Sept. 01--Last week, the first class of Star Scholarship winners took their seats in City Colleges classrooms. By the numbers: nearly 900 graduates, 65 percent of them Hispanic, from more than 100 Chicago public high schools. These students qualified for a free ride to City Colleges because they earned excellent grades and demonstrated they are academically ready for college-level math and English courses.
Still, they face a steep challenge.
Graduation rates at City Colleges, while improving, still hover in the low double-digits. Too many students drop out before they finish a two-year associate degree. Too many struggle with college-level material, even though they earned good grades in high school.
We hope that these Star students, with strong records of academic achievement, beat those odds. We look forward to seeing how many of those 888 graduate in two years.
Meanwhile, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and leaders of the University of Illinois at Chicago have offered those Star Scholars another incentive to study hard and excel. UIC announced a new program to cover $2,500 a year in tuition costs for as many as 250 students who graduate from City Colleges, so those students can complete a bachelor's degree.
No, that won't come close to covering UIC's nearly $17,000 in-state tuition bill. But the university will add the $2,500 to any need-based assistance it provides to students to help them pay tuition and fees, Kevin Browne, UIC's vice provost for academic and enrollment services, tells us. He says the university hopes the $2,500 is "a tipping point" to help these students, many from lower-income homes, enroll.
And, as Emanuel and UIC officials say, the $2,500 tuition grant is a minimum. With strong fundraising efforts, the sum could be more. Officials really don't know how many students will perform well enough to take advantage of that offer. If more than 250 students qualify to continue their studies at UIC with the scholarship, "that will be a high-class problem," Emanuel says. We're with him. We hope that "problem" materializes.
UIC is pitching in more than the scholarship money. The college promises to help students navigate through their academic careers, so they take the right courses beginning now to graduate in 2019. Even before Star students leave City Colleges, they can meet a UIC adviser and use UIC facilities -- athletic fields, theaters, the library. That should help boost the chances that Star scholars will thrive and -- most important graduate -- on time from UIC.
We also hope that other universities in the area take their cue from UIC and ante up to help City Colleges students finish college. Emanuel says he'll challenge other institutions to top UIC's $2,500 annual offer. "Let me say this about what I know about sales: When you get your first sale, numbers two, three and four are easier."
We've supported the Star Scholarship program because it dismantles one major hurdle to college entrance -- cost. It encourages students to work hard and keep their grades up. The response of CPS students from this first year -- about 1,200 students qualified -- shows the overwhelming demand for what City Colleges offers: a focused curriculum that helps students prepare for careers in transportation, health care, restaurants, information technology and other growing fields.
These nearly 900 students may not have been able to afford college without the Star program. They may still struggle, academically and financially.
Credit UIC for being first out of the gate. Now, we hope it faces intense competition from other colleges in the region, to lure these Stars to their campuses with even more generous offers. Mayor Emanuel, good luck on sales two, three, four ... and more.
