Denison University is offering a new scholarship program to support current high school students on their journey to college.
Under the new program Raise Me, high school students can earn “micro-scholarships,” of $400 to $1,000 from Denison for their progress and accomplishments throughout high school, starting as early as ninth grade. Students can earn these micro-scholarships for a broad range of achievements each semester, such as getting perfect attendance, becoming a club leader, improving their grade point average, or completing certain courses. The scholarships will be applied to their tuition at Denison.
In addition to reducing the cost of college, the program will provide students with specific goals they can accomplish to better prepare for a rigorous college education.
“These ‘micro-scholarships’ can have a very big impact,” says Perry Robinson, Denison vice president and director of admissions. “By engaging these students and rewarding them with scholarships at an early age, we’re planting seeds that a liberal arts education is available to good students from all backgrounds.” He added, “We hope that this initial investment by Denison will be a powerful incentive for students to continue their hard work in school. We aim to make a world-class education open to all academically qualified students.”
Denison is making the program available through a partnership with Raise.me, an education technology company focused on rethinking how students access financial aid. Raise.me has received funding support from organizations across the country such the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, and Facebook.
The program addresses the fact that most scholarships and grants today are awarded too late to affect students’ college ambitions or application decisions. As a result, many talented students, especially those from lower-income backgrounds, don’t apply to more selective colleges where they might receive attractive aid packages because they are intimidated by those colleges’ list price.
By giving students the ability to accrue scholarships starting in ninth grade, the program encourages students’ personal development while showing them how to become a more competitive applicant for any college.
Denison is one of the first universities selected to partner with Raise.me as one of their National Innovation Partners. Other colleges and universities in the cohort include schools such as Tulane University, Oberlin College, University of Rochester, and the University of Central Florida.
The program, which has been in a private pilot since late 2013, is a free resource for high school students. The program can be accessed by any high school student in the country at www.raise.me.