As president and CEO of the Hartford Foundation, Jay Williams knows full well that there is an issue on the minds of people across the state and the nation: the negative impact that enormous student loans can have on college graduates.
“Students who graduate college with crushing student loans, the ability to make life choices, buy a house, start a family, give back to the community, is limited,” Williams said.
Combine this with the fact that college can be out of reach of many young people, even with student loans, and there is a financial problem to solve.
And that is just what the Hartford Foundation has planned, in partnership with the scholarship program Hartford Promise,
The new Greater Futures Scholarship Fund, will provide qualifying Hartford Public Schools students with up to $100,000 over four years for a college or university education anywhere in the country, according to Williams and Dr. Sivan Hines, president of Hartford Promise.
To qualify, students must be a city resident enrolled continuously in Hartford Public Schools since ninth grade, have an attendance rate of 93% or higher throughout high school and have GPA of 3.0, or higher, on a 4.0 scale, according to Williams and Hines.
“This will be a huge lift,” said Hines, speaking of students who receive the scholarships. “It’s like telling them they won the lottery.”
To Hines, the new scholarship program is a way to open up choices for young people in Hartford in several ways. The Promise program works with students to find the best college match for them, and this initiative could mean being able to attend an HBCU or other school in another state, could address the need to live on campus in Connecticut rather than commuting, the need not to work grueling hours while obtaining an education, or the need to fill the gap in what a family is able to afford, Hines said.
“Despite all of the aid they get, there is still a gap. While $2,000 may not seem that insurmountable… $2,000 can be a huge amount,” Hines said, citing an example of what a student could face. “It will make a difference for students … generational change.”
Hines said that while 76% of Hartford Promise students choose to attend in-state institutions for higher education, “You can go anywhere in the country with our scholarship.”
Williams said the initial Hartford Foundation $20 million investment means the qualifying members of the class of 2025 will be awarded $20,000 a year, which will be paired with the Promise $5,000 annual scholarship and that means the student will receive up to $25,000 per year or up to $100,000 for four years of school.
He said while more than 110 graduates from the class of 2025 are expected to receive the scholarship, there are plans to expand the scholarship to serve up to 500 students a year.
Promise currently serves about 500 scholars, Hines said.
Williams said the foundation has $20 million of endowed resources from an older scholarship program and it generates $800,000 a year in income that will be used for the new program. “The money is coming from the foundation,” he said.
Further, for the first time in its history the foundation is doing a fundraising campaign, with the goal of raising $10 million in four years, he said. The initiative is part of the Foundation’s 100th anniversary programs.
Williams said that six months into the campaign, about $6.3 million has been committed. Among donors are CVS Health/Aetna, Fairview Capital Partners, The Hartford, Stefania Campbell and AnnMarie LaBreck, Liberty Bank Foundation, Bank of America, and Travelers, as well as 40 individuals and families.
“We have never done a campaign in the entire history of this organization,” Williams said. “That is how much we believe this has the power to transform our region.”
Williams noted that, in addition to having the ability to make more life choices when they graduate debt free, the scholarship students will have “dramatically higher” earning potential, as well as expanded ability to take positions in academia or policy positions, and not amid crushing debt.
“It opens up a world of possibilities for communities, we think that is how powerful this new scholarship is,” he said. “They now can achieve education dreams … a post college world absent student debt.”
Williams and Hines both also emphasized the wraparound support that Promise scholars receive, the supports that help them navigate higher education. The wraparound services can include academic coaching and career guidance, financial assistance for books, laptops, and emergencies, mental health support, soft skills training and career development such as internships, mock interviews, and networking opportunities, the officials said.
The program will follow the students through college and into their careers, Williams said, and “in just four years you will have a pipeline of students coming out of college with no debt — the economic impact of that, we think is significant. We do think this has significant ramification for the region and Connecticut.”
Williams also noted “our corporate partners see this as an investment,” in the state and the workforce.
“The ripple effect for those student, those corporation, those families … is also something significant,” he said.
Hines noted that with its focus, the scholarship highlights city residency. “We want as many families to be invested in Hartford,” as possible, she said.
Williams also noted that those organizing the new program had not identified any across the country that are “as robust” as the Greater Futures Scholarship Fund. The goal, he said, is to “serve as a national model for education-driven economic transformation.”