Increased College Bound Scholarships distributed in 2015
Seattle Central awarded 144 College Bound Scholarships to students for Winter Quarter 2015. The College Bound Scholarship (CBS) program is an early commitment of state financial aid for eligible low income students who sign up in middle school and fulfill the promise to graduate from a Washington high school with a 2.0 GPA or higher and file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in a timely manner. The program encourages students who might not consider college because of the cost, to dream big early on and continue their education beyond high school. It is part of the college’s overall strategy to improve college access among historically underserved populations, and it was one of the first programs to focus specifically on facilitating the transition from high school to college.
Seattle Central first became College Bound-eligible in fall of 2012 and distributed 60 scholarships that year. Since then, $450,000 has been disbursed through the program and distribution of scholarships has steadily increased each quarter since then. Outreach, Financial Aid and campus support programs like TRiO and Multicultural Services have collaborated internally, as well as with community partners like College Access Network (CAN) to support and graduate a growing number of CBS students.