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January tasks for high school seniors

By Beth Ziehmer

January 01, 2024

During your senior year, you will finalize your college choice. This year is filled with admission applications, scholarship essays, financial aid information, and the need to meet deadlines. Throughout your senior year, continue to build your resume by achieving academic success, as well as participating in extracurricular activities. Colleges are interested in well-rounded students.

Below are the tasks you should complete during the month of January:

• Complete your FAFSA online making sure to complete it before the college's or university's priority deadline. Keep in mind that the 2024-25 FAFSA was released at the end of December and the U.S. Department of Education has advised that students and families "do not need to rush to fill out the form immediately." The Department has said because FAFSA results will not be sent to schools until later in January, students and families may want to wait until later to complete the form. According to the Department, students and families may experience some outages or be placed in what is being referred to as "waiting rooms." If students or parents experience these issues, they may want to stop and try completing the form again later.
• Keep copies of all documents, including your FSA ID, in a file.
• Keep a watch out for scholarship applications and make notes of the deadlines. Getting an early start completing them. The college may have an earlier scholarship deadline than other local scholarships.
• Register for the January 30 Strategies for making the most of scholarship applications webinar.
• Do not let senioritis get a grip on you this semester; finish strong in your last semester of high school.