Some Pearl River Community College students who are looking for a way to help cover their tuition are in luck.
PRCC students who are residents of Forrest County, Hancock County or the City of Hattiesburg are eligible for additional help through the County Tuition Assistance Program (CTAP.)
The program is a partnership between PRCC and local counties to provide financial support to cover the cost of regular tuition to attend PRCC. CTAP is made possible through support from County and City Officials from the City of Hattiesburg, Forrest County, and Hancock County.
“The county tuition assistance program has been a great asset to students who need assistance paying for tuition and may not qualify for other programs,” said Director of Business Services Laura Chisolm. “This program has been extremely beneficial to students and helped reduce their student debt.”
CTAP will cover the current cost of tuition per semester for up to a maximum of four consecutive semesters (excluding summer school.) Federal, state, and institutional scholarship aid that is awarded to a student will be applied first. Then CTAP funds will be applied to the remaining tuition balance. Non-tuition related expenses such as fees, supplies, books, and room and board are not covered by CTAP.
HOW TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR CTAP FUNDS
The first step for eligibility is to apply for PRCC including taking the National ACT or Accuplacer Test and completing the federal aid process including the FASFA and any required verification process.
Then the student must apply for state financial aid including MTAG, HELP, MESG, etc. at msfinancialaid.org. The deadline for HELP is March 31 and the other programs have a September 15 deadline. They must also apply for PRCC Foundation Scholarships through RiverGuide by April 1.
Finally, the student must enroll full-time (15 credit hours) at PRCC for the fall semester immediately after graduating high school or earning their high school equivalency certificate. Anyone who entered the military upon graduating high school will be excluded from this enrollment timeline requirement.
Continuation of CTAP assistance requires the student to pass a minimum of 15 hours per semester with a 2.0 GPA. Once eligibility is lost it cannot be reinstated.
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