Students graduating this spring from three Denver high schools will have their college costs covered under a new scholarship program that officials say will soon expand to all city high schools.

Tim Marquez is a 1976 graduate of Lincoln High School.  He is a founder and CEO of Venoco Inc., which is an oil and gas company

The Rocky Mountain News article has the details.  The program is being piloted at Lincoln, Montbello, and South (where I graduated from) High Schools this year and will expand to the other Denver schools next year.  What will the program provide?

The foundation is targeting unmet need, or the financial gap left after a student applies for government aid, loans, grants and scholarships. Every scholarship recipient also gets a computer.

This sounds like it will provide an unbelievable opportunity for the community.  This takes away a huge stumbling block for kids that should go to college but can't afford it.  The long term potential ramifications are huge in scope.

As I was reading the article, one thought that occurred to me was that if I had kids, this would be a school district I would strongly consider sending them to.  If they were able to secure other scholarships or grants, fine.  This program will provide a safety net of sorts if they or other students didn't have that good fortune.

Marquez is providing $50 million as seed money.  As the article notes,

But more donors are needed to fund the program, which will require a total endowment of $200 million.

"We really believe there are resources we can tap," [Janet] Gullickson [executive director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation], said. "We talk about the million-dollar folks, but I may have $500 laying around I can give. That $500 can make a difference."

A community effort is coming together to make that community better in the long term.  An educated workforce will help Denver and Colorado's economies and societies grow.  I hope it succeeds.

More information can be found at www.denverscholarship.org