1.LIFE AFTER AMERICORPSLeveraging Your Year of ServiceExperience to Build Your FutureMay 11, 2012

2. OBJECTIVES Provide resources so you candecide the next steps and continueon the path to your dream job/life. Walk through systems you will needto access after you exit AmeriCorps. Equip you with powerful informationto make the most of your post-AmeriCorps life. Prepare you for stages of transitionand re-entry. 3. YOUR TERM IS ALMOST DONE HOW DOYOU FEEL??? Proud, accomplished, satisfied Apathetic, disconnected, fatigued Nervous, excited, eager Angry, frustrated, cynical Confused, fearful, isolated 4. Chancesare you feel more aware of social issues in the community and school where you servedYoumay now or sometime soon feel a sense of loss 5. REFLECT Canyou identify what, specifically has made you feel this way? Whatmotivated you to join AmeriCorps? Whathave been TWO standout accomplishments as an AmeriCorps member? 6. WHATS NEXT? Re-enrollment in AmeriCorps or other service Continuing in Higher Education Employment Other:_____________ Do nothing/Chill 7. WHERE TO GO??? Stay in the service community (Oakland/SanLorenzo) Go home (if away) Go elsewhere, somewhere new Other:__________ 8. PREPARE TO LEAVE Catalog your accomplishments/Build a Portfolio Position Description Data on your accomplishments Surveys Curriculum, programs you created Leave a map for next years members (binder) Guides for systems you created for continuation, wherestuff is; helpful hints Make time to say goodbye Co-workers, fellow members, volunteers, youth,community members, friends, etc. 9. LEAVING RIGHT Before you pack your desk Final administrative issues: exit interview, forms,timesheets, Daily Activity Logs, etc. Clarify youve signed everything and have all documents inorder. All documents must be received in order to exit satisfactorily. Forwarding address, exchange of contact info Ask for a reference or two! 10. DEALING WITH LEAVING Prepare to describe your experience Prepare for a variety of responses Journal, converse, express Recreate, catch up, enjoy yourself Continue to volunteer When youre ready: Research, apply, interview Remember: Change is Inevitable! 11. RE-ENROLLING IN AMERICORPS Available if you have served less than four terms ofservice (any length) Same Program If youve had a positive experience If you feel there is still more opportunity to grow in this area oryou would like to be instrumental in the program growing Different Program AmeriCorps State/National AmeriCorps VISTA AmeriCorps NCCC (if you are 18-24) Senior Corps (55+) 12. RE-ENROLL TO RECEIVE MORE COLLEGE $ Themaximum Education Award is equal to the Maximum Pell Grant limit: Full-time $5,550 (2012) 13. RE-ENROLLING SORT OF Peace Corps www.peacecorps.gov Teach for America www.teachforamerica.org Extended Volunteer Experiences www.handsonbayarea.org 14. EDUCATION Finish your Undergrad Program Enroll in Grad School (MA, MS, PhD) Take classes of interest here and there Seneca Center Community Colleges Berkeley Extensions Professional Organizations 15. SEGAL EDUCATION AWARDTo access your award, you must: Successfully complete your AmeriCorps term Program Director must exit you from the system You must access the My AmeriCorps Portal 16. ACCESSING THE PORTAL 17. ACCESSING YOUR EDUCATION AWARD1. In your home page, under My Education Award click on the Create Education Award Payment Request link to bring up the screen to request the payment.2. Follow the instructions and complete the form.3. Select the purpose of the payment (loan or current educational expenses), the amount of the payment, and identify the holder of your student loan.4. Click submit, a notice will be sent electronically to your educational or loan institution.5. A record of your request will appear in your account home page. 18. NEXT STEPS1. The school or loan holder will complete their portion of the form and return it electronically to the Corporation.2. They will fill in the amount for which you are eligible if the request is for current educational expenses or they will provide the payoff amount and loan type if the request is for a student loan.3. When the payment has been made, your account will reflect the deduction. 19. SEGAL EDUCATION AWARDGoing Back to School: You can use the ed. Award at any TitleIV school as defined by the U.S. Dept.of Education Includes many technical/vocational programs http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/tiv.phtml(run search by state) 20. SEGAL EDUCATION AWARDPaying back your loans: Must be qualified! Lender should be able to tell you if your loan iscovered by these statutes Usual suspects include: Perkins, Stafford, WilliamD. Ford, & Federal consolidation loans Be careful before you consolidate your loans to aprivate company Pay out the value of your ed. Award first! 