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Middle School Opportunities

As a middle school student, there are many activities and steps you can take now to plan and prepare for high school and beyond!

ACPE offers helpful resources and guidance for you to refer to and use while you're in middle school. Follow along the path below to stay on track as explore, create, and plan for the exciting opportunities ahead.

Plan Ahead - It's Never Too EARLY!

There are many types of funding solutions to help students pay for college or career trainings. Scholarships & Grants are the free kind! Usually scholarships are awarded based on merit (grades) or some type of extracurricular achievement. While Grants are usually awarded based on financial need. Students typically need to apply for school or community-based scholarships & grants. So it is important to start researching opportunities, application requirements, and eligibility early in high school! ACPE administers the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) and the need-based Alaska Education Grant (AEG).

It's important to work with a school counselor each year to plan a course schedule and meeting high school graduation requirements. Students should also review the APS Curriculum Requirements to make sure they are taking courses that meet BOTH high school graduation requirements and APS curriculum requirements and potentially earn up to $7,000 a year!

Understanding finances can be a challenge for adults and can certainly be intimidating for middle schoolers. It's important to start learning early about how paying for college & career training works, the funding solutions available, and what it means to pay back a loan (if a student loan is taken out). The earlier students learn about financial planning, grants & scholarships, and how loans work - the better! Check out ACPE's Resource Library to learn more.

With ACPE's Kids2Careers resouces, middle school students can review important Success Steps to prepare for high school and beyond!

There are many years to go before it's time to complete the FAFSA, but ACPE has resources to prepare and help when the time comes! Check out ACPE's Alaska FAFSA Completion site for more information.