Purpose:  The Counselor Participation Fund (CPF) Committee will be responsible for soliciting money from member institutions to provide scholarships to members who have little or no budget for attending the annual SACAC conference, Summer Seminar, or the Advanced Counselor Institute.  The Director will collect applications and make awards based on the criteria below.  The Director of the Counselor Participation Fund will be a SACAC member appointed by the Professional Development Chair to serve a three-year term.Guidelines for Distribution of Counselor Participation Funds

1. 70% of the CPF awards will go to counselors who wish to attend the SACAC annual conference.  30% of the funds will be awarded to participants in Summer Seminar and the Advanced Counselor Institute.  Recipients should be counselors whose school or school systems do not provide funding for such professional development activities.
2. Scholarships may be used for travel, accommodations, and registration fees, depending on need of the recipient.
3. Preference will be given to counselors who are not from schools where scholarships were awarded during the previous year.
4. Preference will be given to counselors who have never attended a SACAC conference.
5. Only one award per school will be granted.  In the case of multiple applications from one school, the award may be split between the applicants.
6. Priority will be given, but not limited to, SACAC members who are public high school counselors; especially those representing traditionally underrepresented students.
7. Persons qualifying as local counselors will not be eligible to receive Counselor Participation funds to attend the annual conference.
8. No one serving on the Counselor Participation Fund Committee will be eligible for scholarship funds.
9. As part of the grant, recipients will be credited for the annual conference fee.
10. No on-site scholarships will be awarded.
11. To be reimbursed, scholarship recipients must submit paid receipts for the annual conference to the Executive Assistant within 30 days of the end of the conference
12. If a recipient is unable to use his/her award, the award cannot be transferred to another conference attendee.  The monies will be returned to the Counselor Participation Fund to be used for Summer Seminar or Advanced Counselor Institute.
13. A counselor may not be awarded a scholarship for both the conference and the Summer Seminar or the Advanced Counselor Institute in the same year, nor will the same counselor be eligible for an award in any two consecutive years.  An exception to this guideline will be for SACAC Board members who work in schools that do not adequately fund attendance at conferences, as it is important for Board members to attend the conference.
14. The committee director will keep yearly records of recipients and monies disbursed and send that information to the Professional Development Chair, the Executive Assistant, and the Treasurer within one month of the conclusion of the annual conference.