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Friday, Jan. 30, 2026

Do pre-COVID students qualify for free CT community college tuition aid?

Mariana Navarrete Villegas, CT Mirror
no

The Debt-Free Tuition funding is only available to full or part-time students enrolling in an upcoming semester and who began college in Fall 2020 or later.

The program designated as the “Mary Ann Handley Award” — formerly Pledge to Advance Connecticut or PACT — covers the gap between federal and state grants, and community college tuition and mandatory fees. 

To receive funding, students need to be Connecticut residents, fill out a FAFSA, attend community college part- or full-time, enroll in a degree or credit-bearing certificate program and be a state public or private high school graduate — GED and home schooled students qualify too.

The awards must apply to the first 72 credit hours earned by a student in a community college degree-granting or certificate program.

The goal of the program is to help students graduate debt-free, without student loans.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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