Higher Education Opportunity Program

The Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) is a partnership between the State of New York and its independent colleges which provides economically and educationally disadvantaged residents the possibility of a college education. The primary objective of HEOP is to help provide a broad range of services to the student, who because of academic and economic circumstances, would otherwise be unable to attend college, yet has the potential and desire to obtain a college degree. HEOP is sponsored jointly by the State Education Department and the College. HEOP is funded jointly by participating colleges and the New York State Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program and programming activities are supported, in part, by a grant from the New York State Education Department.

Contents

• Organized Institutions By Academic Majors
• Participating Institutions
• References

All HEOP Scholars must be New York State residents and must meet both financial and academic guidelines. The HEOP program was funded under Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and was approved by Governor Rockefeller of New York. This program is successful due to HEOP providing grants to institutions of higher learning. The program has initially awarded over fifty colleges grants ranging from $40,000-$61,000 to appropriately fund students admitted through HEOP.

When the HEOP program was founded in 1969, there were approximately twenty-five institutions that offered the program. Now, forty-three years later, the program has expanded to fifty-seven independent colleges and universities throughout New York State.

In order to be eligible for the Higher Education Opportunity Program, a student must be a New York State resident for 1 year before starting HEOP at his/her admitted college, have a high school or equivalent state approved diploma (such as the Armed Forces), be academically disadvantaged meaning that he/she would not be able to be accepted according to regular admission standards, be financially disadvantaged (based on specific income cutoffs, varying by college) and have ambition to succeed.