Fewer Students On Track For Indiana Scholarship

About 80 percent of Indiana’s incoming high school seniors aren’t meeting requirements for a state-funded scholarship. (James Martin/Flickr)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — About 80 percent of Indiana’s incoming high school seniors aren’t meeting requirements for a state-funded scholarship program created for low income students. This is the first group of incoming seniors who are face tougher qualification requirements for the state’s 21st Century Scholars program.

The legislature created the new requirements in 2011.  At the time, only about 10 percent of students who earned the scholarships were graduating college in four years.

Senate budget architect Luke Kenley helped craft the new requirements and says the state needs to ensure its scholars are as well-prepared as possible to finish college on-time.

“When you look at the requirements objectively, they don’t seem to be all that strenuous,” Kenley said. “And so I’m puzzled why the rates are kind of low – and I’m concerned, obviously.”

The new requirements include a graduation plan, a grade point average of at least 2.5, a career interest assessment and a visit to a college campus.

Sen. Kenley says reexamining the requirements might be in order during next year’s budget-writing session, but he adds that he doesn’t want to sacrifice their rigor.

The Indy Star reports reports there may be some disconnect between what students do – the requirements they complete – and what they report to the state:

School officials who administer the program say they plan to work with their seniors to ensure they finish the activities and qualify for the scholarships. They expect that students have already completed many of the tasks but have yet to notify the state of their progress.

In meeting that goal, administrators are confronted with daunting statistics.

In Marion County, just 13 percent of incoming senior scholarship candidates are up to date on completing the requirements, data show. Only about half of those potential recipients have taken the first step in the process — registering with the state website ScholarTrack to log completed activities.

Decatur Township Schools officials are planning an immediate effort to help seniors who haven’t logged on to the state website once they return from summer break, said Chris Duzenbery, the district’s director of college and career readiness. The district’s students cover most of the activities required by the 21st Century Scholar program through a course they already take in school, he said. But state data indicate just under 10 percent of potential Class of 2017 scholarship recipients from Decatur Central High School have completed all requirements for Grades 9-11.