LITTLE ROCK — Seniors at Arkadelphia High School received their diplomas Saturday, and as many of them turned their tassels in their last official act as high school students their thoughts raced to what the future will hold.
A record number of those seniors will attend college next year, according to numbers gathered by the Arkadelphia Promise foundation. The class of 2011 is the first class to receive the benefit of the Arkadelphia Promise scholarship, which pledges to pay for tuition and fees for qualifying seniors.
Of the graduating class, 120 have committed to colleges in Arkansas and around the country, compared with 88 students from the 2010 graduating class. The high school surveys graduating students but does not track them through the college-attendance process.
Jason Jones, executive director of the Arkadelphia Promise, said the numbers show that the scholarship is already starting to have an effect on the school district and on college attendance.
“As the director, it has been incredible to see these students light up when they talk about going to college,” he said. “They know that a college education is now a real option for them. We are doing our best to create positive peer pressure and showour future graduates that going to college is the next step, and that they can graduate without the debt that so many college graduates incur.” Jones said the number of students who will actually receive the Promise scholarship had not been determined as of graduation.
The academic qualifications for the Promise, a score of 19 or higher on ACT tests and a grade-point average of 2.5 or higher, are the same as those for the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship. The foundation is waiting until the lottery scholarship makes official notifications throughout the summer to eligible students to issue official notifications and numbers for the Promise scholarship.
The scholarship is available to any student who was enrolled in Arkadelphia Public Schools as of the November announcement date. For students who enrolled and will enroll after that date, the amount of scholarship money they will get will depend on how old they are when they enroll.
Students who enroll in kindergarten will be eligible for 100 percent of the cost of tuition and fees at the most expensive public university in Arkansas. The enrollment cutoff for the scholarship is ninth grade, which will entitle qualifying students to 65 percent of that same tuition and fee rate.
The scholarship has been tweaked slightly since it was introduced in November.
Students who apply for the Promise must also apply for the Lottery Scholarship and other forms of financial aid.
As of right now, the Arkadelphia Promise scholarship only covers tuition and fees.
The foundation, however, included a clause in the scholarship recently that will not
lower the amount awarded
if students receive academic
scholarships from the colleges. Students will then be
able to use that additional
academic aid to pay for room
and board or books depending on the financial aid rules
at the awarding college or
university.
Jones has been collecting
preliminary information from
those students who commit
ted to attending college next
year.
Of the 120 who said they
will go, 20 said they would
attend community college
or trade school and 100 said
they would attend four-year
universities and colleges.
Eight of those 120 students
said they were leaving the
state to attend college.
Comparable numbers
were not available Friday for
the Arkadelphia High School
class of 2010.
About 30 miles away from
Arkadelphia, Sparkman High
School will also graduate
more college-bound seniors
than in the past few years.
The small school district in
rural Dallas County started
its own Promise scholarship
program to send its seniors to
college and to prevent more
students from leaving high
school.
The Sparkman Promise
is different from the more
than 20 other Promise-style
programs across the country
and the other two Promise
programs in Arkansas -
Arkadelphia and El Dorado
- because the money for its
scholarships came from do
nations and fund-raising by
a few parents, teachers and
alumni.
Most other Promise pro
grams were started by large
foundations or companies
who have funded the scholarships. In the case of Arkadelphia, the Ross Foundation
along with Southern Bancorp
donated the money for the
Promise. In El Dorado, Murphy Oil was the donor.
Sparkman residents raised more than $51,000 and will send eight students to college from its 14-member graduating class, compared with four students in 2010 who went to college.
“It’s been an amazing thing for these students and for the community,” said Brenda Garrett, one of the organizers of the scholarship.
Sentiments in Arkadelphia were similar last week as the city prepared for graduation.
“Teachers and administrators in the district feel a renewed sense of responsibility to have the students prepared for college,” said Arkadelphia Public Schools Superintendent Donnie Whitten. “Conferring the degrees of the first Promise graduating class on Saturday [was] a special day for Arkadelphia Public Schools. We send them out into the world with a promise of potential, purpose and pride.” Jones said the big test for the scholarship is how it will affect the number of students who graduate from college.
Arkansas has one of the lowest college graduation rates nationwide, according to higher education statistics.
“That’s three or four or five years down the line, but we’re really looking forward to seeing these students graduate with college degrees, as well,” Jones said.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 05/22/2011