Ambitious push for scholarships

A major foundation announced plans Saturday to raise $100 million in college scholarships for low-income Tacoma students.

The money would come primarily from within Tacoma to provide scholarships over 10 to 15 years, said Deborah Wilds, chief operating officer of the Issaquah-based College Success Foundation.

No money has been raised yet. But Wilds and local leaders are optimistic.

“We firmly believe the dollars are here,” Wilds said. “There is philanthropy and considerable wealth in Tacoma.”

The news was announced to nearly 100 people at Stadium High School at the end of a two-day, community-wide education summit on lifelong learning. The College Success Foundation and local groups have been developing a business plan over the past nine months to raise the $100 million.

“It’s an ambitious goal that can be reached,” said Kurt Miller, a Tacoma School Board member. “I am incredibly excited.”

He added that producing more college graduates is essential for economic development in Tacoma.

The College Success Foundation wants to expand scholarship programs it already administers at three high schools to three more in Tacoma. Programs at six middle schools that prepare students for college also would be expanded to all of the district’s middle schools.

The goal is to create the Tacoma College Success Foundation.

The first step is to raise $1.2 million to set up an office in Tacoma and to begin raising the $100 million.

“Is the money in the bank?” Wilds said. “No.”

“Can the money be in the bank?” she added. “I truly believe it can.”

Why target Tacoma? Wilds pointed to past success and the need for more improvement.

Her organization already manages $38 million for college scholarships at Lincoln, Mount Tahoma and Henry Foss high schools. Since 2001, low-income students from those campuses have attended college because of the Washington State Achievers Scholarship program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2000, 28 percent of graduates from Lincoln, Mount Tahoma and Foss enrolled in four-year colleges and universities. That figure increased to 31 percent in 2005, Wilds said. During that time, the percentage of students attending college from Wilson and Stadium high schools remained flat at 37 percent.

Sixteen schools statewide receive money from the program managed by the College Success Foundation. By the time the program ends in Tacoma in 2010 and the Gates Foundation money is gone, 1,500 Tacoma students will have received scholarships.

While the district’s graduation rate has increased to 68 percent, Wilds pointed to other challenges. Tacoma’s scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning are lower than the state average. And the rate of Tacoma students enrolling in college is lower than the state average, she said.

Pat Erwin, principal at Lincoln, said the scholarship money would produce more students going to college and later returning to Tacoma. And it would develop more mentors to help college-bound students.

“I think it’s tremendous,” Erwin said. “This has the power to change a community.”

Wilds, who formerly worked for the Gates Foundation, said she was a big proponent for Tacoma receiving $38 million from that foundation. She said it’s possible more Gates money would be available for the new program, but local leaders must step forward first.

“It is now time for Tacoma to make those investments in itself,” she said.

HOW to help

For more information about Tacoma scholarship fundraising and the College Success Foundation, call scholarship programs executive director Steve Thorndill at 1-877-655-4097, or visit www.collegesuccessfoundation.org.