Blackwood, NJ – Governor Phil Murphy announced today that hundreds of students in Camden County and the surrounding area can attend Camden County College free of tuition and educational fees in the spring semester starting January 2019. Camden County College is one of 13 colleges in the state receive this grant, called the Community College Innovation Challenge.
The selected colleges will develop programs to determine best practices for expanding the number of students who can be offered free community college across the state. All 19 of New Jersey’s community colleges applied to participate in the Community College Innovation Challenge. The selected schools colleges will receive a $250,000 grant for student outreach, recruitment, and support, and further expansion.
“Camden County College appreciates the commitment from the state to provide financial support to our most needy students,” said CCC President Donald Borden. “This creates a model in which financial barriers no longer restrict people from getting the post-secondary education they need to be successful in their careers and lives.”
Students with adjusted gross incomes between $0 and $45,000 and who are enrolled at least half time at Camden County College in Spring 2019 will be eligible to receive “last-dollar” CCOG grants, which will cover remaining costs of tuition and approved education fees after all other financial aid grant awards have been applied. Students will be required to maintain satisfactory academic progress to remain eligible.
CCOG Pilot Schools were selected based on proposals that were jointly reviewed by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) and the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA). Proposals were evaluated by a standardized rubric following the criteria announced in the Notice of Fund Availability that was posted in July 2018. HESAA estimates that New Jersey will provide CCOG awards to approximately 13,000 students at the selected pilot schools, in line with the funding level appropriated for this purpose in the state’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget.
“We applaud Governor Murphy’s vision and commitment to expanding college access and affordability, and his belief in community colleges as a solution to help improve the state,” said New Jersey Council of County Colleges President Aaron R. Fichtner, Ph.D. “This pilot program will provide the community colleges the opportunity to learn and collaborate to inform future statewide efforts to expand access to higher education.”
