A four-part higher education planning seminar presented by the Southern Ohio Educational Service Center and facilitated by Journey College will be held at the Hopewell Center in Hillsboro on Feb. 7, March 29, April 25 and May 4.

The program, called “This is Where it Starts!” is free, and middle school and high school students, as well as parents, grandparents, guardians, teachers, counselors and administrators are encouraged to attend.

Among others, topics covered in the sessions include financial planning, career coaching and finding the right program.

“They’ll do a career survey, and based upon those survey results they’ll coach those students in regard to what the survey reveals as interests and abilities that pertain to a specific career area,” said Kim Adams, a program coordinator with the Southern Ohio Educational Service Center.

Adams encouraged anyone who would like to support a student in the success of their future education and career goals to attend.

Adams said the program is not just for potential college students. Those planning to pursue technical or professional training are also encouraged to attend.

“They don’t have to be on a college track,” she said. “If they want to do heating and cooling [for example], Journey will then work with them and coach them about how to obtain the training that is necessary for heating and cooling, and then one of the sessions will be focused on the financial planning aspect of it.”

Tools for success is one of the seminar topics. “We want to make sure that they have the tools to be equipped to follow their dreams, whatever those may be, and come away from those trainings without being financially strapped or in debt,” said Adams.

One part of the financial planning section of the training covers 529 plans which are tax-advantaged investment vehicles designed to encourage saving for higher education expenses. “They’ll talk about how grandparents or relatives can set up these accounts and how they can move them and transfer them to other students who could use them,” said Adams.

Students anywhere from seventh grade to high school seniors are welcome to the program. “We would hope that they would even consider starting in middle school, but it’s never too late because we want to make sure that even those students that are seniors this year know that there’s something they’ll be able to take away from attending these sessions,” said Adams.

Adams said available scholarships will be covered in the classes. “The night they talk about financial planning, they’ll talk about scholarships, so maybe they will learn of a new scholarship that they hadn’t thought of before,” she said.

Adams she would have liked to participate in the program for her children. “There are so many things that we would have done as parents to support them that we would have done differently had we have known, and I hope parents take advantage of it because it’s a free wonderful opportunity,” she said.

Adams can be reached at 937-344-6113 for more information about the program.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.