500 applied for state scholarship to attend ACC
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ALPENA -- Alpena Community College officials say it's not too late for essential workers to sign up for the state's Future for Frontliners scholarship program.
Those interested in applying have until Dec. 31 to do so.
Futures for Frontliners offers essential workers to apply for free college tuition if they have not earned a degree, have worked in an essential industry at least part-time for 11 of the 13 weeks between April 1 to June 30, among other requirements.
"There's still lots of time for people to still sign up," ACC Director of Admissions Mike Kollien said. "Even the people who sign up and are eligible for the Frontliners program, they can start their education any time in 2021."
Kollien said scholarship recipients don't have to start college in the spring semester. He said those recipients could choose to start college in the summer or fall semester, instead, but still have to apply for the program by the end of the month.
ACC Director of Financial Aid Rob Roose said more than 500 essential workers who applied for the Futures for Frontliners want to attend Alpena Community College. Of those, Roose said 156 applicants were eligible for the program.
Kollien said there are currently 87 students in the scholarship program who will attend the college in the spring -- 17 are new students, 13 are readmissions, and 57 are students currently enrolled at the college.
He said the newly registered students are enrolling in a number of programs, including nursing, criminal justice, utility technology, electrical apprenticeship, business, and computer science. He said a lot of the programs students are signing up for are either a one-year certificate program or a two-year degree.
More than 85,000 essential workers have applied for the Futures for Frontliners scholarships statewide since the program's launch in September, according to a state press release issued in November.
The online application is available at michigan.gov/Frontliners.
Frontline workers include health care workers, energy sector workers, food and agriculture workers, journalists, and others.