{"id":27942,"date":"2018-08-23T20:13:42","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T00:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2018\/08\/24\/state-launches-additional-financial-aid-program\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:24:02","slug":"state-launches-additional-financial-aid-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/08\/23\/state-launches-additional-financial-aid-program\/","title":{"rendered":"State Launches Additional Financial Aid Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/08\/201808-040-Fall-Financial-Aid-Instagram-graphic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-18642\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/08\/201808-040-Fall-Financial-Aid-Instagram-graphic-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>This fall, students heading to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\">Northern Essex Community College<\/a>, as well as the 14 other Massachusetts community colleges, may be eligible for additional financial aid. This includes part-time students.<\/p>\n<p>The money could fully cover the cost of tuition and fees, thanks to a boost in financial aid funding proposed by the Baker-Polito Administration and included in the state\u2019s FY19 budget, which was recently enacted by the legislature and signed by Baker.<\/p>\n<p>The new MassGrant Plus represents the first significant expansion of the state\u2019s signature financial aid program in more than two decades. It\u2019s not too late to apply for financial support even though the fall semester begins Wednesday, Sept.5.<\/p>\n<p>The $7.5 million in additional funding known as the MassGrant Plus will provide \u201clast dollar\u201d funding to bridge the gap between a low-income community college student\u2019s federal, state, and institutional financial aid awards, and the total cost of tuition and fees.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the MassGrant Plus program will be available to part-time, degree-seeking students, provided they take at least two courses totaling six credits per semester. Currently, 63% of all community college students attend on a part-time basis. Until now, only full-time students were eligible to receive aid through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.edu\/osfa\/programs\/massgrant.asp\">MassGrant<\/a>, which is the largest of more than two dozen state grant, scholarship and waiver programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Northern Essex, nearly 68% of our students are part time,\u201d said Lane Glenn, president of Northern Essex. \u201cIn many cases the students are working one or more jobs, supporting a family, and enrolled in two or more classes. This MassGrant Plus could change their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The additional funding through the MassGrant Plus program effectively triples the amount of state financial aid available to more than 52,000 part-time community college students in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMassGrant Plus is an opportunity to provide critical support for an expanded population of people interested in pursuing the opportunities a community college degree can create,\u201d said Governor Charlie Baker. \u201cWe were pleased to work with the legislature to pass this bill to aid students and increase their likelihood of earning an associate degree or transferring to a four-year institution to earn a bachelor\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRemoving financial barriers to obtaining an education will encourage more low-income students in the Commonwealth to view higher education as an obtainable next step in their career,\u201d said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLow-income, first-generation college students are disproportionately represented at community colleges, and due to financial pressures, the least likely to earn degrees and certificates on time or at all,\u201d Education Secretary James Peyser said. \u201cThese additional scholarships will make it possible for many students to complete their degree, and not carry tremendous amounts of debt as they transfer to a four-year institution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very pleased that Governor Baker and the legislature are moving so decisively to invest in our community college students,\u201d said Carlos E. Santiago, Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that with increased financial assistance we\u2019ll see more students able to complete their degree programs and move into good jobs or continue on to earn bachelor\u2019s degrees at four-year colleges and universities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Students who are eligible for MassGrant Plus could see a substantial increase in the amount of financial aid they receive. On an annual basis, tuition and fees for full-time students at a Massachusetts community college averaged $6,304 during the last fiscal year.\u00a0That total is expected to increase by an average of 3-4% in the upcoming academic year.<\/p>\n<p>Along with meeting certain income requirements, MassGrant Plus recipients must also complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by an extended deadline of November 1.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on Massachusetts financial aid programs and a complete listing of the state\u2019s public colleges and universities, please visit<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.edu\"> www.mass.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For additional information on NECC financial aid\u00a0call 978 556-3700, email sfs@necc.mass.edu or visit the college\u2019s financial aid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/afford\/financial-aid\">website.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This fall, students heading to Northern Essex Community College, as well as the 14 other Massachusetts community colleges, may be eligible for additional financial aid. This includes part-time students. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":27933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>State Launches Additional Financial Aid Program - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/08\/23\/state-launches-additional-financial-aid-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Launches Additional Financial Aid Program - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This fall, students heading to Northern Essex Community College, as well as the 14 other Massachusetts community colleges, may be eligible for additional financial aid. 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