21. TRUE OR FALSE? 22. TRUE OR FALSE As soon as you finish your term of service, you canreceive your education award. FALSE. To become eligible to receive your educationaward, you must complete all of your programsrequirements in addition to your service hours orterm. Your Program Director has to exit you fromthe system with the designation of successfullycompleted. 23. TRUE OR FALSE?? 24. TRUE OR FALSE Members can choose to take a cash paymentrather than the education award. True AND False. VISTA members can decide between a $5,550education award and a $1,500 cash stipend as theirpost-service benefit. AmeriCorps State and National members (YOU!)can select only the education award option. 25. TRUE OR FALSE??? 26. TRUE OR FALSE If you use your credit card to pay for school, youcan use your education award to pay your creditcard bill. FALSE You can use your education award to makepayments to qualified schools or loan agenciesholding your qualified federal loans. 27. MORE ON THAT The TRUST makes education award payments onlyto loan holders or Title IV schools, NOT you. But what if I dont have to pay tuition? The Ed. Award covers the cost of attendance Room and Board, books, supplies, fees In some cases, schools will have purchasingagreements for computers and will have the studentsbuy through those companies. In other cases, studentsmay be able to bring in receipts for purchases madeand get reimbursed. 28. Work with your financial aid office so you dont have to pay out of pocket or to assure that you will get reimbursed. 29. TRUE OR FALSE You can use your education award to attendschools overseas. TRUE You are eligible to use your education award at anyschool listed by the U.S. Dept. of Education as TitleIV. Many overseas schools are Title IV. If a school doesnt accept your Ed. Award, you canoften apply for a Stafford or other Fed award andthen repay that with your Ed. Award. ALWAYS ASK!!! 30. HOW MANY YEARS? 31. HOW MANY YEARS? How many Years do you have to use youreducation award? SEVEN. You have 7 years from the date of completion ofservice to use your Ed. Award. Under certaincircumstances, you may receive an extension. Youmust apply in writing. To learn more about this, callthe National Service Trust at 1-888-507-5962. Circumstances may include: more AmeriCorpsterms, Peace Corps, military, illness, etc. 32. YES OR NO 33. YES OR NO? Do you have to use your Education Award all atonce? NO. You can draw from your education award accountat the National Service Trust in increments. Overseveral semesters or institutions. You can also usepart for tuition and/or and part to pay off studentloans. 34. TRUE OR FALSE? 35. TRUE OR FALSE? The education award is considered taxable income. TRUE. The Ed. Award counts as taxable income for the taxyears in which you use more than $600. BUT!!!! Most states have a law which waives the state taxfor AmeriCorps Education Awards You must use the Ed. Award at a public state school, notprivate. i.e. a UC, Cal State Univ., etc. 36. MATCH! Many schools match the Education Award % of award value, class credit, application fee, scholarships, etc. An incomprehensive list:http://www.nationalservice.gov/for_organizations/highered/ed_award_match.asp Current California Schools that participate: Antioch University Santa Barbara California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Mills College Monterey Institute of International Studies Notre Dame de Namur Pacifica Graduate Institute Union Institute & University Los Angeles and Sacramento University of the Pacific 37. DISCLAIMER! The best use of the Education Award is extremelyvariant depending on: Your particular situation Your lender The financial aid office at your school And everyones knowledge of AmeriCorps EducationAwards There is NO magic bullet! Dont give up if you encounter barriers. You haveearned this award. 38. EDUCATION AWARD & FINANCIAL AID Get the most buying power! ALWAYS: Fill out the FAFSAs additional financialinformation section and report your AmeriCorps Ed.Award amount. Your Ed. Award will not count against your financialaid need. TIP! Save the award and accept the schoolsfinancial aid offer. May lose larger scholarships andgrants if you frontload Ed. Award. Learn about Financial Aid: www.finaid.org Meet with a Fin. Aid counselor, tell them you have anaward, but dont want to use it if it will cause you to losefinancial aid. 39. LOAN: FORBEARANCE If you obtained forbearance on loans while inservice and successfully complete your term The TRUST will pay accrued interest All interest (for full time) A portion (for part time) Subject to taxes Does not deduct from your Education Award. 