The Class of 2024 has an opportunity to have their first two years of college free at Riverland Community College through a new scholarship. It’s called the Freeborn County Community Promise Scholarship and, for those who are eligible, it will cover remaining tuition after financial aid has been awarded.
“This is the first class to really take advantage of it,” said Janelle Koepke, the Dean of Institutional Advancement. “We really hope to continue if it’s successful.”
A similar scholarship has been put in place at their Austin campus for the past five years and been successful. The Promise Scholarship is a way to offer Freeborn County students the same opportunities.
The Freeborn County Community Promise Scholarship was created because according to the Riverland website, “Community leaders identified a need to help local students attend Riverland” and “this scholarship encourages students to explore careers right here in our community where they can make a difference for our local workforce.”
“It’s a really helpful way to give students access to a post-secondary after high school education,” said Koepke.
To qualify for the scholarship applicants need to be a Freeborn county resident and graduate from one of the Freeborn county high schools. They also need to have one of the following qualifiers: a 2.5 grade point average, an ACT score of 18, ASVAB score of 31, and a MCA reading of 1042, or a MCA math score of 1132.
For this scholarship, students need to be enrolled at Riverland and complete the FAFSA or DREAM Act. Students can be eligible for up to three years after graduating high school. According to the Riverland website, “The Freeborn County Community Promise Scholarship is applied as last dollar/GAP funding for students. The scholarship will pay remaining tuition after state and federal grants and other scholarships have been applied to student accounts. Because of this, each student is expected to complete the FAFSA to receive the scholarship. Other sources of funding apply to the student’s tuition balance first and this scholarship makes up the difference.”
According to Koepke, students can attend any of the programs, up to 65 credits, and on any of the Riverland Campuses which include Owatonna, Austin and Albert Lea. Riverland makes it easy to transfer credits after completing their two year programs.
“Riverland has many articulation agreements with other colleges that guarantee credits will transfer,” said Patty Hemanns, Director of Financial Aid at Riverland. “They also have the ability to transfer to any private or out of state school, that’s obviously at the discretion of that college, but we have seen students very successfully transfer all their credits to other colleges.”
If you’re interested in going to Riverland and would like more information, there will be representatives in the front office every other Monday and Wednesday.