UCC Scholars to offer free tuition for fall 2014
High school graduates in the UCC district who meet GPA eligibility now have an opportunity to receive a free community college education.
The UCC Scholars program, coming next fall, will grant free tuition to top local in-district students graduating from high school who attend UCC. These students must have a cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.5 or higher as of the first semester of their final year of high school.
Home school students would need to have a 23 or higher ACT score or a minimum SAT score of 1000.
Those attending UCC under this program must enroll full time with 15 to 19 credits per term and maintain continued enrollment (summer is optional). Students must also maintain a GPA of 3.25 or higher while attending UCC.
Recipients must also take placement tests for writing and math and qualify into at least WR 115 and MTH 95 (or higher).
Recipients will be expected to serve the community as a requirement.
“We would like to see 10 hours of community service each term of the tuition waiver,” Rick Aman, vice president for student services, said to UCC’s board of trustees. Participation is expected to be flexible (not limited to specific organizations), although the college could help a UCC Scholar to find service options.
The UCC Scholars program will also be offered to veterans who fail to qualify for full military benefits.
While a program which offers free tuition can appear costly to the college, Aman assured the board of trustees this was not the case.
“This is not a costly program, and we really have a moderate amount of budget and tuition waivers at this institution, and many of these dollars are not allocated yet,” Aman said to the trustee board.
According to Aman, UCC Scholars is following similar ideas done by other community colleges which have attempted free tuition programs.
While the idea of free tuition has only begun to be looked at statewide, UCC will begin offering free tuition in just seven months, when the success of the program can begin to be measured.
“I think this is going to greatly benefit this institution,” Aman said.