- Tuesday morning, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist joined MiLEAP in introducing the "Reach for the Pie" initiative that will select 100 graduating seniors to win free pizza for a year by texting FAFSA to 844-34-PIZZA
- Leaders also discussed the amount of funds available to seniors this year as they apply for FAFSA
- In the attached story, we spoke with students and education advocates about what resources are available this school year
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Pushing back against rising costs
I am your neighborhood reporter Asya Lawrence here in Grand Ledge where they're encouraging students to take just 15 minutes to save thousands of dollars as seniors apply for college
"Fifteen...free...free... It only takes 15 minutes to complete the FAFSA form" said Lt. Gov. Gilchrist
Tuesday, state officials kicked off an initiative to encourage high school seniors to complete the form best known as FAFSA
“Because of how they have revamp the application, how they revamped the Pell Grant calculation it’s expanding the pool of eligible students so if you didn’t think you could qualify this year, you may be eligible” Said Diann Cosme, Director of Mi Student Aid.
Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and MiLEAP say the free application for federal student aid can provide thousands of dollars of relief in just a few minutes.
"I’m coming from a family that has like a lot of siblings where we don’t have that support to be able to pay for the colleges that I want to go to so having like basically free money come out to be like for me to follow that I wanna follow," said Isabel Aguilar, GLHS senior
Also, large lump sums of money are available to students through funds like the Michigan Achievement Scholarship which offers up to $27,500 for college but leaders say you'll never know if you don't apply
"We're having this conversation around student loan debt forgiveness because so many people have stacked up thousands and thousands of dollars in debt and that's a burden that limits you from doing the things you want to do after college we also have people with tons of debt and no degree but by preventing you from getting debt in the first place by doing things like completing FAFSA, taking advantage of the Michigan achievement scholarship and all the other scholarship money... You don't have to get that debt in the first place" said Lt. Gov. Gilchrist
The FAFSA deadline for students is June 30th I'm your neighborhood reporter Asya Lawrence here in Grand Ledge Fox 47 News
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