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Now more than ever, being able to go to college and earn a degree, diploma or career certificate is imperative to a successful future. Are you ready for a jump-start in the right direction? If so, REACH is here to provide the support and guidance to help you achieve your educational and career goals!
Through academic, social, and financial support, REACH provides the resources to ensure you graduate from high school, access college, achieve postsecondary success and are prepared to join the 21st-century workforce.
Eligible students
The REACH program regulations provide requirements for student eligibility.
Eligible students must:
- Be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen for 12 consecutive months prior to the first day of classes of the spring term of the REACH Scholar’s 7th-grade school year.
- Be enrolled in a REACH School System in an eligible middle school.
- Demonstrate financial need according to the federal income eligibility guidelines.
- Not have had more than two in-school suspensions during the two semesters or four quarters immediately preceding the spring term of the student’s 7th-grade year.
- Do not have any crime and/or drug convictions.
- Not be deemed truant (truant: any child who is subject to compulsory attendance and who has more than five (5) days of unexcused absences during the student’s middle school calendar years).
- Have his/her parents/guardians complete and submit a release of information form, as part of the application process, authorizing the school to provide Georgia Student Finance Authority (GSFA) information related to the student’s participation in the program.
- Demonstrate academic promise (grade, attendance and behavior requirements).
The REACH Program also provides guidance in the selection of Scholars. Preference should be given to:
- Future first generation college students.
- Students who have less than a 3.0 cumulative grade point average in core courses but have the potential to make A and B grades.
- Students who have no disciplinary infractions during the two semesters immediately preceding the spring term of the student’s 7th-grade year.
- Students who have the potential to succeed at the postsecondary level.
REACH Georgia is the State of Georgia’s first needs-based mentorship and college scholarship program, launched in 2012 by Governor Nathan Deal as a key component of the state’s Complete College Georgia Initiative.
REACH (Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen) Georgia’s mission is to ensure that Georgia’s low income, academically promising students have the academic, social, and financial support needed to graduate from high school, access college, and achieve postsecondary success.
Currently in 154 school systems throughout the state, REACH Georgia’s goal is to be in all 180 Georgia school systems and support more than 3,000 students throughout Georgia.
REACH Georgia is administered by the Georgia Student Finance Authority (GSFA), a companion student finance entity of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). GSFC is the state agency that administers the HOPE Scholarship and Grant Program as well as other state- and lottery-funded financial aid programs. GSFC also manages the career and college preparation website, GAfutures.org and provides educational services such as free financial aid consultation and FAFSA completion assistance to high schools and postsecondary institutions across the state.
