The 3rd annual Financial Aid Awareness Day event was held on Aug. 23 in the Campus Center Plaza. 

Each semester, Contra Costa College holds this event to provide students with more information about their financial aid options.

Also, it is used as a tool for students enrolling late to get the chance to sign up for clubs and social groups on campus.

Each semester, the CCC staff comes up with ways to appeal to students by listening to the feedback given from the students that participated in prior events.

Student Services and Instructional Support Coordinator Charles Ramirez, who headed the event for this semester, said students wanted to see job opportunities.

In the past, this event has been successful in getting 46 percent of students qualified for financial aid.

The goal is to increase 5 percent during the enrollment period each semester, Financial Aid Assistant Patricia Herrera said.

The campus was visited by a number of external partners and recruiters like CalFresh, Bank Of America and Securitas.

All were on campus with the same interest in mind, to provide financial opportunities for students.

Britnee Valentine, the financial center operations manager at Bank of America at Hilltop-Richmond said setting up a student account with BOA is completely free until the person reaches the age of 24.

This means a student does not have to maintain an account minimum.

CCC’s Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) department was one of the booths set up outside as well.

The EOPS program has been around since 1976 helping students.

EOPS provides students who qualify  for financial assistance to buy books, parking passes.

EOPS can assist students in transitioning into the heavy financial demand of college.

At CCC, students can register for the online Job Board.

For more information, students can visit collegecentral.com/contracosta to see all listings and apply.

They should ask about campus positions that may be available.

If students want a job but don’t know where to start or who to talk to, they can contact Natasha DeAlmeida, the Career Service coordinator, located in SA-207.

Her team can assist students by providing services like resume/cover letter reviews, interview practice, career workshops and more.

Students really enjoyed this event.

It gave them a place in between classes to hang out and find out what is going on around campus.

The event aimed to help students take advantage of the services offered on campus.

Students were able to collect pens, fliers and other sources of information from the event.