Tracker's Cost Share Tips: College Fee Waivers

Fee waivers from colleges for students taking college classes can be counted as match. To enter a college class in the Events and Cost Share tracker, create a separate event multi-day event for each student, for each term. Indicate the total number of hours the student attended the college class for that term.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Volunteers

Volunteer time is a great source of cost share. You can find the volunteer pay rate online, updated annually: http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/volunteer_time.html

Feel free to use this volunteer rate for any volunteer who is not a school employee or who is not providing a specialized service, including students. The benefit rate for these volunteers should be 0%. If you already have volunteers listed in the events and cost share tracker, please make sure their wage rate is current.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: New Features!

Based on your feedback, we have added a new feature to the database that allows you to edit multiple individuals at one time. Go to the admin menu, and select “Edit Wages/Benefits Table”. For detailed instructions, please see the Oregon GEAR UP Database Manual.

If you create a new user (someone who can log into the database), and if you also want to use that person’s time for cost share, you will need to add them as an individual as well. For detailed instructions, please see the Oregon GEAR UP Database Manual.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Individuals Who Are "Involved" v. "Served"

When entering an event, there are two sections to show how individuals participated, whether they were INVOLVED with the event, or SERVED by the event. Remember, cost share and service are different.

• The “Cost Share Info” section is used to show individuals who facilitated or volunteered at an event, and how many hours they contributed toward cost share.
• The “POST-EVENT REPORT: Numbers Served” section at the bottom of the event is used to show the number of individuals who were SERVED by the event. Being served means that they benefited from the event whether they were the primary audience or not.
• Someone could be listed in both places if they volunteered during the event and also gained some knowledge about the topic being addressed, etc.

EXAMPLE:

• If a teacher supervises, chaperones, or teaches at an event, but is not served by the event, you would not enter the number of teachers at the bottom of the page, you would only enter their hours for cost share in the cost share info section, if their time counts as cost share.
• If the teacher supervises the event, but is also learning something or receiving another benefit from the event, their time may be counted as both cost share and as receiving service at the bottom of the event page.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Numbers Served by an Event

The “POST-EVENT REPORT: Numbers Served” section at the bottom of an event is used to show the number of individuals who were SERVED by the event. Being served means that they benefited from the event whether they were the primary audience or not. This is separate from whether the individual volunteered at an event for cost share. The number of parents, staff, and community members served by an event are required fields. If no parents, staff, or community members were served by the event, please enter zero, even if those individuals are listed in the cost share info section above.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Forgot Your Password?

If you ever forget your password, click “Forgot Pass Phrase?” on the login page, enter your login name and email address, and click the submit button. The system will reset your password and email you a new temporary password. The email may take a few minutes, but it will come. Go back to the login page, and enter your user name and temporary password. You cut and paste the temporary password directly from the email you receive. You will be asked to create a new password and verify your other information.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Scholarships as Match

You can count scholarships and fee waivers from colleges for seniors as match as long as the money is not from a federal source and is not a scholarship received through the OSAC scholarship application. (GEAR UP already counts the total OSAC scholarship amount for our students as match, and we can’t count it twice.)

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Run a Student Activity Report!

You can run a report to show which events/activities your students participated in, for both active and inactive students. Go to “Reports”, then “Student Activity Report” to run a report for multiple students.

You can also go to the list of students in your school, click view/edit for a certain student’s record, and then click the “Student Services” link just below the student information. That will display a list of all the activities they’ve participated in.

Tracker's Cost Share Tips: Using Student Program Discounts as Match

You may count the amount for any discounts or waived fees for students attending GEAR UP related camps and events as cost share. You can enter that amount and a description under “materials and supplies” in the cost share section of the event. Please check with the camp to make sure GEAR UP is not already sponsoring the cost of students attending the camp; in that case you would not be able to count the discount as match.