Listen to this articleFarmingdale State College is now partnering with Northwell Health as the health system expands its Northwell Community Scholars Program to the college.
The program begins this fall with five incoming students from underserved communities with scholarship funds for tuition, books, transportation, lab fees and meal plans. The program will be Northwell’s first four-year degree partner school.
This program covers 85% of in-state tuition and fees, plus an additional $10,500 toward indirect expenses for the entirety of their studies at the college. The program is designed to enable individuals who might be financially challenged from pursuing a college education. All recipients will be New York State residents.
The partnership with Farmingdale State is the most recent expansion of the Northwell Community Scholars program, which the health system launched in 2022 with a $5 million investment.
The program focuses on health and social inequities impacting hundreds of students across select high schools in Long Island, Queens and Manhattan, with plans to expand to Westchester County in 2025. The program seeks to fund more than 300 Long Island college students by 2026.
“This program will help remove the barrier of cost for students who are willing to put in the work. We are exceptionally excited to partner with Northwell to make the dream of a college education a reality,” Matthew Colson, vice president of Development and Alumni Engagement at Farmingdale State College, said in a news release about the program.
“We are excited to see what these young people will achieve,” Colson added.
“We believe education is a key social determinant of health,” Dr. Debbie Salas-Lopez, senior vice president of the Office of Community Wellness and Population Health at Northwell Health, said in the news release. “It’s a gateway to not only health and wellness but to employment opportunities and financial success.”
For this program, participants must be accepted by Northwell as a student of the program from one of its partner high schools, meet the basic requirements for admission at Farmingdale and pursue a full-time degree program.