ROCKFORD, Ill – The Rockford Promise Scholarship Program has officially opened application portals for 2025 Rockford high school graduates.
Their application process is available for students who have attended 4 years of high school in the Rockford Public School District or a Rockford private school. Applicants must be graduating in 2025 and plan to attend one of the programs college partners.
It’s a program with big impact, helping 182 RPS students alone last year.
Rockford Promise Scholar Support Manager, Aurora Schnorr, shares how the scholarships have allowed for growth in the community.
“Last year at our contract signings, when students actually signed a contract to join on with Rockford Promise. We were talking to parents and just casually they brought up this was their fourth scholar joining Rockford Promise and going to NIU. That was just so beautiful to me, because when you think about one child that’s saving the parents a lot of money — but when you think about four, that’s just a huge amount of change.” shares Schnorr.
Schnorr says the opportunity changes lives, while also rewarding those who deserve it.
“And the most beautiful thing is what’s happened with her family. She has younger siblings and is teaching her siblings how to attend college and how to get money in scholarships. I think that’s a really great example of what something like Rockford Promise can do for a community, because it’s not just that students life that’s a little bit easier. The trajectory has changed to the family and families change communities.”
Rockford Promise adds that, since including the NIU scholarship, RPS graduation rates have increased by 5%. The statistics don’t just stop there.
“In similar programs like this, we’ve seen even a 1% increase in college attainment for a community could mean a 5% decrease in violent crime, a 2-3% decrease in poverty. So when we look at that, even a 2% increase in job growth, that bodes well for a community. That changes a communities trajectory for sure.” adds Schnorr.
Schnorr also shares that it has been a really exciting year with the Rockford University expansion. Not only for Rockford Public Schools, but private schools as well.
“Rockford Public Schools continues to be an amazing partner and I really think that this program is an amazing incentive for the entire community of Rockford. It’s great to continue our partnership with R-P-S and then getting to tour these private schools and see what they’re doing for the community as well. I think education as a whole is a community issue and so we’re trying to be a community solution.”
Application is open from January 1st to March 1st and can be found on the Rockford Promise website.
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