Sen. Boucher Honors CHET Advance Scholarship Winners!

Hartford, CT – State Senator Toni Boucher (R-Wilton) congratulated high school seniors from the 26th district towns of Ridgefield, Westport, Wilton and Bethel for winning CHET Advance Scholarships from the Connecticut Treasurer’s Office.

The Treasurer held random drawings totaling $500,000 to provide up to 200 Connecticut high school seniors with a $2,500 scholarship for college expenses.

“The cost of going to college has nearly become out of reach for the average student. I am happy to see young people from our community receive this much-needed help in paying for higher education,” said Boucher.

Students from our district receiving scholarships are:

• Elizabeth Curran Hagele, Ridgefield
• Julia Anne Woods, Westport
• Joseph Fraccaroli, Wilton
• Kendra R. Curry, Bethel
• Brian J. SanGiacomo, Bethel
• Megan E. Wade, Bethel

Scholarships of $2,500 were awarded in each of the two categories:

• those attending Review and Turnaround schools
• those attending other public, private, and parochial high schools

A recent 2013 study by Sallie Mae, How America Pays for College, found that more families are eliminating colleges their kids were considering as too expensive. Nearly 70 percent of families dropped schools from consideration because of costs at some point during the application process, according to the report, as compared with 58 percent who did so in 2008, when the study was first issued.

Altogether, CHET Advance has funding commitments to distribute a total of more than $2 million during the next four years. CHET Advance is administered under the banner of the Connecticut Higher Education Trust, Connecticut’s 529 college savings plan.

No CHET account participant fees or state funds will be used for awards issued under CHET Advance Scholarship.

Additionally, highlights of the Official Rules include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Students must begin college no later than September 2015, and use the full $2,500 scholarship by June 30, 2016. Status as a senior at a Connecticut high school must be verified with an official school transcript. Scholarship awards will be paid directly to students’ colleges starting in the fall of 2014.
• To avoid any conflict of interest, any high school senior whose parent is, or who resides in the household of, an employee of the Office of the Connecticut Treasurer, TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing Inc., The Hartford or International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc., is ineligible to participate in the CHET Advance Scholarship, if such employee provides direct support to the CHET Advance Scholarship or, in the case of employees of The Hartford, its 529 plans.
• To ensure the impartiality of the random drawings, International Scholarship and Tuition Services, which has more than 25 years of scholarship administration experience, will set up and run the selection process, with oversight from TIAA-CREF.

Plans are underway to roll out the second phase of CHET Advance during the next calendar year for younger students as well, with a portion of the scholarship winners chosen based on need and scholastic achievement. To find out more call (800) 618-3404.