Indiana University Northwest willhost the only bilingual site in the state of Indiana during CollegeGoal Sunday 2000 – an event offering free financial aid assistanceto students and families throughout the state. As one of the 37 sites throughoutthe state hosting the event on February 13 at 2 p.m., the bilingual sitewill be at East Chicago’s Central High School in Cafeteria  #2. 

“We felt it was very important to establish a site to accommodate ourlarge Spanish speaking population in Northwest Indiana,” says Yolanda Arroyo-Solis,IU Northwest Office of FinancialAid and East Chicago site coordinator. 

Now in its 11th year, College Goal Sunday mobilizes financialaid professionals to help college-bound students and their families completethe Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA form isrequired for any student seeking federal financial aid, including grantsand loans at all schools in the nation.

This school year alone, IU Northwest,Purdue University Calumet,Purdue University North Central,Valparaiso University, Calumet Collegeof St. Joseph and IvyTech State College, distributed, awarded or will award almost $88.5million in federal, state, local and private aid. With combined enrollmentsof about 26,500, the six institutions reported that about 60% of the enrollmenttotal receives some form of financial aid.  Besides the East Chicagobilingual site, other local College Goal Sunday locations scheduledfor Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. include the IU Northwest campus in HawthornHall 107, the Hellenic Cultural Center in Merrillville, the MichiganCity Public Library, the PUC campus in GYTE-107, and the Valparaiso Universitycampus in the Union Great Hall. 

As one of the highlights of Financial Aid Awareness Month, theIndiana Student Financial Aid Association (SFAA), in cooperation with theIndiana Career and Postsecondary Advancement Center (ICPAC), the StateStudent Assistance Commission of Indiana (SSACI), and the Office of Twenty-FirstCentury Scholars, sponsors the event. It is co-funded by Lilly Endowment,Inc. and the USA Group Foundation.  During the 11 years since CollegeGoal Sunday was established, the Indiana high school-to-college continuationrate has risen steadily. In 1986, Indiana was 39th in the nation for highschool-to-college continuation. By 1996, Indiana ranked 20th.

Financial aid workshops are also scheduled during the month and include: 

• February 16, 7 p.m. at the Porter County Career Center, Valparaiso 
• February 17, 6:30 p.m. at IU Northwest, Hawthorn Hall 100 
• February 19, 9 a.m. at PUC, GYTE-107
• February 23, 7 p.m. at Calumet College of St. Joseph, Higgins Room, 1stFloor 
• February 24, 6:30 p.m. at IU Northwest, Hawthorn Hall 100 
• February 26, 9 a.m. at PUC, GYTE-107
• February 28, 6:30 p.m. at IU Northwest, Hawthorn Hall 100.

For more information on College Goal Sunday Indiana UniversityNorthwest at 1-888-YOUR-IUN (toll-free), Purdue University Calumet at 800-HI-PURDUE,ext. 2301 (toll-free); Purdue University North Central at 219-785-5279;Valparaiso University at 219-464-5015; Calumet College of St. Joseph at877-700-9100 (toll-free), and Ivy Tech State College at 219-981-1111.