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Last year, my union, the Michigan Education Association, partnered with Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio to provide all members a last-dollar scholarship program for free associate's degrees. This is what unions are for - standing together to help all working people succeed.
That program has now expanded and is generally available to union members, union retirees and families of union members. The website even suggests that membership in Working America, an organization for people who work in non-union workplaces, might be eligible.
I think that this is a fantastic program because everybody should have the chance at an affordable college education.
Links:
https://www.unionplus.org/benefits/educa...ee-college
https://www.unionplusfreecollege.org/faqs/
https://www.workingamerica.org/
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I was going to respond to your post about this on the other thread but I didn’t want to hijack with questions =)
Have you gone through this unionplus program to complete another associates degree? Are you allowed to go through it even if you have an associates degre? Lastly, do you know if there is a limit on the amount of courses or degrees that you are able to obtain through this program?
Great post - thanks for sharing that!
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Our band director retired at the end of the last school year and he signed up to work on the accounting associate's degree. He writes music and receives royalties for some TV show intros. I will get in touch with him to see what his experience has been. Basically, this program requires a participant to fill out the FAFSA form. Once financial aid is calculated, the program pays the remaining outstanding tuition cost. Most people working on an associate's degree will have some kind of aid, but not all. I have some thought that I will use this program in the future, but it is still new for our association.
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(09-23-2018, 07:17 PM)eriehiker Wrote: Our band director retired at the end of the last school year and he signed up to work on the accounting associate's degree. He writes music and receives royalties for some TV show intros. I will get in touch with him to see what his experience has been. Basically, this program requires a participant to fill out the FAFSA form. Once financial aid is calculated, the program pays the remaining outstanding tuition cost. Most people working on an associate's degree will have some kind of aid, but not all. I have some thought that I will use this program in the future, but it is still new for our association.
Thanks again for sharing it. I am going to contact them to see if I qualify even though I have my Bachelors degree with you but will have no aid available since the only FAFSA aid post-Bachelors would only be loans. Looks like a good route though for an additional associates in Accounting.
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Wow, this is very interesting. I'm also going to inquire about doing this after I finish my bachelor's. I know it says family of union members and retired union members, does that mean family of retired union members could do it as well?
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09-24-2018, 02:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-24-2018, 02:29 PM by MNomadic.)
I emailed them to ask a few questions and they got back to me pretty quick.
They stated that a family member would need the union member to still be paying dues for it to work(so not a retired deceased person).
They also told me that there is no limit to how many family members can utilize the benefit so someone with lots of kids/grandkids could put them all through college for free.
Also, they said there is no limit to how many associates degrees a student could get but they can only do one at a time(not sure if that's per the union benefits policy or the schools policy).
I also saw in the FAQs that they are working to expand the program to bachelor's degree as well.
Just saw that UFCW(which represents a large portion of retail, grocery and others) has the free college benefit as well. So it would definitely be an option for an 18 year old(or anyone) to get a basic part time job at a grocery store to get their associates payed for.
https://www.ufcwfreecollege.org
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I couldn’t find information in any of the links about Working America members being eligible. I don’t have a union in my area, but I wouldn’t mind joining Working America for the free degrees.
Could you tell me where you found the info or let me know if you got some confirmation on this?
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(09-24-2018, 04:26 PM)Tedium Wrote: I couldn’t find information in any of the links about Working America members being eligible. I don’t have a union in my area, but I wouldn’t mind joining Working America for the free degrees.
Could you tell me where you found the info or let me know if you got some confirmation on this?
When I was filling out the more information form there were options to select which union you're associated with. Working America was not an option, however AFL CIO was. Working America is associated with AFL CIO so maybe it's doable. I would just shoot them a quick phone call or email. They replied to my first question in less than 10 minutes, so you should get your answer quick.
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I e-mailed them and I'll update here when I get a response.
My guess is that it will not work because you don't have to pay dues to join Working America. That's just a guess, though.
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(09-24-2018, 05:36 PM)Tedium Wrote: I e-mailed them and I'll update here when I get a response.
My guess is that it will not work because you don't have to pay dues to join Working America. That's just a guess, though.
What was the email address? I couldn’t find it on their website. Thank you.
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