Hello Readers,

I hope you all enjoyed a snow day or two. Snow days were no excuse for me to slack on my college process. I was accepted to two schools so far which means more forms and papers for me to fill out! I went to a special financial aid night at my caseworker’s office recently and I received a lot of useful information that I want to share with you regarding the ETV (Education and Training Voucher), tuition waiver program and General Chafee Funds.

ETV is money you can apply to receive from the state if you are involved in after-care services with DCYF or DJJS and plan on attending college. ETV can be used for “cost of attendance items” such as tuition and fees, room and board, books, even child care expenses if you have a child that needs to be placed in a day-care setting while you are in class. You can receive a maximum of $5,000 a year while in college, and you do have to re-apply for it every year.

To qualify for the tuition waiver for foster children program, a person has to be under the age of 23 and in foster care at the time of their 18th birthday; or adopted from DCYF care; or in an out-of-home placement under the supervision of DJJS at the time of their 17th birthday. You can apply to this program and if accepted, you can have your tuition paid for, but it is important to know that the tuition waiver program only applies to New Hampshire state schools (UNH, Keene State College, Plymouth State University, Granite State College, and all New Hampshire Community Colleges ). Along with ETV, you need to re-apply every year for the tuition waiver program.

Finally there are the General Chafee funds.  These funds are like the ETV program except they cover the cost of things like health insurance, car insurance, assistance with car costs (including purchase and maintenance), and housing when you are not attending college or a vocational program. General Chafee funds also need to be re-applied for every year.

Adhering to deadlines is crucial for all of these programs.  To be eligible for the tuition waiver program you have to complete your FASFA by March 1st unless it is required even earlier by your school.  Keep track of the date it was submitted because you will need to put that information on the tuition waiver form. You will also need to complete the application for NH Charitable Foundation’s scholarships by going to their website: www.nhcf.org. Their online application will be available on their website February 1st.

The ETV and General Chafee applications are completed as one. You will need to submit a 250-500 word essay about your future education goals (Trust me it’s worth your time considering that you may get $5,000!) as well as apply for at least one more scholarship in addition to the ones provided through NH Charitable Foundation and you need to complete the tuition waiver forms. You can access the tuition waiver application by going tohttp://www.nh.gov/postsecondary/financial/index.html or by contacting the DCYF adolescent worker in your area. You will also need to provide a copy of your FASFA (you can fill out your FASFA online by going to www.fasfa.ed.gov) including your EFC (expected family contribution), as well as your financial aid award letter from your college, and a copy of your high school transcript.

I hope this information provided you with more options to help you pay for college. Just remember there is no guarantee that you will receive these funds, and even if you do you will still have additional expenses.  My advice is to start a college savings account now and put some of your earnings into it. And keep applying for scholarships; every little bit helps!

I’m off to finish up these forms,
Meryssa