February is Financial Aid Awareness Month! It’s never too early to start preparing for the costs of college and the College Foundation of North Carolina has some informative & free webinars coming up!
Upcoming Events & College Visits: Open to all upper school students!
February 11th - 7-8PM Free College Essay Writing Webinar - Great opportunity for juniors to get a head start on their college essays! Click here to register
February 13th during lunch - App State will be on campus to meet with interested students
February 25th during lunch - George Mason University will be on campus to meet with interested students
February 26th during lunch - University of Alabama will be on campus to meet with interested students
Upper School Registration begins on February 10th for rising 10th-12th graders. The 2025-2026 course catalog and other important registration information will be released shortly.
Class of 2025:
As you begin to receive your acceptance letters and subsequent financial aid award letters, if you need to appeal your financial aid award, please contact the financial aid office directly to do this. Here is a helpful article
Did you apply to colleges last semester that are now requesting midyear reports or grades? If so, please request those from Mrs. Vernau.
FAFSA is NOW OPEN! If you are planning to attend a 2 or 4 year college, it is recommended that you complete the FAFSA. Please make sure to take care of this sooner, rather than later.
Students and parents MUST both create a FSA ID. You should create your FSA ID before attempting the FAFSA as it takes a few business days to receive your login information.
Helpful FAFSA Resources:
How to know which parent should create the FSA ID/complete the FAFSA?
Schedule FAFSA Help at AB Tech (even if you aren’t planning to attend AB Tech, they will help!)
Spring is a good time to start researching other scholarships, too! Here are some helpful places to look for those
Ask your place of work or your parents’ place of work if they offer any scholarships!
Seniors planning to attend AB Tech after graduation:
Seniors still have time to apply to 4 year colleges! Many are still accepting applications.
ETSU is offering free applications during the week of February 10 - 14, prospective freshmen and transfer students may apply to ETSU for free using the code BucsApply25. Students may enter this code in the "Fee Waiver Code" question on the online application for admission.
The code will start working Monday, February 10th at 8 a.m. and expire 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday, February 14!
NC College Connect - a simplified college application is launching! Only 5 questions, no essay or letter of recommendation required!) Eligible seniors must have a 2.8 weighted GPA or higher to use this application system and application fees still apply.
Participating public universities: Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, UNC Greensboro, UNC Pembroke, UNC Asheville, Winston-Salem State & all 58 2 year/community colleges in NC.
Eligible NC seniors will receive a letter in the mail sometime in October with more information.
NC Independent Colleges & Universities (NCICU) is offering a similar simplified college application program, launching now! Minimal questions,no essay or letter of recommendation required. Eligible seniors must have a 2.8 weighted GPA or higher to use this application system and there are NO application fees for these colleges!
AB Tech Reminders for Juniors & Seniors:
Spring AB Tech courses have started! You should have received an email from your student’s distance learning lab instructor letting you know this, if not, please check with your student!
Our Distance Learning Lab instructors are:
Leah Gillespie (Periods 3-4 & 7-8) leahgillespie@icimagine.org
Amy Surrett (Periods 1-2 & 5-6) amysurrett@icimagine.org
Class of 2026:
Junior Conferences can now be scheduled!
This is the time of year that juniors should seriously begin the post-graduate planning process. As the 11th grade counselor, I would like to make you aware of the programs that IC Imagine has in place to assist you and your student in this process.
Juniors will begin receiving information about post-graduate planning in the next few weeks. This will include a review of graduation requirements, and the tasks necessary to jump-start the post-graduate planning process. Attached is a handout that includes important postsecondary planning tasks that you can post in a visible spot to keep you on track. I would also encourage parents to view the ICI 301 Presentation that students attended this past week.
“ICI 301” is how we refer to the college and career counseling that juniors will receive this year. There are several ICI 301 tasks for juniors and their families to complete this year:
Students will attend ICI 301 counseling presentation in January during their American History/AP US History course
Students should complete the “Junior Conference Survey” in their Scoir account BEFORE their scheduled junior conference with Ms. Vernau
Students should schedule AND attend their Junior Conference
Students should work with parents/guardians to find a time for their conference
Students should use my Google Calendar to reserve their conference date/time
IF parents/guardians would prefer to join virtually, please indicate that on the Google Calendar form, and I will provide a virtual meeting link
Junior Conferences will begin on January 21st and may be scheduled through April 2025. It is the student’s responsibility to schedule their junior conference.
Finally, ICI provides your student with access to Scoir, an amazing resource for postsecondary planning. Students can access SCOIR at this url and sign in with Clever via their ICI Google account. Students can also add parent/guardian email addresses in their profile to give you access, as well. https://app.scoir.com/signin
Best wishes for a successful college & career planning process!
Juniors, are you interested in a paid summer internship? If so, consider applying to the 1Life Program! Please apply by 1/29/25!
