PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island College’s new state-funded pilot scholarship program will launch this fall.
The state college announced Friday that the Hope Scholarship, first introduced back in April by Gov. Daniel J. McKee, will start being offered to eligible students in the fall. The announcement comes after funding for the pilot program was approved in the 2024 fiscal state budget by the R.I. General Assembly – and signed by McKee on Friday.
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The state will budget $4 million for the program, via its general revenue. Initially, McKee proposed $10.4 million for the program, funded by $9.4 million from the state’s fiscal recovery funds and $1 million in the college’s institutional financial aid.
However, the current version moved the scholarship’s funding to the state’s general revenue for this year’s budget, RIC spokesperson John Taraborelli said Friday via email to Providence Business News. Further funds for the scholarship program, he said, would then be allocated as part of each consecutive budget.
The new Hope Scholarship, RIC said, will make the final two years for eligible students earning a bachelor’s degree at the college tuition-free, similar to what the Community College of Rhode Island’s Rhode Island Promise program offers. The legislation funds a five-year pilot to create the scholarship that will close the financial gap after students’ academic finances and all other forms of financial aid have been exhausted.
RIC says the scholarship will be available for both new and current students. Eligible students must be Rhode Island residents who qualify for in-state tuition, be enrolled on a full-time basis, have declared a major, maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 and earned a minimum of 60 credits toward an eligible program of study. RIC also said students must commit to live, work or continue their education in the Ocean State after graduating.
The Hope Scholarship is also a means to possibly help RIC grow its enrollment. In a Providence Business News Jan. 20 cover story, some school officials blame CCRI’s Rhode Island Promise program as having lured potential students seeking an affordable education away from attending RIC. Full-time freshmen enrollment at RIC fell 19% between the fall of 2017 and 2018. Plus, applications from transferring students dropped by 17.3% in that same period.
In a statement, RIC Interim President Jack R. Warner said the scholarship will be “an important tool” in building a workforce to drive the state’s economic future.
“We know that a high-quality degree from Rhode Island College is the pathway to social mobility for so many Rhode Islanders. This scholarship opens that pathway for many more people. It’s not just the scholarship recipients who benefit, but the entire state as we strengthen public higher education,” Warner said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
What quaranty does RIC have that students will commit to live, work or continue their education in the Ocean State after graduating? What penalty will the students pay who do not live up to their commitments?
This whole scheme is a boondoggle and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
RIC should be merged into URI so we can do away with the wasteful redundancy of RIC’s administration.