Sallie Mae College Bus Tour and Ms. Eleanor Holmes-Norton Visit LAYC

The Paying for College Bus Tour, a national campaign of Sallie Mae, stopped by Latin American Youth Center on Saturday, October 27th. The College Bus Tour brings college financial aid information and workshops directly to low-income and minority young adults in their communities.

Ms. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, D.C.U.S. House of Representative, welcomed students and talked about the importance of post-secondary education. She emphasized that students no longer have financial aid as an obstacle to pursuing a degree. Ms. Holmes-Norton encouraged the students to take full advantage of all the opportunities available to them, including DC TAG and DC LEAP that assist students with tuition and other college related expenses.

Sallie Mae’s spokesperson, Arnold Hernandez, conducted a workshop in both English and Spanish, about how to pay for college. Students and parents were provided insight into the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and encouraged youth to start planning early. Patsy Solano, LAYC Upward Bound program participant was the lucky winner of a $1,000 scholarship awarded by Sallie Mae. Patsy, a 9th grader at Bell Multicultural High School, is definitely planning on putting the scholarship to good use and is excited about attending a university after graduating high school. Overall, many of the students walked away eager and motivated to obtain as many scholarships and grants as possible.