out to students struggling with their loans to make sure they understand their options.
A Guide to Reporting Parent Info on your FAFSA
When filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), borrowers who are considered “dependent students” must provide information about their parents, including information about their identity, living situation, and financial status.