These students are primarily native Pacific Islanders and from low-income families.
The funding was provided by the College Access Challenge Project, or CACP, a federally funded program, NMC President Carmen Fernandez said.
Each scholarship grant ranges from $750 to $1,500 and will be distributed for the Fall 2009 semester to help first-year college students from low-income families.
In addition to providing need-based scholarships to high school juniors, seniors, and first-year college students, the CACP also expanded its existing student support services and activities available within the community.
These include the “Unlock the Mysteries of Financial Aid,” which hosted 285 students for an evening of presentations and workshops to increase their awareness of financial aid for college, Fernandez said.
Other events sponsored by the CACP to prepare students for college included the NMC information sessions, the Senior Start Smart Seminars, the Cash for College, the presentations by CACP student ambassadors as well as outreach counselors at public high schools.
The CACP is administered and supported by NMC’s dean of community programs and services, the director of counseling programs and services, two outreach counselors, and academic tutors who also serve as the program’s ambassadors.
To be eligible for the scholarship, a students has to be a high school junior, senior, or a first-year college student with no more than 30 credits.
He or she must be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S., or a citizen of the Freely Associated States.
He or she must demonstrate eligibility for the high school free meal or reduced meal program, federal PELL grant or provide other proof of low-income status, and be admitted to and enrolled as a student at NMC.
