Mercer County Students Can Go To College For Free, Here's How

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — Mercer County students could attend college for free thanks to Mercer County Community College being awarded part of a grant from the state.

Mercer and 12 other institutions of higher learning will share the Community College Opportunity Grant. The money will be awarded to students with household incomes of less than $45,000.

"Today we are putting the dream of higher education within reach of more students and more families," said 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."

The program invests $25 million in community colleges, seeking to ease the burden of paying for college on working class families. A “last dollar” initiative, the program will cover all remaining tuition and fees for students taking six or more credits after any other federal or state grants are applied to their tuition bills.

Mercer students who have already completed a financial aid application for the fall 2018 semester will automatically receive consideration for the program. Students who have not yet filed for financial aid for the 2018-19 academic year will have until Feb. 15, 2019 to apply 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 (hesaa.org/Pages/NJAlternativeApplication.aspx).

The full list of colleges include:

• Atlantic Cape Community College
• Bergen Community College
• Camden County College
• Cumberland County College
• Hudson County Community College
• Mercer County Community College
• Middlesex County College
• Ocean County College
• Passaic County Community College
• Rowan College at Gloucester County
• Salem Community College
• Union County College
• Warren County Community College.

(Image and video via Union County College Owl TV)

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