40. LOAN: FORBEARANCE You should: First be exited from the system When you see your term end & award appear in MyAmeriCorps Request a statement from your lender that shows thetotal accrued interest during your postponement period(with beginning and end dates). Have the statement sent to the Trust Get a copy sent to you for your records. 41. LOAN: ADVANCE VS. PRINCIPAL Advance (automatic) The Ed. Award pays out as multiple monthly bills (pays INTEREST before principal) You dont pay any loan bills during this period but they will return. May be for you if: You hate paying your bills You know you may not be able to pay for a while 42. ADVANCE VS. PRINCIPAL (CONT.) Principal (must request to your lender in writing) The Ed. Award goes directly to the fullamount borrowed before interest You continue to pay your bills at a lowerrate May be for you if: You want your loan paid off sooner You can pay your monthly bills now You want to pay less over the lifetime of your loan. 43. LESSONS LEARNED (VIDEO FROM YOUTUBE) 44. LOAN: INCOME BASED REPAYMENT What is IBR? A relatively new student loan repayment plan Uses a sliding scale to determine how much you canafford to pay on your federal loan(s). If you earn below 150% of the poverty level for yourfamily size, your required loan payment will be $0. If you earn more, your loan payment will be capped at15% of what you earned above the that amount. Except for the highest earners, it usually works out toless than 10% of your total income. http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml 45. LOAN: INCOME BASED REPAYMENT What about Interest? In some situations, your IBR payment may notcover the interest on your loans. If so, the Govt will pay that interest on yourSubsidized Stafford Loans for the first 3 years. After 3 years, the interest will be added to the totalamount you owe. Your debt will grow, but anything you still owe after25 years of qualifying payment will be forgiven. http://ibrinfo.org 46. LOAN: PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS Obama Administration initiative If you work in a qualifying public service position, itwill forgive remaining debt after 10 years of eligibleemployment and qualifying loan payments. http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/LoanForgivenessv4.pdf 47. WHO QUALIFIES FOR PSLF? People with federal student loans who work in awide range of public service jobs, including jobs ingovernment and nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organizations(like SAFE PASSAGES!!). Must be employed FULL-TIME OR serving in a full-time AmeriCorps, PeaceCorps, or T4A Position Must make regular payments on student loansCANNOT miss a payment or the 10 years (120consecutive payments) starts over!! More info:http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml 48. LEVERAGING YOUR SERVICE Objective: strategize how to best construct andrepresent your service experience on aresume, letter of intent, or verbal interview. This is an intro method, and creating a polishedproduct for yourself will take quite a bit more time 49. LEVERAGING YOUR SERVICE Start with your position description Make a list of everything you can think of that youcreated, enhanced, accomplished or learned. Think about: For whom? How often? With what result? To ensure what? Why? How? Think in numbers and time Recruited 120 community volunteers for 2 National Service Day events 50. LEVERAGING YOUR SERVICE Make your bullet points Use action verbs: Evaluated, developed, facilitated, supervised, administered, initiated, generated, achieved. Make a big, general list and save in a document orwithin your general resume. Pick and choose the most important/applicable for aspecific resume for the position(s) for which you areapplying. 51. THE AMERICORPS EXPERIENCE 52. LEVERAGING YOUR SERVICE Also consider the training you received: CPR / First Aid Diversity & Cross-cultural Communications Conflict Resolution COST Family Engagement Curriculum Development Other:_________________ Again, pick the most relevant for your tailoredresume. 53. LEVERAGING YOUR SERVICE Written or spoken narrative For interviews, letters of intent, etc. Identify your biggest achievement, most meaningful,most challenging (assign them all) In 500 words or less, describe each bullet point and whyyou assigned it as such. For interviews, write it all down and then edit to 2-3minutes of speech. Practice. 54. STAYING ENGAGED http://www.americorpsalums.org Find your local chapter and get connected withother alum! 55. STAYING ENGAGED Take advantage of: Career Center Free Tax Preparation Bank of America Free Checking You should also: Contact your elected officials and encourage them tosupport AmeriCorps and eliminate the federal tax on theeducation award.