The VTC’s Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) has been in existence since 1979, and during that time it has provided FREE educational, career, and financial aid services to over 100,000 adults in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Educational guidance services include information regarding admission requirements to post-secondary programs, searches for scholarship information to help pay for educational expenses, and help in completing admissions and financial aid applications. Information regarding local and out-of-town colleges and universities, services for adult students, and information about General Equivalency Diploma (GED) classes and testing programs are also available. All of VTC’s EOC services are free. Participants are required to bring documentation of their income. The VTC’s EOC main office is located in Norfolk—350 Granby Street, and there are thirteen additional satellite offices located throughout Hampton Roads. ■

FEBRUARY 2008

What is VTC’s Educational Opportunity Center (EOC)?

For more information, visit us on the web at www.vtc.odu.edu/eoc.html or call the VTC’s EOC at (757) 683-2312 to schedule an appointment.

Ms. Yearling is a Norfolk native and graduated from high school locally in the early 1990’s. She has returned to college after being out of school for over 15 years. Ms. Yearling is a single mom and raising 3 boys ranging in ages from toddler to adolescence. She is majoring in Culinary Arts and hopes to one day own her own catering business and specialize in event planning. To help Ms. Yearling on her educational journey, she visited VTC’s Educational Opportunity Center. The VTC’s EOC helped her with financial aid forms and questions that arose along her educational process. She commented how the VTC’s EOC, “has been very friendly” and readily available to assist her in achieving educational success. Ms. Yearling can be seen as an inspiration to many who are contemplating going back to school. She is doing it all and you can too! If you are thinking about returning to school, let the VTC’s EOC help you achieve your goals! ■

From left to right: Ms. Roberta Rochelle Yearling and Dr. Tyrone Davis, Senior Counselor, VTC’s EOC.

Ms. Robert Rochelle Yearling Student, Mother, and Security Guard

Tidewater Community College She’s fulfilling her educational goals!

The Virginia Tidewater Consortium’s Educational Opportunity Center 350 Granby Street, Walker Building, Norfolk, VA, 23510 Phone: (757) 683-2312 Fax: (757) 683-2315 Web: http://www.vtc.odu.edu/eoc.html

MAIN OFFICE HOURS Monday—Friday

8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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VTC’S EOC NEWSL ETTER PAGE 2

Want a Nightmare? Don’t Pay Your Student Loan Dr. Tyrone Davis, Senior Counselor, VTC’s EOC

Student loans are an important resource, helping many individuals pay for a college education that might otherwise be difficult or impossible to afford. However, if not paid back, defaulting on a student loan can end up hurting a student financially for a long time, including leaving them with bad credit. Once a loan is declared defaulted, payment in full becomes due immediately, with no further eligibility for any sort of deferment or forbearance. If the borrower continues to fail to make payment on a loan in default, a number of negative consequences may result. First, the lender will make aggressive efforts to collect but if that fails your loan is turned over to the guarantor. Now it starts getting expensive. The guarantor has several options at their disposal for collecting a loan payment: US treasury offset - your federal and state income tax

refunds may be garnished. Turn the loan over top a professional collection agency -

fees and penalties may be up to 25% of the total principal and interest due.

Wage garnishment - your paycheck may be garnished for up to 15% of your disposable income.

Legal action - you can be sued for the balance of the loan plus court costs and lawyers fees.

Credit agencies notified - a defaulted loan stays on your credit report for a minimum of 7 years.

Even if you pay your federal loan off it will still be noted as defaulted, paid in full on your credit report and counted as a black mark. Furthermore, since consumer reporting agencies are able to report an account for seven years from the opening date, bad credit that results from defaulted students loans can follow the borrower around for quite some time, costing them money all the while due to higher interest rates on credit cards and other loans. Obviously, no one ever wants their student loan to default. As previously mentioned, the consequences of defaulting on a student loan are severe, and recovering from a student loan default is very difficult. Therefore, student loan defaults should be avoided at all costs. If you find yourself in a hardship do your best to manage the payments and consider a student loan consolidation. A student loan consolidation will lower your monthly costs and reduce the interest you owe. However, you need to apply for the loan before going into default. With a student loan consolidation, you’ll retain most all the rights and benefits of the original loan such as deferments, grace period and hardship.

Please know that should you find yourself in a financial problem and you’re not able to pay your student loan, do not walk away… contact your lender immediately. Many times, lenders are willing to adjust the terms of the loan depending on the situation of the student. Finally, remember that the Educational Opportunity Center can help with negotiating repayment plans and better understanding your options.■

FAFSA SUBMISSION DEADLINES

Listed below are the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) priority deadlines for local area colleges and universities. File your 2007 taxes and file your 2008-2009 FAFSA as soon as possible! The earlier you file, the better chances you have of receiving the most aid available to you. To file your FAFSA online, go to www.fafsa.ed.gov, or call the Educational Opportunity Center’s main office at (757) 683-2312 to schedule an appointment with a counselor to help you file your financial aid application. College of William and Mary -----------------2/15/2008 Christopher Newport University ------------- 3/01/2008 Eastern Shore Community College --------- 5/01/2008 Hampton University --------------------------- 3/01/2008 Norfolk State University ---------------------- 3/15/2008 Old Dominion University --------------------- 2/15/2008 Paul D Camp Community College ---------- 6/01/2008 Regent University ----------------------------- 2/15/2008 Thomas Nelson Community College ------- 5/01/2008 Tidewater Community College -------------- 4/01/2008 Virginia Wesleyan College ------------------- 3/01/2008

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.” Martin Luther King Jr.

