Deadline nears for scholarship applications

Thousands of Washington middle-school students may be leaving college-scholarship money on the table by not applying for a new program designed to give them an incentive to stay in school and out of trouble.

About 63,000 seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders have until the end of June to join the 28,000 students from low-income families who have already signed up for the College Bound program.

If they miss that deadline, and they are in either eighth or ninth grade, they will be out of luck because after this year the program will only be available to students in grades seven and eight. This year's seventh-graders will have one more year to sign up.

For the past two years, the scholarship program has made a promise to any middle-school student who qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches or is a foster child, who maintains at least a 2.0 grade-point average through high school and who stays out of trouble with the law — no felonies.

If they make a pledge to meet the requirements of the program and still qualify financially when they graduate from high school, these students will be entitled to free college tuition, fees and a $500 stipend for books for four years.

Rachelle Sharpe, associate director of student-financial assistance for the state Higher Education Coordinating Board, considers the program a success and remains optimistic that participants may rush to join the program in the next two months.