ATLANTA — Some middle school students in Georgia will soon have a $10,000 reason to stay out of trouble.
Gov. Nathan Deal announced Monday that he is launching a privately funded, need-based scholarship program aimed at grooming low-income students for college.
Participating students must sign a contract in middle school that they will remain crime-free, not have any behavior issues and achieve a high school GPA of 2.5.
In exchange, the students will get a $2,500 annual scholarship for up to four years of a Georgia public or private college, as well as mentors and coaches to help them through middle and high school.
“It will create new opportunities for students all across our state,” Deal said in a news conference at Georgia Tech.
The program will be piloted in Bulloch, Douglas and Rabun counties, with additional counties to join later. Eventually, the state hopes to have every school district participating and all funds will be raised privately.
It’s modeled on a program in Cartersville City Schools, which the superintendent there brought from Florida, Deal said.
