Governor Phil Murphy recently announced that approximately 13,000 qualifying students will be able to attend one of 13 community colleges, including Warren County Community College, free of tuition and educational fees in the spring semester that starts in January 2019.

All 19 of New Jersey’s community colleges applied to participate in the Community College Innovation Challenge, signaling interest and need across the state. Each one of New Jersey’s community colleges will receive a $250,000 grant for student outreach, recruitment, and support, and to build capacity for future expansion of the program. The selected pilot colleges include institutions from North, Central, and South Jersey.

“Today we are putting the dream of higher education within reach of more students and more families,” said Governor Murphy. “Making community college tuition free will help New Jersey’s young people and working adults earn post-secondary degrees to advance their careers – and it will help build the talented workforce that is the engine of our state’s economy.” 

“We are totally thrilled to have been selected for the pilot program,” said Dr. Will Austin, President of WCCC. “This is a great day for the College, for our students, and for our residents.”

“This grant will provide thousands of dollars in savings for students who otherwise might not be able to attend college, as well as those who might be struggling to pay for their education,” added Dr. Phil Linfante, Chair of the WCCC Board of Trustees. “Our team at the College worked on putting together a comprehensive grant application and clearly their hard work paid off.”

The Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) and the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) jointly reviewed the applications and selected the 13 community colleges where qualifying students can attend tuition- and fee-free in the spring semester of 2019. WCCC is the only community college from the Northwest Region of the state to have been selected.

In its grant application, WCCC highlighted its outstanding retention and graduation rates, robust county dual enrollment program, its elimination of college remediation for nearly all students, and its reduction in graduation credit requirements. Perhaps most impressive to the selection committee was WCCC’s impending implementation of the Cengage Unlimited book program that will greatly reduce the costs of “books” for students as they will now be able to utilize online options.

If all goes well with the pilot program, the goal is to expand it throughout the state and to every community college in the fall of 2019.

Students enrolled at least half time at these 13 pilot community colleges will be eligible to receive “last-dollar” Community College Opportunity Grants (CCOG), which will cover any remaining costs of tuition and approved educational fees after applying all other financial aid grant awards to the student’s account. For the spring 2019 pilot, students coming from families with adjusted gross incomes between $0 and $45,000 will be eligible for CCOG awards. To remain eligible for the program in the future, students will be required to maintain satisfactory academic progress at their college.

“Our hope is that all 19 community colleges will benefit from learnings during this pilot phase,” said Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis, New Jersey’s Secretary of Higher Education. “Every college submitted a unique, thoughtful, and creative application, with many good ideas for increasing access and affordability tailored to the students and communities that each college serves. Each and every college identified students within their communities who could be eligible for assistance through this program, and I hope we are able to learn from the pilot cohort so that we can extend the opportunity to students at every community college come fall 2019.”

“Students across our state will receive support from this crucial funding during the program’s inaugural semester,” noted David J. Socolow, Executive Director of HESAA. “For many students, the net price of community college remains out of reach even after accounting for the financial aid they could receive. Removing the barrier of tuition and educational fees can make the difference that enables students to complete their studies.”

The colleges’ applications were evaluated according to a standardized rubric following the criteria announced in the Notice of Fund Availability posted on July 31, 2018. HESAA estimates that the state will provide CCOG awards to approximately 13,000 students at the 13 selected institutions, in line with the funding level appropriated for this purpose in the state’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget.

Current students who have already completed a financial aid application for the fall 2018 semester will be automatically considered for CCOG eligibility if they enroll at one of the 13 pilot institutions for at least six credits in the spring 2019 semester. Students at one of these pilot community colleges who have not yet filed for financial aid for academic year 2018-2019 will have until February 15, 2019 to apply for CCOG awards by completing the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid and the supplemental New Jersey state questions (https://fafsa.ed.gov/), or by completing the Alternative Application for New Jersey Dreamers (https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/NJAlternativeApplication.aspx).