Financial Aid
NJ STARS
NJ STARS provides Salem County’s highest achieving students with free tuition at Salem Community College. If you graduate in the top 20 percent of your high school class, you are eligible for the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship (NJ STARS).
NJ STARS will cover tuition (up to 15 credits per semester) and approved fees for up to five semesters at Salem Community College.
To qualify for the NJ STARS scholarship, you must have attended at least your entire senior year at a New Jersey high school and graduated in the top 20 percent of your class.
Each year, you must apply for all need- and merit-based financial aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by the established deadlines.
To qualify, students also must:
- Enroll in an associate degree program at Salem Community College,
- Eligible students have up to two years from the date of high school graduation to enroll and begin using the NJ STARS scholarship at Salem Community College, provided they did not attend more than one semester at another educational institution. This means that students may attend their first semester at another college, then transfer to SCC, and use the NJ STARS scholarship.
- Take at least 12 college-level credits each semester and
- To continue the scholarship in their sophomore year, students must hold a 3.0 or higher grade point average at the beginning of the fall semester. NJ STARS funding is limited to a maximum of five semesters.
The NJ STARS program has gotten even better!
Through NJ STARS II, a community college student who has earned an associate degree through the NJ STARS program and achieved at least a 3.0 grade point average may be eligible to receive free tuition at a New Jersey four-year public college or university. Community college credits will be fully transferable, allowing the students to begin at the four-year institution as juniors.
For more information about NJ STARS, call Salem Community College's Financial Aid Office at (856) 351-2699or e-mail info@salemcc.edu or visit the NJ STARS Web site.
