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Frontier Community, Lincoln Trail, Olney Central, and Wabash Valley colleges awarded nearly $180,000 to area high school students in the first round of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges’ Priority Deadline Success Scholarships.
IECC Director of Financial Aid Andrea Puckett said the tuition awards demonstrate IECC’s commitment to seeing area students successfully achieve their higher education goals. The scholarships are renewable for up to four semesters — Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, and Spring 2024, not including summer courses.
Initiated last year, the Success Scholarships are tuition awards made available to Community College District 529 high school graduates who have committed to attend the IECC colleges by completing the admissions application and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by the Priority Deadline dates. The FAFSA must have school code 001742 – Illinois Eastern Community Colleges listed.
"With the Priority Deadline, we wanted to strengthen our relationships with the area high schools and our communities,” said Andrea Loll, IECC Director of Enrollment Management. “We want our area high school students to think of IECC as their first choice. At all four colleges, students can earn an associate’s degree, transfer to complete a bachelor’s degree or take a CTE program and go back into the community workforce. The Success Scholarships demonstrate that IECC has the resources to help our area students be successful.”
First-round recipients were notified just prior to Thanksgiving, with 254 students from 18 area high schools receiving Success Scholarships. Student awards by county and total dollar amounts were:
- Clay County, 33 — $24,300
- Crawford County, 49 — $28,500
- Edwards County, 34 — $23,550
- Jasper County, 12 — $9,450
- Lawrence County, 18 — $12,150
- Richland County, 72 — $51,750
- Wabash County, 20 — $12,900
- Wayne County, 9 — $9,450
- White County, 7 — $6,900
“We are seeing good numbers and we’re excited about that,” Puckett said. “As students begin receiving financial aid packets from various institutions, we want to show before the holidays how affordable the IECC colleges can be for families. The Priority Deadline gives us the opportunity to show them just how much money they can save by attending FCC, LTC, OCC or WVC. These are scholarship dollars going to students in our communities and we are hoping to award more aid in the second round.”
The next Priority Deadline is February 25. Students can go to www.iecc.edu/priority to begin the application process. Awards will be announced in mid-March.
Students or parents with questions regarding the Success Scholarships or the FAFSA, should contact FCC, LTC, OCC, and WVC Financial Aid, or visit www.iecc.edu/financial.