Dart Foundation - 10th Class of HOPE Scholarship Inductees

HOPE Scholarship Celebrates Tenth Year

by Lansing Community College

LANSING, MI – A group of 500 Lansing School District sixth-graders was officially welcomed as the 10th class of HOPE Scholarship recipients Tuesday, offering them free tuition at Lansing Community College six years from now – and a clean shot at a brighter, more promising future.

Under the program, launched in 2001, at-risk Lansing sixth-graders selected by their schools to receive HOPE scholarships are asked to make a promise to graduate from high school. Once they hold up their end of the bargain the students are rewarded with two years of free tuition at LCC. To date more than 600 Hope Scholarship students have attended LCC while a lesser number have enrolled in other colleges.

"They've done it. And you can too," LCC President Brent Knight told this year's sixth-grade scholarship inductees at a ceremony held Tuesday inside the Don Johnson Fieldhouse at Lansing's Eastern High School.

Dr. Knight expressed pride that LCC was a founding partner in the HOPE Scholarship program and offered words of encouragement to the students; reminding them that they have a wonderful support group cheering them on. "There are many people pulling together to help you excel," Dr. Knight said. "During the next six years you'll have the support of your family, your teachers, your community and LCC. Your success is our success and we're excited to help you gain access to a world-class education right here at home.... In the fall of 2017, I hope to see all of your faces on our campus."

To date, the Dart Foundation has donated more than $500,000 to the scholarship program....

The HOPE Scholarship program has won widespread praise for what it's been able to accomplish in a relatively short period of time. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, about 69 percent of the nation's high school graduates enroll in college in the fall term immediately after graduation. Among Lansing's HOPE scholarship recipients the number enrolling immediately in college shoots up to over 79 percent. Recent experience has shown that more than 90 percent of the students entering the HOPE Scholarship program will graduate from high school – and on time.

The scholarship idea was first seriously contemplated by former Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley who looked beyond the obvious educational benefits and saw the potential such a program could have as a crime prevention initiative as well. If more students were given a clear pathway to higher education, he thought, it could produce safer schools, contribute to higher graduation rates, reduce crime, and prepare students for the good-paying jobs of the 21st Century.

The HOPE (Helping Other People Excel) Scholarship initiative was first championed by the Lansing School District. It became a collaborative effort that also includes the City of Lansing, Lansing Police Department, Lansing Community College, Michigan State University, and local businesses and private citizens.

HOPE scholarships are funded through private donations and grants with the money placed into an endowment that generates about $100,000 annually to cover the costs of tuition. LSD and LCC share in paying the program's administrative costs. To date, the Dart Foundation has donated more than $500,000 to the scholarship program and generous donations have also been received from many others, including the GM Foundation, Granger Foundation and Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation.