Eastern announced a multifaceted financial aid program that is expected to reduce, or offset, tuition and fee costs for qualified Illinois students who enroll.

According to a press release sent out Thursday afternoon, this program ultimately reduces tuition and fees for students of families from all income levels, and in some cases completely offset tuition and fees for students of low-income families with annual adjusted gross incomes of $61,000 or less.

Eastern is able to do this because of a program that was signed into law in August.

It is called the AIM HIGH Grant, which is a new merit-based grant program that was created by the Higher Education Working Group, which is a bipartisan group of legislators “interested in finding common-ground and viable solutions,” this past spring, according to the press release.

As a result, Eastern is establishing three new aid programs in coordination with the grant.

Students who qualify for the scholarships will be eligible to receive AIM HIGH-supported funding for up to four years or eight semesters at Eastern, according to the press release.

Starting with its Fall 2019 incoming class, the funding mechanisms that will be used to help qualified students with AIM HIGH Grant funding according to the press release are:

• EIU Promise

EIU will offset the remaining balance of a student’s tuition and fee costs for resident families demonstrating a family income of $61,000 or less.

• EIU Cost Match

EIU will match the out-of-pocket cost of attendance of any regionally accredited public university in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. To qualify, Illinois students can submit their Financial Aid Award letters from qualifying institutions in those states.   

• EIU Merit Scholarship Bonus

Qualified Illinois students will be eligible to receive at least $2,500 each year through EIU’s renewable scholarship bonus. By combining Merit Scholarship benefits with state-funded AIM HIGH scholarships, qualified EIU students are eligible to earn up to $18,000 in scholarship funding over four years or eight semesters.

Other program qualifications include Illinois residency for the student, Illinois residency for at least one parent identified on the student’s FAFSA and admittance to Eastern as a new, full-time freshman.

Full AIM HIGH scholarship details are available at www.eiu.edu/aimhigh/.

The News staff can be reached at 581-2812 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com.