That's a wrap.

Leslie Ricciardelli, the former principal of Lely High, says parents really need to get to know their student's high school counselor. They have access to their class schedules, teachers, information about college and financial aid.

Question: How likely is it to obtain an athletic scholarship?

Christopher Smith, director of high school counseling for the district, says that less than 2 percent of students nationally obtain these scholarships.

Audience question: Since most of the student loan programs deffer interests until after graduation, does it make sense to borrow if you don't have to pay as you go?

Jorge Lopez-Rosado, director of financial aid at FGCU, says he tries to promote student loans as a last resource.

He says subsidized loans, which don't accrue interest as long as the student is enrolled full time, are a great benefit. But, borrowing can snowball and students may not be able to pay before interest kicks in.

"The last thing that you need is to graduate ... and all of a sudden you realize that you borrowed 20,000 dollars and had no idea," Lopez-Rosado said.

Here's a snippet from last week's story:

Troy Miller, a senior researcher with the network, has studied FAFSA completion data since it became available in 2012.

Miller said that in looking for indicators that could predict how likely students are of attending college, FAFSA completion delivered a surprise.

"We took FAFSA completion rates and 16 other variables, and put them into a predictive formula. It showed that FAFSA completion is the strongest predictor for whether students are going to college," Miller said.

"It seems that we can say for certain in 2016 that if you have a plan to go to college, you have to have a plan for how to pay for it."

A question from the Naples Daily News site: Are there any financial benefits to taking advanced placement/Cambridge AICE courses in high school? Leslie Ricciardelli says that if students pass the corresponding exams, many colleges will offer college credits for those classes -- which means less money out of the student's pocket. Click here to see how Florida Gulf Coast University, for example, handles Advanced Placement scores and college credits.

Students who earn a Cambridge AICE Diploma qualify for the highest-value Bright Futures scholarship from the state of Florida.

Yolanda Flores, director post secondary, adult and community education, talks about Lorenzo Walker Technical College's programs. Many of these you can complete in a year, she says.

Here is a list of tonight's panelists:

Eileen Connolly-Keesler
President/CEO, Community Foundation of Collier County

Yolanda Flores
Administrative Director, Post Secondary, Adult and Community Education

Jorge Lopez-Rosado
Director of Student Financial Services, Florida Gulf Coast University

Troy Miller
Senior Researcher & Policy Analyst, Florida College Access Network

Leslie Ricciardelli
Executive Director of Secondary Programs, Collier County Public Schools

Christopher Smith
Coordinator of School Counseling 9-12,
Collier County Public Schools

Jessica Tucker
Champions For Learning

Townhall on funding students' higher education goals is starting now. Collier Schools Superintendent Kamela Patton is moderating a panel of six experts.