The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) announces it has millions of dollars in scholarships and COVID-19 relief funds available this Fall Semester to assist anyone who wants to attend CSM full-time or part-time in a degree pathway or for a workforce development certificate. The scholarships and financial assistance can be used for tuition, college expenses, and living expenses and is available to new and existing students, or former CSM students who want to return or have had restrictions on their accounts related to past debt.
“We are currently conducting a robust outreach campaign to our former, existing and potential students to help them understand all of the funding that is available to them,” shared CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy. “The impact of the pandemic put so many of our students in a tailspin – financially, physically, and emotionally – and we want them to know that we’re here for them. We’ve been working hard to secure funding to help them either start or finish, their education with us.”
Among the funds available are the new County Commissioner Cares scholarship – funded by Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties’ Boards of County Commissioners. Each county board is providing scholarships in the coming year to help students in their respective county attend CSM (Calvert $225,000; Charles $405,000; and St. Mary’s $270,000). In addition, there are nearly $5 million dollars available to CSM students through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) which was authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), of 2021.
“Add the availability of Pell Grants, the Maryland Community College Promise funds and the outpouring of financial support that is always provided by our CSM Foundation and we are positioned, perhaps better than we have ever been, to help our students financially with some of the problems that the pandemic presented,” Murphy said.
CSM is also reaching out to students who may be eligible to have their financial restrictions lifted and is providing the information on how to qualify and register for the fall semester, according to CSM Associate Dean of Financial Assistance and Retention Christian Zimmermann. “We are acutely aware that our students just need a break,” he said.
“We believe we have funding available for everyone who wants to attend CSM, and we will prioritize the funding based on need,” Zimmermann added. “We will not be requiring students to fill out their (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) FAFSA forms to receive this scholarship money, but certainly students who complete their FAFSA’s will help us to identify who is neediest, quicker.”
The College of Southern Maryland offers an affordable and wide array of programs of study including Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of Applied Science degree programs. CSM has more than 150 guaranteed transfer agreements with four-year colleges and universities and in some cases, CSM’s university partners provide scholarships specifically for CSM graduates to help make the baccalaureate degree more affordable. Furthermore, CSM offers a wide range of continuing education certificates and career training programs such as computer programming and repair, truck driving, and nursing.
Beginning with the Fall 2021 Semester, CSM is offering a year-round Focus to Finish schedule that greatly expands the classes offered via a 7-week course format. Instead of taking all your courses in a given semester simultaneously for four months, Focus to Finish lets students take half of their classes in the first 7-week session and the other half in the second 7-week session.
For more information about CSM’s scholarships and financial assistance and to how to enroll in the Fall Semester which begins Aug. 25, visit https://www.csmd.edu/Fall/.