Gov. Dan McKee has filed a budget amendment to extend Rhode Island College’s (RIC) Hope Scholarship program for an additional two years.
The Hope Scholarship program provides funding to eligible in-state students to help them pay for tuition and fees during their junior and senior years at RIC.
“Supporting students and giving them the financial flexibility to pursue higher education and career pathways is at the core of Hope Scholarship,” McKee said in a news release. “I’m proud to extend this opportunity for Rhode Island College students to build a bright future right here in the Ocean State.”
The program, which was launched in 2023, is currently open to 243 in-state juniors and seniors who have maintained a 2.5 GPA or higher and are on track to graduate or earn an approved certificate in a total of four years. The McKee administration said the program has saved an estimated $2.1 million in tuition and fees during its first two years.
“That a college education leads to a better quality of life and a wider variety of career opportunities is unquestionable,” Shannon Gilkey, Rhode Island Postsecondary Commissioner, said in a news release. “This is another example how the state of Rhode Island, led by the McKee administration, continues to prioritize and address the affordability of higher education facing Rhode Islanders and a belief that any Rhode Islander should have the ability to earn a college degree.”
If approved, the program will continue through July 2030.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
