CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- It's no question that paying for college can be expensive. That's why hundreds of students across the state took advantage of 'College Goal Sunday' to find out how they can get some help paying those bills.

Geoffrey Cavender is about to graduate from the Putnam County Career and Technical Center, and has dreams of becoming a structural engineer.

"A game that I used to play on the computer, Rollercoaster Tycoon, got me interested in designing things," Cavendar said. "I thought it was really fun so it kind of went from there and became my idea for a career to design things."

Cavender wants to go to West Virginia Technical College to further his education, but says coming up with the money is stressful.

"It's pretty worrisome," Cavendar said. "It gets you wondering about everything. How you're going to play everything out and what you're going to do."

Geoffrey's Mother, Dale Jane, jumped at the chance to get some free help obtaining funds to help her son achieve his dreams.

"The economy is really bad right now, and any money we can come up with and find is going to be real helpful," Dale Jane Cavender said.

The Cavenders are just one with hundreds of others families across the state meeting with financial aid experts. Officials with West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission say they're looking to reverse the thought that there's no financial help for those heading off to college.

"People hear other people talk saying that college is so expensive, and there is no resources," Judy Kee Smith with the Higher Education Policy Commission said. "But there are resources and that's what we're here to do. "To let them know what is out there, what they're applying for and how to go about it."

For the Cavender family, it's opening doors to help finance Geoffrey's education.

"If you really want to go to college, something like this is really helpful," Geoffrey said.

College Goal Sunday officials say they saw a 50% increase in students who registered for Sunday's event compared to 2011. The event was sponsored by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.