Students from low-income students in Missouri and Illinois will be getting money from Washington to help pay for taking Advanced Placement tests.
Under a program announced Tuesday by the federal Department of Education, a total of $28.4 million will go to 41 states and the District of Columbia to help defray the costs of taking tests that can lead to students getting college credit for high school courses.
The subsidies are designed to urge all students to take such courses, letting them complete college more quickly and more cheaply.
“The cost of a test should never prevent students from taking their first step towards higher education through advanced placement courses,” department official James Cole Jr. said.
“These grants are an important tool for states, and ultimately schools, to empower students from low-income neighborhoods to succeed in challenging courses.”
Under the program, Missouri will receive $234,366 and Illinois will get $1,787,866. Projections show that the grants will cover all but $15 of the costs of each placement test taken by students, based on the number of tests expected to be taken. States could require students to pay part of the costs.
Early results indicate that from 2015 to 2016, the number of tests covered by the program increased to 862,204 from 831,913, an improvement of nearly 4 percent.
The grants may be used to pay for fees for tests from the College Board, the International Baccalaureate Organization and Cambridge International Examinations.
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