Many local high school graduates who can’t afford to enroll in college, received life-changing news April 30 when KC Scholars announced its annual college scholarship recipients for low and modest income students and adult learners in the Kansas City region.
Adriana Gonzalez celebrated the good news that she has received a scholarship from KC Scholars with her dog.
Awards include renewable financial assistance, college advisement and planning support, and persistence support. This is the fifth year the awards have been given.
Almost 1,000 scholarships totaling a renewable investment of more than $32 million were announced.
“Most of our students are low-income and college may seem out of reach financially,” Dr. Beth Tankersley-Bankhead, president and CEO of KC Scholars said. “With the financial and college planning support through KC Scholars, students – and their families – have college within reach and are supported to plan for, to be ready for, and to be successful in college. Additionally, KC Scholars awardees are able to earn a college credential/degree without taking on crippling student debt loads, which has an impact on their lives. KC Scholars also has a multi-generational approach – nearly 300 scholars have at least one other family member also in the program and generations are inspiring other generations in the family to apply and also earn their post-secondary education.”
Tankersley-Bankhead has been president and CEO of KC Scholars since the planning stages of the organization in 2015. She relocated to Kansas City because she knew she would facilitate planning of KC Scholars and recognized KC Scholars as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to create large-scale individual and regional impact.
KC Scholars 2021 award winner, Adriana Gonzalez, Park Hill High School, Parkville, plans on attending UMKC, and first learned of being awarded the scholarship when she opened her email and read the letter informing her of her win.
“I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement at the thought knowing that I would be able to attend one of the schools that I had been looking into,” Gonzalez said. “Thanks to the KC scholar’s scholarship, I see UMKC in my future, which otherwise may have not been the case.”
She’s not certain yet what her field of study will be, but she is interested in the dentistry industry or something in the medical field.
“Education is important to me because I think education is a foundation to having a good and successful career which leads to a bright future, Gonzalez said. “I think it’s important for our country to help as many people as possible because a lot of jobs require a college degree and not everyone has access/means to acquire a college degree.”
This year, there were more than 1,600 applications. More than 74% of the applicants are individuals of color; more than 70% will be the first person in their family to attend college, and students are from 95 unique public, private, charter and home schools.
Some of the awardees were notified at their homes, accompanied by a car parade, while others were told the news by email and Zoom.
“KC Scholars has now made over 5,000 awards in just five years and is looking forward to all that lies ahead as we continue to provide fair and equitable access to a post-secondary education,” Tankersley-Bankhead said. “Just think, within five application and award cycles we have had 70 awardees graduate from college and 84 more graduates anticipated in spring of 2021. With the support of this program, this region’s students can fulfill their dreams! We must not - we dare not - forget the positive impact of education in addressing racial and social equity.”
KC Scholars’ recipients enroll in college at rates near 100% and they continue in college in the high-90 percentile. For the adult recipients that’s nearly 40 percentage points higher than the national average. For the high school recipients, the rate is more than 20 percent higher than national averages. And these numbers remained steady, even during the pandemic.
About 1,000 scholarships are awarded annually and KC Scholars has awarded more than 5,300 in the first five award cycles.
“Funds come from the community – the Kauffman Foundation is the lead and largest funder, but we have nearly 300 community donors (individuals, companies, foundations, and more) that donate to help KC Scholars award even more scholarships, and 100% of external donations go to providing more scholarships,” Tankersley-Bankhead said.
For Tankersley-Bankhead, the highlights of the April 30 awards were the moments when a student or returning adult learner found out that they had received a scholarship.
“There were tears, there was deep gratitude, there was a realization that the post-secondary dream was now attainable, Tankersley-Bankhead said. “It is also exciting to see community members come out and celebrate with awardees and school staff, and leaders beam with pride as their students receive a scholarship.”
Waking up each day and knowing that what KC Scholars is doing is transforming lives and positively impacting the region is very fulfilling for her. She is also inspired and motivated by the success of the first five years, and knowing there are many opportunities and possibilities ahead for KC Scholars.
Community members are also encouraged to help ensure the future success of KC Scholars.
“Community members can serve as volunteer reviewers to help read applicants’ personal statements and recommendations – apply starting in January 2022 – and community members can donate. Every dollar matters and helps KC Scholars to award even more scholarships next year to deserving students and returning adult learners from our region,” Tankersley-Bankhead said.
Gonzalez’s family is very excited that she will now have the opportunity to get a college degree.
“I would encourage other students to keep trying to apply for scholarships regardless of the outcome because you could be surprised and be awarded a scholarship,” Gonzalez said. “I am excited to continue my education and learn all sorts of new things that I can apply to my future and potentially give back to my community.”