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PAGE 3 VTC’S EOC NEWSL ETTER

LOCATION Indian River High School

1969 Braves Trail Chesapeake, VA 23325

FOR MORE INFO: Dr. Tyrone Davis (757) 409-9044 or Mr. Richard Griffin (757) 274-1039

REGISTRATION FEE $20.00

Includes Continental Breakfast and Lunch. Youths are free accompanied by

paying adult.

The New Chesapeake Men for Progress 2008 Black Male Development Conference

The 2008 Black Male Development Conference will be held at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia on Saturday, May 3, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.. The conference theme will be “The Journey to Manhood: Transforming Boys into Men and Men into Fathers.” This all-day conference, organized and sponsored by The New Chesapeake Men for Progress, seeks to address Black male development and leadership issues. By using an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, we intend to provide direction and solutions to issues that may assist young Black males with better understanding their value to the American culture, and the need for them to pursue excellence. Open to the entire Hampton Roads community, this conference will benefit attendees regardless of gender, race, or age. Our mission is to educate and motivate each participant to be an independent thinker and to challenge their preconceived notions and ideals regarding issues facing Black men in Hampton Roads. The common sense and ideological diversity that will be featured at this conference guarantees both lively debate and increased awareness concerning the status of Black men in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We will address issues such as Teaching and Motivating the Unprepared and the Unwilling: A Public Education Dilemma. We also plan to critically reflect on Black male relations with their significant others and the culture of materialism that tends to swallow the Black man, and will encourage him to participate in activities that may radically redefine his hope and aspirations. In addition, we plan to have a “Parent Summit” addressing and providing solutions to issues affecting their ability to raise a child in a society that perniciously affects the development of young Black males. Lastly, there are a number of questions we hope the conference will allow us to discuss and answer. Among them are, “Saggy pants and the Use of non-standard English— Does it matter or have parents lost the battle of both fashion and protocol? And, is it the parent responsibility to send a child to school eager and ready to learn?” The conference will take place at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. We anticipate that 300 – 450 participants from high schools and communities throughout the Hampton Roads area will attend the event. The conference will feature prominent individuals from such fields as academia, health, business, higher education, government, and community service. Speakers will be community leaders such as Dr. William E. Ward, former Mayor of the City of Chesapeake and President of The New Chesapeake Men for Progress; Mr. William E. Harrell, City Manager, City of Chesapeake; and Dr. Bisi Oladipupo, Norfolk State University Professor. For additional information, contact Dr. Tyrone Davis (757) 409-9044 or Mr. Richard Griffin (757) 274-1039. ■

Borrower: Person legally responsible for repaying a loan and who has signed the promissory note.

Lender: The organization that made the loan initially; the lender could be the borrower’s school; a bank, credit union, or other lending institution, or the U.S. Department of Education.

Deferment: The temporary postponement of loan payments; during this time, the borrower does not have to pay either principal or interest.

Default: Failure to repay a loan in accordance with the terms of the promissory note.

Loan Principal: The total sum of money borrowed. Loan principal includes the original amount borrowed plus any interest that has been capitalized.

Interest: A loan expense charged a borrower for the use of borrowed money. Interest is calculated as a percentage of the principal of the loan, which includes the original amount borrowed and any capitalized interest. Accrued interest is interest that accumulates on the unpaid principal balance of a loan.

Terms, Courtesy of: “Repaying Your Student Loans”, Federal Student Aid, US Department of Education

TERMS TO KNOW

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Funding a College Education The VTC’s Educational Opportunity Center brings you a briefing that will focus on grants & loans from the federal government, state financial aid programs, and scholarship searches. Hosted by the Navy College Office Open to active duty, retirees, family members, and all other base

personnel This program includes information that will assist high school

JUNIORS & SENIORS and their parents who are facing the rising

expenses of college in the near future

Military scholarship representatives will be on hand to provide info

on their awards, & they do plan to stay afterwards for your specific

questions on their program.

A question & answer session will follow each presentation.

Appointments for one-on-one financial aid counseling and

application assistance can be scheduled with the Educational

Opportunity Center representative after the presentation.

PAGE 4 VTC’S EOC NEWSL ETTER

Location: NAS Oceana Building 531 Navy College Classroom T-102 Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. Naval Station Norfolk Building I E Navy College Classroom #8 Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. Dam Neck Building 199 Navy College Classroom #146 Wednesday, April 17, 2008 at 11:30 a.m.

Please CALL or EMAIL in advance to reserve your seat

Contact: Mr. Darryl Greenwell, VTC’s EOC Counselor

(757) 363-3944 or (757) 489-3329

Personal Voicemail: (757) 552-1673

Email: dgreenwell.eoc@edufind.org

Educational Opportunity Center 350 Granby Street Norfolk, VA 23510

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