Publication Date: January 19, 2007

Author: G. Kay Jacks, General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid

Summary: Public Service Campaign

Posted on 01-19-2007

In January 2007, Federal Student Aid launched a public service campaign, called “Only a Dream.” We provided a preview of this campaign during the fall conferences in Orlando and Las Vegas. Since then, many schools have asked how to get copies of the Public Service Announcements (PSA) for their own outreach efforts. This announcement provides background on the campaign, explains how you can get the PSAs and provides information on how you can help make sure they are used to their fullest potential in your school and local community. If you have any questions or would like additional information on Federal Student Aid’s public service campaign, please contact Tara Young at tara.young@ed.gov or call 202-377-3491. Thank you in advance for supporting this campaign.

Why did Federal Student Aid launch a public service campaign?
During this decade, it’s estimated that more than 2 million college-qualified high school students will not earn a college degree because of financial barriers. In addition, the American Council on Education estimates that 1.5 million lower-income students who are already in college would have qualified for grants if they had applied — grants that would make it more likely that they could afford to finish college and reduce or eliminate the need for them to repay loans upon graduation. Consequently, Federal Student Aid wants to make more students, especially minority and first-generation college students, aware that financial aid is available.

This nationwide public service campaign, launched by the U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid, targets students and their families, who need financial assistance to pay for college. It speaks especially to those who might never be able to fulfill their dream of earning an education beyond high school if they don’t secure financial aid.

What media outlets have received the PSAs?
The PSAs have been sent nationwide to 1,700 television and cable stations, 7,500 radio stations, 5,600 newspaper outlets and 2,000 magazines. If you want to see if the media outlets in your area have received the PSAs, go to www.tvaccessreports.com/fsa (the URL is case specific), and select the media and then the U.S. state that you want to review. If a key media outlet in your area has not been sent the PSAs, please contact fedaid@lowassociates.com.

What media outlets will run the PSAs?
The media outlets will run the PSAs based on their available time or space for free advertising and how important they think this cause is to their local community. If you are interested in recommending that your local media run the PSAs, you can go to www.tvaccessreports.com/fsa to identify the media outlets in your area that have received the PSAs and their contact information.

How can I get copies of the PSAs to use for my school’s outreach and media efforts?
All of the PSAs—TV, radio, Web, newspaper and magazine—are posted in a variety of lengths or sizes at www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov/psa. Here, you can download the PSAs for your outreach efforts. If you have any questions about downloading or problems with the files, contact fedaid@lowassociates.com.

Can I post the Web banners on our school Web site?
Yes! We encourage you to select a banner or banners from www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov/psa and post them to your school Web site, with a link to http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov. Feel free to encourage other local Web sites to post them as well.