USA Funds Grant to Help Indiana Improve Tracking of Twenty-first Century Scholars

A grant from USA Funds^® will help three Indiana state agencies enhance reporting and information sharing for a program that promotes college access for seventh- and eighth-grade students from low-to-moderate-income families.

USA Funds has awarded a $12,400 grant to evaluate information-technology services for the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program. The grant will assist the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana and the Indiana Department of Education, all of which play active roles in administering the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program.

“This grant will enable us to look at the three data systems involved in the program and identify how we can share information and pull useful data for reporting,” says Cheryl Orr, senior communications associate, Indiana Commission for Higher Education. “With these enhancements, we can better serve those students eligible for the program and those already in the program. We simply want to build upon what we already have and make the program even more valuable.”

The Twenty-first Century Scholars Program began in 1990 as Indiana’s way of raising the educational aspirations of low- and moderate-income families. Income-eligible seventh- and eighth-graders who enroll in the program and fulfill a pledge of good citizenship to the state are guaranteed the cost of four years of college tuition at any participating public college or university in Indiana. If the student attends a private institution, the state will award an amount comparable to that of a public institution. If the student attends a participating proprietary school, the state will award a tuition scholarship equal to that of Ivy Tech State College.

Additional alignment of data systems will give the organizations greater ability to follow a student from initial middle-school enrollment in the program to college completion.  The intent is to use the data in ways that improve the program and, ultimately, help more students attain their college degrees.

“USA Funds is pleased to partner with the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program on this project,” says Henry Fernandez, USA Funds executive director of scholarships, outreach and philanthropy. “The mission of USA Funds includes enhancing access to postsecondary education, and the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program works to make a college education affordable for low- and moderate-income families. We believe this grant will help improve the administration of the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program, and ultimately benefit eligible students and their families.”