TO: Arkansas High School Counselors
FROM: Dr. Jim Purcell, Director, Arkansas Department of Higher Education
Mr. William L. “Bill” Walker, Jr., Director, Arkansas Department of Workforce Education
Dr. Ken James, Commissioner, Arkansas Department of Education
RE: Act 474 of 2007
Act 474 of 2007 directs that the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE), working with both public and private institutions of higher education, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and the Arkansas Department of Workforce Education (ADWE) shall annually compile information for Arkansas high school students on academic scholarships for freshmen entering institutions of higher education and state-funded programs that provide opportunities for developing technical job skills and apprenticeships. Act 474 states that the Arkansas Department of Education shall provide the information annually to all public high school counselors in the state.
Brochures and other information regarding the Academic Challenge Scholarship and the GO Opportunity Grant programs have been distributed through local education co-ops. In addition, ADHE distributes a brochure containing information about all of the other financial aid programs that are administered by ADHE at the many college fairs around the state.
ADWE provides information on its website on the following programs:
The High Tech Scholarship
http://dwe.arkansas.gov/hightechscholarship.htm
The Loan Forgiveness program
http://dwe.arkansas.gov/LoanForgiveness/atcslfp.htm
The Youth and Adult Apprenticeship Program
http://dwe.arkansas.gov/youthapprenticeship.htm
http://dwe.arkansas.gov/CareerandTechEducation/2004Policiesapproved10-04.pdf
In addition to the website information, ADWE presents a session on loan forgiveness and high-tech scholarships at the counselors’ conference every November and mails information on both programs to all counselors annually. Periodically, ADWE presents to the state association of financial aid administrators and will do so again this October at the group's annual conference. ADWE also provides this information through counselor interviews and counselor updates during the on-site Technical Assistance visits to schools. These visits are made to each school site on a five-year basis.
Attached is a spreadsheet which lists all of the institutional scholarships and other programs and scholarships related to technical education. The spreadsheet will provide students access to important admissions and financial aid information for all of the public and private universities and colleges. This spreadsheet can also be found on the ADHE web page at http://www.adhe.edu/financial.html.
Next August, copies of this information sheet along with the information mentioned above will be sent to counselors and are to be distributed to high school seniors and juniors. Please note that Act 474 states that each public high school counselor shall annually provide the information to students.