Camden County College To Offer Free Tuition In January

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Camden County College has been selected as one of 13 community colleges statewide that will be able to offer free tuition to some of their students as part of a pilot program. The Community College Innovation Challenge will take effect in January at the school, according to college officials.

Students with adjusted gross incomes between $0 and $45,000 and who are enrolled at least half time at Camden County College in the spring will be eligible to receive “last-dollar” CCOG grants. The grants cover remaining costs of tuition and approved education fees after all other financial aid grant awards have been applied. Students must maintain satisfactory academic progress to remain eligible.

All 19 of the state’s community colleges applied for the program. The proposals were jointly reviewed by Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) and the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA). To become eligible, schools had to meet criteria that was announced in the Notice of Fund Availability in July.

Now that it has been selected for the program, Camden County College will receive a $250,000 grant for student outreach, recruitment, and support, and further expansion. Camden County College will help develop programs that would enable the program to be implemented statewide.

“Camden County College appreciates the commitment from the state to provide financial support to our most needy students,” College President Donald Borden said. “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.”

Initially, HESAA estimates that about 13,000 students throughout the colleges that were selected will be covered by the grants.

“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,” New Jersey Council of County Colleges President Aaron R. Fichtner, Ph.D. said. “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.”

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