Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

After Financial Miss, Say Yes Considers Changing Scholarship Criteria

Students, teachers and community members celebrate the announcement that Guilford County was selected as the next Say Yes to Education community. This photo was taken in Sept. 2015 at Ragsdale High School. Keri Brown/WFDD

A Guilford County organization that has guaranteed college scholarships for many local students says it's facing a budget shortfall.

Say Yes To Education Guilford says it will have to reduce the money it will pay out to local graduates.

Officials say they have around $42 million in private commitments and pledges. But one thing is clear about their scholarship program: the current model isn't sustainable. The organization had originally budgeted to give about $1 million to the class of 2016. The final payout? Around $6 million.

Chuck Cornelio with Say Yes Guilford says they're looking at changing the program's criteria.

“We had information for example on how many kids graduated from the Guilford County Schools in the prior years,” says Cornelio. “What we didn't have at that point was a good number of how many of them went to college, what their income levels were, so the result of having a higher income is that you get less tuition aid elsewhere. Therefore, in this last dollar tuition program you end up with higher payouts from Say Yes.”

Organizers say other factors also included more students choosing to attend four-year colleges over two-year colleges.

Guilford County students are the first in the South to benefit from the Say Yes to Education campaign.

The organization also provides what are called wraparound services, like free tutoring or mobile health clinics. District and organization officials recently selected twelve “launch” schools to begin this next phase of the program. Cornelio says those programs will continue to move forward.

Say Yes Guilford is apologizing to families for the uncertainty over scholarship amounts for kids in the classes of 2016 and 2017.

Cornelio says the new model may affect some kids differently than others, depending on what criteria they change.

The organization says it will release more information to families by the end of the month.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate