Denison University announces that it has joined Say Yes to Education Inc., a national nonprofit organization that helps children in urban school districts attend and pay for college. Denison will take its place with Dartmouth, Cornell and Princeton universities and 11 others in the organization’s higher education compact, which offers free tuition to eligible students. Denison will provide one 4-year full-tuition scholarship each year to a student from an urban environment.
“We are thrilled to be joining the Say Yes family,” said Denison President Adam Weinberg. “Denison has a long and proud history of partnering with innovative organizations to provide access for inner-city students and ensuring collegiate success. We believe in the model Say Yes has developed and look forward to long relationship.”
Say Yes to Education, which is based in New York City and serves nearly 65,000 children in kindergarten through 12th grade, has been working with the Syracuse, N.Y. school district since 2008 and with the schools in Buffalo since 2012. More than 2,100 graduates of Syracuse Public High Schools have used Say Yes support to attend college since 2009. The organization expects to expand nationally, to other cities in the coming years. Say Yes also announced a $4.5 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to support its efforts.
Denison is now one of 54 institutions in supporting the Say Yes organization and is the first supporting college in Ohio to collaborate with the group. Other institutions that joined Say Yes this year include Williams College; Rice University; Pomona College; Rhodes College; and Vanderbilt University.