Officials with Iowa College Aid say they’ve expanded their efforts to increase college access. The new Course to College program is a partnership with Iowa high schools to guide students toward college enrollment. The components are:

Early Awareness: Helping students understand that college is a realistic goal by explaining the benefits of a college degree and the sources of help available.

College Application Campaign: Encouraging high school seniors to apply to at least one college, often with the support of school staff during school hours.

FAFSA Completion Initiative: Emphasizing the importance of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as the gateway to most financial aid for college, and providing staff support during school hours to file the application.

College Decision Day: Holding school and community events to celebrate high school seniors who have chosen to continue their education.

Summer Transition: Ensuring that students who intend to go to college complete the necessary steps to get there, such as accepting a financial aid package, making required deposits, attending orientation, securing housing and enrolling in fall courses.

The Course to College program expands on Iowa College Aid’s former 3-Step Process, which covered the middle three steps. Participating schools receive free training, planning guides, posters and other print materials. Schools can also learn which students have filed a FAFSA.

Iowa College Aid also reminds prospective college students that it’s not too late to enroll for this fall. The FAFSA cycle is open through the 2017-18 academic year, and some colleges offer rolling deadlines—responding to applications as they come in. Students who are considering enrolling in college this fall can order a free student guide from Iowa College Aid, Your Course to College, either in print or via download.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman has been imprisoned for duping dozens of people into buying nonexistent tickets to the Super Bowl and other big events. The Sioux City Journal reports Ranae Van Roekel, of Boyden, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to 51 months. The judge also ordered her to pay nearly $468,000 in restitution. Van Roekel had pleaded guilty to mail and income tax fraud.

Prosecutors say Van Roekel was a self-employed ticket broker who ran the business Get ’em Now Tickets from January 2008 to June 2012. Victims say she falsely claimed to have personal relationships and ties to events that gave her an inside track for deeply discounted tickets, hotel rooms and VIP passes.

Two Union County residents were arrested on Theft charges early this (Friday) morning. According to the Creston Police Department, 19-year old Xavier Lee Long and 26-year old Mark Allen Steinback, both of Creston, were arrested at around 1:30-a.m. at the Creston Wal-Mart Store on charges of Theft in the 2nd Degree. Both men were being held in the Union County Jail on $5,000 bond, each.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Nebraska filmmaker caught up in Iowa’s film tax credits scandal has been acquitted at his third trial. The Des Moines Register reports jurors found Dennis Brouse not guilty Thursday of fraudulent practice. He’d been convicted at two previous trials, but the Iowa Appeals Court overturned both convictions, once because of issues with evidence, once because of faulty jury instruction.

Brouse made public television programs about horse training that aired in Nebraska. He moved his company to Iowa to take advantage of generous tax credits. Iowa suspended the credits program after auditors discovered that $26 million in credits were improperly issued.

Prosecutors accused Brouse of buying a trailer for $10,500, but reporting that it cost twice that much so he could inflate his credits.