Syracuse’s Say Yes to Education Program is achieving a milestone by becoming the first of its kind in the nation to offer a scholarship for graduate school.
Alex Guerrero, an immigrant from Cuba, moved to Syracuse the year he started high school. This fall, he’ll head to medical school at the Upstate College of Medicine and all of his tuition and housing paid for through a $240,000 Say Yes scholarship.
“When I received the call that I was being given this award, I couldn’t believe it,” said Guerrero. The first thing I did was call my best friend and I was just really just shocked and I cried.”
Say Yes also helped fund Guerrero’s undergraduate degree at SUNY Cortland. He’s the first Syracuse student to take that one step further, with dreams of becoming a doctor now a reality.
“Without the Say Yes Scholarship, it really would have been almost impossible to make it to medical school, without taking enormous amounts of loans,” he said. “My family doesn’t come from a wealthy area. So it’s a life-changing thing.”
Up to now, Say Yes Syracuse has been making undergraduate education accessible for eligible students in the city school district who might not be able to afford it. This latest scholarship is the first to take the program to the graduate degree level.
The program is celebrating 15 years of making college more affordable to more than 6,000 students.

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