Hogan Signs Legislation That Offers Free College Tuition
Hogan Signs Community College Promise Scholarship Legislation
A bill signed by Gov. Larry Hogan Tuesday aims to make college more affordable for residents.
Dozens of lawmakers gathered in Annapolis as Hogan signed the Near Completers and Maryland Community College Scholarships bill into law, which allocates $15 million per year in need based tuition aid for eligible students.
The scholarship program begins in fall of 2019 and requires students to access all other eligible financial aid before Maryland’s College Promise scholarship funds of up to $5,000 per year are awarded. Recipients must work in Maryland one year for each year of scholarship awarded, or the scholarships convert to loans and must be repaid, according to a news release.
To qualify, applicants must enroll full-time in a community college for a vocational certificate, a credit certificate, or an associate degree, within two years of graduating high school or completing a GED; have a high school GPA of 2.3 or higher; and an annual adjusted gross income of not more than $100,000 if the applicant is single or resides in a single-parent household, or $150,000 if applicant is married or resides in a two-parent household.
“This visionary legislation demonstrates that the legislature heard us when we said that for our students, poverty, not aptitude, ability or aspiration, is the number one barrier to a degree,” said Dr. DeRionne Pollard, president of Montgomery College. “It interrupts a discouraging reality: that only eight percent of people in the lowest economic tier earn a bachelor’s degree within six years. Radical inclusion has long been a practice at Montgomery College and this legislation is a policy that will promote it throughout the State of Maryland.”
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