TOMS RIVER, NJ — Qualifying students will be able to attend Ocean County College free of tuition and educational fees starting in January under a pilot program Gov. Phil Murphy announced Thursday.

OCC was one of 13 community colleges in New Jersey chosen for the Community College Innovation Challenge, which is expected to assist about 13,000 students across the state. The pilot program includes a $250,000 grant from the state to OCC to get the program started, and it will receive funding for the program as well, Ocean County College officials said in a news release.

The program will be jointly administered by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education and the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority. Students enrolled at least half time will be eligible to receive "last-dollar" Community College Opportunity Grants that will cover any remaining costs of tuition and approved educational fees after applying all other financial aid grant awards to the student's account.

For the spring 2019 pilot, students coming from families with adjusted gross incomes between $0 and $45,000 will be eligible for for CCOG awards. To remain eligible for the program in the future, students will be required to maintain satisfactory academic progress at their college. "Ocean County College is absolutely delighted and enthusiastic to be a recipient of a Community College Opportunity Grant award," the college said in the news release. "The grant will provide eligible Ocean County citizens, who may not have the financial means to pay for college, the opportunity to attend Ocean County College for free."



Current students who have already completed a financial aid application for the fall 2018 semester will be automatically considered for CCOG eligibility if they enroll for at least six credits in the spring 2019 semester.



Students who have not yet filed for financial aid for academic year 2018-2019 will have until February 15, 2019 to apply for CCOG awards 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. (https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/NJAlternativeApplication.aspx).



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