CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A new scholarship program for graduates of some Chicago public high schools appears to have reduced barriers to higher education significantly.
"Hope Chicago" offered all of this year's graduates from five select CPS high schools full scholarships to public universities in Illinois, the City Colleges of Chicago and some private universities in the Chicago-area.
Hope Chicago's chief program officer, Michele Howard, said the rate of graduates at those schools going on to higher education was 57 percent prior to the scholarship program.
"There's been an intentional focus on students who are in the middle academically and so what Hope Chicago has been able to do is to come in and serve those students directly," she explained.
"So we've had a greater increase in students between about a 2.0 and a 2.9 GPA, actually being able to go to college."
Howard hopes the higher rate of graduates from those high schools moving on to higher education will encourage more corporate and private donations to Hope Chicago, so the program can offer more scholarships at more schools.
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