Wondering How To Pay For College? Come to Our Financial Aid Workshop!

 

To help students and parents learn about college financial aid opportunities, the Terrebonne Parish Main Library is hosting a Financial Aid Workshop on Tuesday, October 25th from 6 pm to 8 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

According to a recent report by the College Board, average tuition and fees for the 2010-2011 school year at a four-year public university was $7,605 for state residents and $19,595 for out-of-state residents. The tuition increased 7.9% increase from last year. If you add room and board, the average tuition and fees for state residents totals $16,140. Room and board for out of state residents totals $28,130. The average tuition at a four year private university for the academic year 2010-2011 is $27,293 and if one adds room and board to this figure, the total increases to $36,993.

Tuition fees are steep and getting steeper. But help is available. Louisiana high school students who attend college in Louisiana can be exempt from tuition if they meet certain academic standards at graduation from high school. This program is called the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, commonly referred to as TOPS.

The Financial Aid Workshop at the library will feature representatives from the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance and Nicholls State University. They will speak about state scholastic programs, and offer instruction on completing out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Staff will speak about private scholarships given by local organizations for students who meet certain academic standards.

To sign up, just call the Reference Department at 876-5861, option 2. Walk-ins are also welcome.  Hope to see you there!

-Carlos Crockett, Reference Associate

Come Learn about our Career Cruising Database!

Thinking of changing careers? Perhaps you're still in school, and trying to decide with career is right for you?  The Career Cruising database at Terrebonne Parish Library can help you plan a career path and move forward in your new career.  We are offering an introduction to this great resource Monday, September 12th, at 7 pm.  If you're interested in attending, please give us a call to register, at 876-1733, ex. 2.  To start using Career Cruising now, read on!

First, go to the the library website at www.mytpl.org.  Select "Online Databases", then "Careers", and then Career Cruising.  If you're outside of the library, you will be prompted to select the parish you live in, and enter your library card number. This brings you to the main page: 

As the links at the top of the page show, Career Cruising helps you do five things:

• Learn more about your interests, and get career suggestions
• Get in-depth information about particular careers
• Explore schools and training programs
• Find jobs and learn job-seeking skills
• Create a custom portfolio 

The last item is important, because creating a portfolio allows you to bookmark careers and schools, save career assessments, and create a customized resume.  We recommend that you start by creating an account, so you can start your portfolio.  Simply click on "Create a Portfolio" in the Portfolio Login box, and enter your information.

When you've created your account, you are ready to get started.  Simply click on the heading that interests you (as shown in the image to the left).  If you are trying to decide on a career, we recommend doing these in order, starting with "Explore Assessments", and then "Explore Careers".  If you already know your career interests, you can go to "Education and Training" to look for schools.  If you're ready to start job searching, you can go straight to "Employment".

Stay tuned for our next blog post, where we will go into more detail about each of these features.   For face to face instruction on Career Cruising, we encourage you to come to our talk.  Once again, it's on Monday, September 12, at 7 pm.  Registration is required, so give us a call, and we will sign you up!  876-1733, ex. 2.

Carlos B. Crockett, Reference Associate
Ross Mays, Reference Librarian

Facebook Privacy Slideshow

If you missed last night's presentation on Facebook privacy, or if you would just like to review what we discussed, here is the slideshow presentation. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Taming Facebook

View more presentations from tplref

Exciting Upcoming Programs

This week, the library is having two programs at the main branch which come at the perfect time of year. Wednesday at 6:30pm in the Large Meeting Room of the Main Library, there will be an identity theft program titled “Protect Your Identity: Be Yourself …Or Someone Else Will!” The program will teach you how to protect yourself from identity theft, which can be especially useful information to many of us during tax season. This hour-long presentation will be given by Margaret Burlew of the LSU Ag Center.



On Thursday at 6:00pm, the library will hold its 2010 Financial Aid Workshop. Presenters include the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance and the U.S. Military. Representatives of the Terrebonne Parish Library will discuss TOPS, private & military scholarships, filling out FAFSA, and test preparation strategies. As the end of the school year draws near, this program can help high school students get ready for the years to come. You can register for the program in advance by contacting the reference department at 985-876-1733, ext. 202.


For even more information on the topics mentioned above, feel free to explore some of these links:

FTC’s Identity Theft Website

The U.S. Dept. of Justice Identity Theft Website

Federal Student Aid

Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance