Indiana’s Evan Bayh Twenty-first Century Scholars program makes a simple promise: If you avoid drugs, stay out of trouble with the law and graduate high school with at least a 2.5 grade point average, the state will pay your college tuition.
The promise is working — for those who apply and meet new requirements.
This year’s class of scholars is just the fourth required to complete 12 activities to better prepare them for college. These include creating a graduation plan, participating in an extracurricular or service activity and visiting a college campus. Eligible students who fail to complete the requirements will not be awarded the state’s full-tuition scholarship.
We know children have been home from school for months because of the COVID-19 closures, and now school is out for summer.
But the Twenty-first Century Scholars program currently is accepting applications for the next class of students. The deadline is June 30. If your child is in the seventh or eighth grade and qualifies for assistance in paying for school meals, log onto www.scholars.in.gov/enroll and sign up.
Don’t delay. By making a simple pledge to remain drug-free and maintaining a GPA of 2.5, Indiana will pay your child’s tuition to a state-supported college or university.
Data gathered by the Commission for Higher Education suggest our Twenty-first Century Scholars must push themselves academically and earn an honors diploma in high school. Five percent of Howard County’s scholars who enrolled in a state-supported college in 2017 required remediation their freshman year — a 31% percent improvement in just six years. Yet, countywide, just six students among the 240 honors graduates attending a public college in 2017 needed such help.
Why is this so important? The commission has found that students who take a remedial college course have just a 1 in 4 chance of graduating.
Nearly 50% of Howard County students received free or reduced-price school lunches in 2019, the Indiana Youth Institute reports. Our five county school districts should encourage each one of these prospective Twenty-first Century Scholars to pursue an honors diploma.
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