Bolinsky Applauds CHET Advance Scholarship Winners

HARTFORD – State Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) today congratulated Katherine Jean Stawiasz after she was awarded a $2,500 Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET) Advance Scholarship during a ceremony at the State Capitol.

“The CHET scholarship program is a great way to reward our state’s students. CHET also benefits Connecticut families who need to save for the rising cost of college,” said Rep. Bolinsky. “I want to thank Treasurer Nappier and the CHET program for making these investments in our kids’ future.”

During the ceremony, which Rep. Bolinsky attended, State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier announced that 200 high school seniors have been selected as recipients of the first annual CHET Advance Scholarship. Each student will receive a $2,500 grant to help put their college dreams within reach.

“CHET Advance Scholarship will help these students meet the ever-rising costs of higher education, and allow them to spend less time worrying about how to pay for college and more time focused on getting into college and staying in college,” State Treasurer Nappier, Trustee for CHET, said.

Winners were randomly selected from a pool of 3,635 applicants that hail from 85 public high schools, 10 parochial high schools and 3 independent high schools in Connecticut. Two of the winners are home-schooled students. Almost half of the towns in Connecticut have at least one winner, and all eight counties are represented among the winners.

CHET Advance provides 100 awards in each of two categories of high school seniors. To ensure winners from across the state, there are 40 winners from each of Connecticut’s five Congressional Districts (20 from each category).

CHET Advance Scholarship is administered under the banner of the Connecticut Higher Education Trust, Connecticut’s 529 college savings plan. TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc. and The Hartford, plan managers for CHET Direct-Sold and CHET Advisor-Sold, respectively, contribute annually into a Scholarship account to finance the Scholarship program, under their contracts with the Treasurer’s Office to manage CHET 529. No state funds will be used for awards issued under CHET Advance Scholarship.

Students must begin college no later than September 2015, and use the full $2,500 scholarship by June 30, 2016. Scholarship awards will be paid directly to students’ colleges starting in the fall of 2014.

About CHET

The Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET) was established in 1997. Today the number of CHET 529 college savings accounts stands at 99,000 and total assets are more than $ 2.1 billion. Nearly $717 million in qualified withdrawals have been taken to cover college costs for 24,100 students. For more information about CHET, visit www.aboutchet.com or call the customer service center at (866) 314-3939.