The Hope Scholarship

Here’s good news for Colorado high school seniors!

If you are a Colorado high school senior about to graduate and you need help paying for your first two years of college, Northeastern has a great offer for you! It’s called the Hope Scholarship.  Here’s who’s eligible and how it works.

• No application is necessary for this scholarship. A submitted FAFSA and transcripts from the 6th, 7th, or 8th semesters will be required.
• Colorado students must have a 3.0 cumulative gpa at any time during their senior year to be eligible for this scholarship.
• For those students living in the designated service area of Northeastern Junior College (the following counties: Logan, Sedgwick, Yuma, Phillips and Washington, as determined by the Colorado Community College System) you need only have a 2.5 cumulative gpa to be eligible for this scholarship***.

Okay, so you’re wondering why the discrepancy? While students come to Northeastern from all over Colorado, the nation and the world, these Hope scholarships are being funded by private donations. The majority of the contributors reside in NJC’s five county area, so students living here are naturally provided a slight advantage. It’s still a great deal for every Colorado high school senior who qualifies.

Here’s what the Hope Scholarship pays for if you qualify

• Up to 9 credits per semester (fall and spring semesters only) your freshman year*** 
• Up to 6 credits per semester (fall and spring semesters only) your sophomore year***

***PELL GRANT AND OTHER NEED-BASED GRANT RECIPIENTS may or may not be eligible for a partial NJC Hope scholarship award dependent on the amount of grant money received. Please see the Q and A section on this issue. 

Another way to look at this is that the Hope Scholarship will pay for up to 18 credit hours your freshman year and 12 credits your sophomore year, or a total of 30 credits which represents up to half of the cost of a two year associate’s degree which takes 60 credits to earn. Please note that a credit hour at NJC runs approximately $80 per credit (with COF assistance), so the value of this scholarship would be up to $1,440 (18 x $80= $1,440) your freshman year and $960 (12 x $80=$960) your sophomore year for a total value of approximately $2,400 over two years.

And guess what. If you don’t graduate in two years, this scholarship will continue to help you by paying the sophomore scholarship (up to six credits per semester) for up to four additional semesters so long as you stay academically eligible!