Officials from a college-scholarship program that promised a free education to eligible graduates of three Denver high schools have now decided to cap those awards at $3,000 annually.
The Denver Scholarship Foundation said its research shows “the vast majority of students” would be helped with that much money.
“It’s our belief they’ll all be OK with $3,000,” said foundation executive director Janet Gullickson.
In November, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Mi chael Bennet and major benefactor Tim Marquez stood in the South High School auditorium and promised a Colorado college education to eligible graduates of South, Abraham Lincoln and Montbello high schools.
Students had to demonstrate need and, officials said at the time, simply work with counselors to apply for state and federal aid as well as three private scholarships. And the Denver Scholarship Foundation would cover the rest: tuition, books and fees.
Last fall’s surprise assembly for seniors from the three schools prompted some kids to excitedly burst into tears.
Gullickson on Wednesday said her staff has found that students are unearthing other sources of money and that $3,000 will basically cover the costs for tuition, books and fees for the participating colleges. She is negotiating rates at at least 33 participating in-state colleges for Denver Scholarship Foundation students. “All but a few will be helped,” she said.
Marquez, an oilman who started the program with a $50 million donation, said he intends to fulfill the pledge, and he thinks $3,000 will suffice.
“If our calculation is wrong, then we’ll revisit it,” he said. “It looks like our best estimate.”
But counselors and teachers at the three schools say the decision to cap the aid at $3,000 is cruel to kids who were banking on more.
“You don’t take people who have so little and give them hope and then cut them off at the knees,” said Roxanne Rhodes, a U.S. history teacher at Abraham Lincoln. “They’re reneging on their promise.”
Rhodes said some of her students are so poor that their unmet needs are more than $3,000 a year. The University of Colorado at Boulder costs roughly $5,800 a year, excluding room and board. At Metropolitan State College of Denver, tuition and fees run roughly $4,200 a year for in-state residents.
“We don’t have the average kids; we have the below-average kids,” Rhodes said of their income levels.
So far, 430 soon-to-be graduates of Abraham Lincoln, Montbello and South have applied for the scholarships. Gullickson said only 16 will probably go to Regis University or the University of Denver – two private and pricey in-state schools participating in the program.
“We’ve had a great proposal from DU. … They’ve offered to provide tremendous help for our students,” she said. “My sense is that we’ll be fine with those schools.”
The Colorado Children’s Campaign estimated in November that the annual cost of the scholarship program by 2012 would be $6.7 million to $9.4 million. So far, the Denver Scholarship Foundation has raised $70 million. Officials said they hope to have $200 million raised within five years, which would kick off about $10 million a year in interest.
Principals at the three high schools will meet with Denver Scholarship Foundation officials today about the new stipulations. Most kids haven’t been told yet, counselors said.
James Durgin, a counselor at South, said he was disappointed by the capped amount.
“It’s certainly, for the students graduating, going to put one more layer of complexity for how this is going to work out for them,” he said.
Hickenlooper, who pledged free college in 2004 to Cole Middle School kids who needed it, said Wednesday that what makes the scholarship foundation so powerful is that it puts an expectation on students to apply for other sources of money.
“You don’t have to go raise a billion dollars a year,” Hickenlooper said. “There are so many resources already out there.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
