July 15, 2013- Albany, Ga.-- Effective fall semester 2013, Albany Technical College will enter an agreement with the Southwest Georgia Workforce Investment Board as administered by the City of Colquitt to help General Education Development (GED®) students gain affordable access to higher education.
For over 25 years, high school dropouts were able to attend America's technical colleges with financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education based on a specific provision within the Pell Grant Program. The provision, known as Ability to Benefit (ATB), allowed dropouts who are no longer high-school age, to demonstrate their readiness for postsecondary education by achieving certain scores on the college's placement exam. In order to take advantage of this provision, students who have not completed a high school credential or GED® were required to pass a test indicating that they can read, write, and compute at or above the 12th grade level. Passing the college's placement exam proved that the student had the ability to benefit from a postsecondary education and were likely to graduate from identified programs.
The ATB program was discontinued in July 2012, which affected hundreds of students who were enrolled at Albany Tech. Through the agreement with the Southwest Georgia Workforce Investment Board through the City of Colquitt, eligible students could receive financial assistance to cover the excess tuition and fees not covered by HOPE, plus, approximately $647 in funding, per student, per semester, for fees, books and supplies.
In order to qualify for financial assistance, students must be working on their GED® at Albany Tech while enrolled in one of the following programs: Air Conditioning Technology, Auto Collision Repair, Diesel Equipment Technology, Early Childhood Care and Education, Automotive Technology, Carpentry, Culinary Arts, Electrical Construction and Maintenance, Environmental Horticulture, and Welding and Joining Technology.
