Louisiana has 18 public colleges and universities, including McNeese State University. All of these public colleges and universities offer various forms of student financial aid which includes school grants in Louisiana. There are 10 independent colleges and universities in Louisiana, including Our Lady of the Holy Cross. Louisiana also has 9 community colleges, including Baton Rouge Community College. And last but not least, Louisiana has various technical colleges. All of these academic institutions in Louisiana offer various forms of financial aid for the college-bound or for already-enrolled college students.
The Louisiana State Firemen’s Association (LSFA) offers up to an $8,000 grant for an associate’s degree student or up to a $16,000 grant for a bachelor’s degree student for those students who agree to serve as a volunteer fireman in Louisiana after they graduate.
If you plan to get a degree in forestry, wildlife, or marine science in Louisiana, then you may be eligible to receive a cumulative award of $7,000 for up to five years of study towards your bachelor’s degree and for up to two years as a graduate student, with a breakdown of $1,000 awarded each year. If you don’t actually get the degree aforementioned above, then you will have to repay the funds including interest. Every year, about 60 students (new and renewal) get awards totaling $60,000 set aside from funds from the state of Louisiana. The awards are based on merit. You must fill out the FAFSA form to be eligible, and you must also apply for federal grant aid at the same time through this FAFSA form.
You need to have a 2.5 high school GPA and a score of 20 or higher on the ACT. You must be a U.S. Citizen or national and permanent resident of Louisiana. If you are a graduate student, you must maintain a 3.0 GPA in graduate school. Applications for the Rockefeller State Wildlife Scholarship can be downloaded at: http://www.osfa.state.la.us/ROCKEFELLER.pdf (LOFSA, 2010).
To apply for a Pell Grant in Louisiana, fill out the FAFSA form. Pell Grants awards are up to $5,710 in Louisiana.
Additionally, to apply for a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) in Louisiana, you also need to fill out the FAFSA from. The grant amount is between $100 and $4,000 per year and it is need-based.
The Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) in Louisiana is for freshman ($750 award for that year) or sophomore students (up to $1,300 for that year) at college. To be able to get this grant, you also need to fill out the FAFSA.
If you are a sophomore, junior, or senior studying and enrolled in science, engineering, math, or a critical foreign language, then you may be able to get up to $4,000 for each of the junior and senior years of your program. And you can get $4,000 for one graduate year of study. You need a 3.0 GPA in college to be eligible.
You can get a TEACH grant in Louisiana which offers $4,000 per year as a full-time undergraduate (for the first 4 years) and $4,000 a year (for two years of graduate study). You need to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant in order to get the TEACH grant, so fill out the FAFSA form to apply
Grants in Louisiana for 2012
Financial assistance by way of student loans is not the best way to pay for a higher education because they must be paid back with interest. That is not the way you want to begin your life after college. Grants on the other hand do not have to be paid back. That is why you owe it to yourself to research the grant options that are available to you. Here we look at the grants that are available to students in the state of Louisiana:
The Go Grant: This state grant is available for residents of Louisiana to apply for. The amount of money awarded to each student ranges from $500 to $2000. To qualify students must be full-time residents of the state and must already be recipients of a grant based on financial need such as the Federal Pell grant. Eligible students must be enrolled either on a full-time or part-time basis at an eligible institution of higher learning in the state of Louisiana. To apply for the Go Grant students first must fill out a FAFSA form.
Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Grant: This grant is broken down into four separate grant awards. The four awards include Opportunity, Performance, Honors and Tech.
The Opportunity grant awards can be used to apply for tuition and other education related fees at public colleges and universities in the state.
The Performance grant award is also for tuition and other school expenses plus it also includes a yearly stipend of $400.
The Honors grant award offers the same as the Opportunity and Performance grants but the annual stipend offered is $800.
The Tech grant award pays for tuition for occupational training or skill training at any of the public colleges or universities in the state that do not offer a baccalaureate degree, as well as at postsecondary schools that are within the Louisiana community and technical college system. Proprietary and cosmetology schools are also included here.
To qualify for a TOPS grant students must have a minimum GPA of 2.50 and a minimum ACT score (or the SAT equivalent) of the average that is found in the state.
Additional Grants
United Way of New Orleans Emergency Assistance Fund
The United Way grant program is not a new program but it is always undergoing changes that make it better. This program awards up to $2,500 every calendar year to a select number of black undergraduate students who can demonstrate financial need and who are attending or have plans to attend colleges in the state of Louisiana.
Louisiana State Firemen’s Association Grant
The Louisiana State Firemen’s Association (LSFA) grant program offers up to $8,000 to a student studying for an associate’s degree and up to $16,000 for a student studying for a bachelor’s degree if the student is willing to service as a volunteer firemen in the state after graduation.
Forestry, Wildlife and Marine Sciences Grant
A student who has plans to study for and earn a degree in forestry, wildlife or marine sciences in the state may qualify to receive a grant of up to $7,000 for up to a range of five years of study for a bachelor’s degree, and for up to two years at the graduate level. This works out to be approximately $1,000 on a yearly basis.
Those who are awarded the money from this grant program and then do not graduate with their degree must repay the grant money with interest. On an annual basis approximately 60 Louisiana students receive funds from this grant program totaling $60,000. These include new students as well as students that are renewing the grant money. Please be aware that this grant program is based on merit. To apply you first must fill out a FAFSA form.
