The Arkansas Department of Higher Education started accepting applications Tuesday for a new grant program aimed at helping students pursuing associate degrees and certificates in high-demand fields, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday.
The deadline for applications is July 1.
Applications for the Arkansas Future Grant scholarship program are available at https://www.ark.org/adhe_financialaid/login.aspx.
The program will cover tuition and fees for eligible students in qualifying associate degree and certificate programs at public higher education institutions and includes requirements for mentoring and community service. Scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. The recipients are required to stay in Arkansas for at least three years after they graduate or to pay back the state for their educations.
About $8.5 million in scholarships is available through the program in the coming school year, said Maria Markham, the higher education director. There won't be a specified maximum grant under the program, but the average tuition and fees for a full-time student at a public two-year or technical school are less than $3,600 per year, she said.
"Through the ArFuture Grant, we are ensuring that all Arkansans have access to affordable higher education," Hutchinson said in a news release. "This will increase our degree and certificate attainment rates by removing the financial hurdles that keep many from enrolling."
The program was created under Act 316 that the Republican governor signed into law March 2. The program will use funds from two programs -- the Workforce Improvement Grant and the Higher Education Opportunities Grant -- that state officials have said had low completion rates.
Asked why the department is seeking applications for the Future Grant program now, Markham said the department's online application had to be updated with additional criteria for scholarship applicants.
Residents are eligible for the program if they have either: graduated from an Arkansas public or private high school or home school; received a state-approved high school equivalency diploma; or resided in Arkansas for three years with a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma from another state. They also are required to be enrolled part-time or full-time at a state higher education institution in a program of study that leads to an associate degree or certification in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, including computer science, or in a regional high-demand field.
Markham said applicants for the Workforce Improvement Grant and Higher Education Opportunities Grant have been notified that the programs have been eliminated. "The WIG [Workforce Improvement Grant] is not renewable so those who received it may now apply for ArFuture. Those students who met continuing eligibility for Go! [the Higher Education Opportunities Grant] will continue to receive that scholarship, but no new students will be accepted into Go!"
The Arkansas Future scholarship program will be the department's third-largest scholarship program beyond the largely lottery-financed Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship that has paid out $84.9 million in scholarships so far in fiscal 2017, which ends June 30, and the Governor's Distinguished Scholarship program that pays out about $15 million to $16 million a year in scholarships, Markham said. The deadline for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship has been extended from June 1 until June 15 because "the application updates took longer than expected," Markham said. "Extending gives students a few extra weeks to make [an] application."
Metro on 05/31/2017