SANFORD, NC - Lee County High School was recently named a Financial Aid Champion by College for North Carolina (CFNC). The title is bestowed upon schools who go above and beyond to support students through the financial aid process.
The Yellow Jacket staff and students were the only large rural high school in North Carolina to achieve over a 95% year-over-year increase in completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), generally regarded as the first step of pursuing higher education for any student. More than 41% of this year’s senior class at Lee County High have completed the FAFSA.
The Financial Aid Champion designation comes with several key hurdles including the creation of a FAFSA completion goal and action plan, hosting four FAFSA completion events including two after hours, providing bilingual support and Spanish-language materials at events, and improving FAFSA completion at the school by more than 10% over the prior year.
Lee County High was able to make huge strides in one year thanks to the placement of a College Advisor for the senior class through Americorps. Ms. Eden Briley served in that capacity this year for Lee County High, and helped spearhead the additional events, outreach and targeted follow-up with students that helped make this award a reality.
Senior Class Counselor Allison Poole said, “Ms. Briley is a self-starter who made an incredible impact. She worked with nearly every member of our graduating class and helped organize FAFSA Nights, Senior Signing Day, CFNC College Application Week events, field trips and so much more that made a tremendous impact on our students.”
Briley’s position was funded and supplied by Americorps and Duke University through a grant and partnership. While she is stepping away from this role, her impact will stay with the staff at Lee County High School and continue to serve as a model for excellence in student support through the college process.
"Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of working with amazing education professionals at Lee County High School who genuinely believe in creating access to higher education,” Briley said. “Their support played a huge role in allowing me to guide hundreds of students through the FAFSA form to ensure that they would have financial aid to pay for college. Ms. Georgiana Scrisu, in particular, was an amazing support to our bilingual students and families as she and I worked hand in hand to help them fill out the FAFSA in Spanish..”
Briley continued, "Lee County High School's achievement of the Financial Aid Champion recognition means so much to me because it is a tangible representation of the hard work many of our senior students and families put in to complete a very confusing federal form. I believe that this recognition shows that increasing FAFSA completion is all about emphasizing the importance of financial aid support, and creating as many avenues towards successful completion as possible.”