The Pittsburgh Public School District (PPS) comprises over 50 schools, stretching from McKees Rocks to Swissvale. PPS serves students from early childhood through 12th grade, enrolling over 1,000 students in each grade every year.
A benefit of being a PPS student came in 2008 with the founding of The Pittsburgh Promise. “The Promise began as a bold vision for Pittsburgh’s urban youth,” said Lauren Bachorski, the Director of Communications at The Promise. The Promise raised over 250 million dollars intended to assist graduating PPS students with college tuition.
As long as students graduate from a PPS high school, are a Pittsburgh resident, meet GPA and attendance requirements, and attend college or trade school within the state of Pennsylvania, they are eligible to receive 5,000 dollars per year for up to four years of undergraduate study. Some universities are “Preferred College Partners” and offer additional funding for room and board; Carnegie Mellon is a Preferred College Partner.
In 2016, after collecting data on the usage of scholarship funds, The Promise announced that students graduating in high school in 2028 would be the last class of students to receive support towards college studies. They will be the 21st graduating class to receive the scholarship. Since these students began high school this past August, The Promise has become a frequent topic of conversation in the PPS community.
While this is certainly a disappointing development, the impacts on college attendance rates remain to be seen. In the meantime, The Promise isn’t backing down from their commitment to higher education.
The Promise has provided scholarship assistance to 12,266 students, which totals to about $178.9 million in scholarship assistance. At the start of the Promise in 2011, the PPS graduation rate was 68 percent. In 2023 it was up to 86 percent.
“The Promise is funded by private donations,” Bachorski said. The initial donation — $110 million — was provided by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, with a commitment to helping raise $150 million more from private community donors. So far, $145.5 million has been raised, with $9.5 million more needed to help the Promise reach its goal.
“In the earliest days, we were often asked by students, families, and community members this question: ‘How long will the scholarship fund last?’” Bachorski said. “It was understood that … it was a finite sum that would eventually be spent down.”
“We will continue to advocate for the public sector to commit to a sustainable policy solution for funding post-secondary education in Pennsylvania,” Bachorski said. “In addition, we will deepen our direct outreach work with students and families through Promise Coaches.” Promise Coaches work directly in PPS high schools to help students formulate plans for after they graduate.
Additional services provided by the Promise include annual career events, scholarships to fund dual enrollment for high school students at the Community College of Allegheny County, and job postings. Promise Ambassadors are high school seniors who are hired as Promise interns to promote use of Promise scholarships in high schools.
Each year, the Promise also selects a group of graduates to receive extra professional development support and recognition — these are called the Executive Scholars. If you take any 61 bus downtown from Fifth Avenue, you can see photos of this year’s Executive Scholars on the bulletin board just next to the parkway entrance.
The impact of the Promise on the Pittsburgh community has been large, and Bachorski acknowledges “gracious feedback” from community members. The Promise looks forward to continuing its impact by advocating for “public policy solutions that would scale such efforts statewide,” communicating with legislators and state leaders.
“We have always said that the promise is not the scholarship, it is the latent promise that lives within each of the children of our community,” Bachorski said. “Pittsburgh Public Schools students possess limitless potential, creativity, and resilience that, when nurtured, lead to vibrant, thriving communities. We believe our commonwealth is ready for a Pennsylvania Promise.”
Editor-In-Chief
Carnegie Mellon’s Student Newspaper Since 1906.
Designed with WordPress
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.
Continue reading
