PHOENIX — Although their college years are a decade away, dozens of Phoenix third graders already have been offered full scholarships.
According to KPNX-TV, the Arizona-based Rosztoczy Foundation is offering College Promise scholarships to 63 third grade students at Bernard Black Elementary School. The program has pledged to fund each child’s tuition, campus housing and books at an Arizona state university, provided the student graduates from the elementary school and a Phoenix Union high school. Recipients also must meet certain financial requirements, the news outlet reported.
Shocked parents learned the news at an assembly on Monday.
“The goal, through the generous (offer) of this family, is that finances will not be the barrier that college is an option for every third grader right here,” Roosevelt School District Superintendent Quintin Boyce said during the ceremony, according to KPNX.
This isn’t the first time that the foundation has awarded the scholarships. In 2012, third graders at Avondale’s Michael Anderson School received a similar offer, according to KSAZ-TV.