Eligible students can attend NC community colleges for free

As the calendar year comes to a close, high school students are in the process of making their plans for high school. Many will spend the next few months filling out the FAFSA, writing admissions essays and applying for scholarships.

One scholarship in particular, the Next NC Scholarship, provides thousands of dollars to eligible students across the state and even covers tuition and fees for eligible students attending one of North Carolina’s 58 community colleges.

Read on to find out more about the scholarship, who is eligible and how to apply.

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What is Next NC?

The Next NC Scholarship covers tuition and fees at any community college in North Carolina for students from families earning $80,000 per year or less. If interested in attending college, students can receive at least $5,000 toward tuition and fees at any of the 16 UNC system schools.

The scholarship combines the federal Pell Grant with the federally funded financial aid program to provide simplified and predictable scholarship awarding. All that is required to apply is completing a FAFSA form.

The scholarship was created through a collaboration between the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, the North Carolina Community College System and the University of North Carolina System. State funding comes in part from the NC Education Lottery.

How much money is available?

Scholarships worth several thousand dollars are available for many students. Community college students can receive at least $3,000, which is more than the cost of full-time tuition at one of the 58 community colleges across the state. This means that eligible students can have 100% of their entire tuition and fees covered by the scholarship. In addition to tuition and fees, the scholarship can also be used for books, food, housing, and other educational expenses.

Students attending a public university in North Carolina can receive a scholarship of at least $5,000. That amount would cover more than half of the tuition and fees at any of the 16 public universities across the state.

You can use the Next NC scholarship calculator to find out how much you could potentially receive.

Who is eligible?

To receive the Next NC Scholarship you must:

• A North Carolina resident eligible for in-state tuition
• A high school graduate (high school equivalent graduates are eligible)
• From a household with an annual adjusted gross income (AGI) of $80,000 or less
• Enrolled in an appropriate undergraduate curriculum program
• Taking at least six credit hours per semester (part-time students receive a partial scholarship)
• Meeting the satisfactory academic progress standards of the school you wish to attend
• A student who has completed the FAFSA and whose Student Aid Index (SAI) is at or below 7,500 (determined upon completion and verified by the financial aid office of the college/university you wish to attend).

All details about the participation requirements can be found here.

How to apply

To apply, students must complete the FAFSA form. If a student is eligible, they will receive the Next NC scholarship without having to fill out any additional forms.

The FAFSA form can be found here.

Alli Lindenberg

Alli Lindenberg is Associate Director of Engagement for EducationNC.