Do you think college is
beyond your reach, or a certificate in a growth field is too expensive? In a forum Wednesday
sponsored by the Center for Cooperative Media, the head of the state’s Higher
Education Student Assistance Authority, David Socolow, outlined various ways to
get ahead with the help of state grants, scholarships, or loans. They
contribute to the state’s goal of ensuring that 65% of adults ages 25 to 64
have a high-quality degree or credential after high school by 2025. I need training for a good
job. Thanks to donations totaling
$5 million from eight companies and $7.5 million in state funds, the Pay it
Forward revolving loan fund pays for job training that is often not fully
funded by other financial aid. Socolow called the program
ground-breaking. “We believe future private sector companies will say I want to
put my philanthropic dollars into this,” he said. Low-income residents can be
trained in cyber-security at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, nursing at
Hudson County Community College, or in clean energy jobs like welding and HVAC
positions at Camden County Community College. They receive no-interest
loans to cover the training, and they pay back a small percentage of their
income, with no interest building up and no payments due during periods of
unemployment. The bulk of the loan is forgiven after five years of consistent
repayment efforts. “If they don’t succeed, they
don’t owe anything, but if they get a good job, they get an affordable
repayment plan, and the debt never grows,” he said. I want to go to community
college tuition-free. Since 2019, for families with
income up to $65,000, the Community College Opportunity Grant covers tuition
and mandatory standard fees. About 40% of students in the state’s 18 community
colleges meet that cutoff. The state provides whatever is not covered by
federal Pell grants and other aid. Students in families earning $65,000 to
$80,000 pay half tuition. Between 12,000 and 13,000 students receive these
grants a year at a cost to the state of $27 million. I want to attend a
four-year public college or university in New Jersey. Starting this fall, the New
Jersey Garden State Guarantee provides eligible community college graduates
tuition for their third and fourth years, to receive a bachelor’s degree. It’s
free for students whose families make up to $65,000, who make up about 45% of
students at state colleges and universities. College is effectively half-price
for students with families earning $65,000-$80,000, meaning almost two-thirds
of students receive some Garden State Guarantee aid. In addition, Rutgers’ Scarlet
Promise program provides tuition discounts for families earning $80,000 to
$100,000. And each year, the Educational Opportunity Fund program provides
funding and services for 13,000 full- and part-time students with significant
financial and educational needs. I need other grants and
scholarships to attend college in New Jersey. The state’s Tuition Aid Grant
program gives grants for tuition worth thousands of dollars to eligible
families attending two- and four-year schools in the state. The program reaches
about 80,000 students a year. The New Jersey STARS merit program provides
funding to students in the top 15% of their high school class, and the
Governor’s Urban Scholarships are available to students in the top 5% of their
classes, in 33 communities. I can afford to attend
school only part-time. Part-time students taking at
least six credits per semester are eligible for the Community College
Opportunity Grant. Thomas Edison State University is dedicated mostly to
programs for adults, and under the 2023 budget, need-based state aid is
available to part-time students there. The Educational Opportunity Fund program
is an option for some part-time students. I maxed out my federal
student loans but need more for tuition. For students whose tuition
exceeds the annual federal student loan caps, the state’s NJCLASS loans offer
lower interest rates than the federal government’s Parent PLUS supplemental
loans. Certain NJCLASS loans carry a 3.75% interest rate, compared to 7.54% on
a Parent PLUS loan. Families must make at least $40,000 a year and have at least
a 670 credit score to qualify. Tax-free bonds, not taxpayer money, support the
loan program, and New Jersey students who attend school out of state are
eligible. I’m in a profession the state
needs, and I need help paying back my student loans. Through loan redemption
programs, New Jersey will pay off a certain number of years of student debt for
eligible doctors, nurses in high-need areas, nursing faculty, social workers,
pediatric psychologists and psychiatrists, and teachers in high-need fields or
school districts. I earned some college
credits ages ago and want to finish a degree. This year, the Office of the
Secretary of Higher Education’s budget includes a $3 million “Some College, No
Degree” program to find, recruit, support, and mentor approximately 800,000
state residents who want to return to college. “They may have barriers, like
what their status may be with the school they left, and, frankly, their
concerns about whatever it was that may have been challenging them when they
stopped out,” Socolow said, preferring that term to the more permanent “dropped
out.” “They stop, and they come back.”
My immigration status is
undocumented, and I want to go to college. Federal financial aid is not
available for people with undocumented immigrant status, but they can fill out
a state alternate application for financial aid. College aid is available to
eligible undocumented people who went to a New Jersey high school for at least
three years, graduated, and still live in the state. They qualify for the
Community College Opportunity Grant and Garden State Guarantee if their
families earn less than certain amounts.
I want to start saving for
my kids to go to college. The NJ BEST 529 College
Savings Plans help families save for college without being taxed by the state
or federal governments on the interest such accounts accrue. Thanks to the
College Affordability Act of 2021, for families with income under $75,000, the
state will match their first 529 contribution up to $750. In addition,
contributions to 529s are deductible when computing state income tax. Students
with 529s get a one-time $3,000 scholarship if they go to a college in-state.
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