Super Saturday

Financial aid assistance event helps students, parents prepare applications

By Candace Sipos -- csipos@nvdaily.com

MIDDLETOWN -- Although some potential college-goers are questioning the usefulness of adegree when so many twenty-somethings can't secure jobs post graduation, there are still local students who believe in its importance.

Hannah Coffey sat at the back of a classroom with her mother, Staci Coffey, at the Middletown Campus of Lord Fairfax Community College during its annual Super Saturday financial aid assistance program Saturday. The two were working on Hannah's Federal Application for Financial Student Aid to help her attend college in the fall.
While Hannah Coffey, a senior at Sherando High School, said she didn't need federal aid to be able to attend college, financial assistance would be a great help in paying tuition.
"It would take a big chunk out of the bill," she said.

Staci Coffey chose to help her daughter through the tutorial on her
birthday because she believes her daughter's education is essential.
"It's worth it [to get a degree], because she wants to better herself,"
Staci Coffey said.

"You have to like spend money to make money, I think," Hannah Coffey said.
"So if you're spending money on college, that'll lead to a better job in which you'll make more money."

Hannah Coffey would be the first in her family to earn a college degree.
Karen Goulbourne, financial aid specialist at the college who helped to coordinate this Super Saturday, which always falls the weekend of the Super Bowl, said the event has grown in popularity over the years. Nearly 150 people, including 75 students, showed up this year.

"Now more than ever, there's a lot more people who need the help," she said.

Goulbourne said she has seen a lot of potential students surprised by how much aid they can receive from the government. In fact, when she was applying for aid to go to Lord Fairfax to earn her associate's in business administration, she was surprised to realize that she wouldn't have to pay for anything out of pocket.

" It's always a surprise, because sometimes just a little bit goes a long way," she said.