On the January "Start a new post" Anonymous wrote:
"Let's move to a new subject is there any ball point numbers on how many PPS student who will be potential candidates to use the Pgh
Promise scholarship for a 4 year college,2 year college,trade school,business school etc.
let see out of this year graduation class to see how many students that PPS prepared for life after High School!!!!!!!!"
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Do you mean, how many have used Promise money so far and for what purpose; or, how many in a particular class or classes are on tract to qualify for Promise money?
The Promise website has been thin on statistics; maybe someone can follow up with Mr. Ghubril.
tIf you visit a PPS high school you will likely find a display by grade level of Promise Ready students. Try looking near the counseling office. This is not exactly at your fingertips but it seems that the counseling staff is working overtime to keep the readiness info up to date. Maybe this function will switch to a duty under the new Deputy Chief of Staff when that person is named.
Everything is so focused on the Promise, but then there are all these news stories about college grads sho feel their diploma isn't getting them anywhere. Hopefully the Promise program will also counsel students to make wise choices about where to spend their scholarship money.
If the numbers are too below mediocre and no amount of PR is not going to polish it up, the stastics will be shuffled, hidden and kept from the public.
The media never asks, and PPS knows this.
The Anderson Cooper segment included a brief interview Mr. Ghubril and he used the numbers ---2500 students in 3 years.
This doesn't seem like a big increase over the percentage of students continuing their education before the Pittsburgh Promise, at least based on the A+ report; but it would be useful to know if there has been an increase in the percentage of students who have remained with their programs and, eventually, the percentage of students who finish their programs. Then again, probably no one kept track before of how many students finished their post-secondary education so it may be hard to prove one way or the other.
2500 kids over 3 years? That seems low considering about 25,000 attend PPS.
One fact people seem to forget is that charter school students are included in the promise numbers, however are not factored into the total PPS population & scores.
I am surprised the numbers are this low.
Hmmm, good point. On the other hand, many grads go to school outside PA and can't use the Promise. There must be some way of measuring whether a substantially higher percentage of PPS district grads continued their aducation after the Promise compared to before and in particular whether a higher percentage of low income grads are continuing their education.
Wouldn't it be nice if the kids that graduate from PPS (or Pgh Charter Schools I guess) that attend out-of-state universities for undergraduate education (and hence can't get Pgh Promise funding) could:
+ Use the Pgh Promise for grad school (Medical, Law, Dental, etc.) within PA. Pay up to $10K per year to not exceed $40k.
+ Use Pgh Promise funds for home ownership of primary residence within the city if under the age of 30. Pay up to $10k per year and not to exceed $40k total.
I'd rather see the students that attend out-of-state schools get the same funding as those that attend in-state schools, but the above options mentioned above seem to push for the desired results and offer another level of 'gracious fairness' to the formula.
Does anyone know how much of the $15M that must be raised by July 1 of this year to receive the $10M UPMC matching grant has been raised? The pittsburghpromise.org website does not seem to provide information on fundraising to date.
"Use Pgh Promise funds for home ownership of primary residence within the city"
Now that's an interesting idea. Good for the student, good for the city.
Pgh promise money is an educational fund. To use the money for anything else but for higher education is misappropriations of the fund.
How would the promise money help the student or the City if the money is used as a down payment toward a house? Working at McDonalds after high school will not bring in sufficient funds to maintain a household let alone a house. This case scenario is exactly what caused the housing market to crash in the first place. So far, Pgh has scaved the housing crisis and the economic crisis. Let's keep it like that!
Mark for some reason your post did not come thru on the blog. Can you try posting it again?
Another mission of the PP is economic development. The PP was to help save the city. It retains and attracts folk to Pgh to live, and study and succeed.
If Joe goes to U of M for undergrad and grad school, costing zero for PP, then it would be great to get him back home for our city -- debt and all. Perhaps his kids then go to PPS.
In the end, the PP is a bribe or a gamble or an incentive. It is a carrot - and for it to work its magic of motivation for all sorts of additional people, then it needs to be made as flexible as possible yet still have the upside for the city with it relationship ties.
Woops. P 2 was posted but not part 1. I am at a swim meet in Bethel and on my Blackberry. So help is welcomed.
Here is Mark's Part I:
Mark Rauterkus has left a new comment on your post "Use of Pittsburgh Promise":
Joe goes to Uof Michigan after getting out of PPS. Joe gets no PP money.
Jane goes to IUP ang gets 40k.
After graduation it would be great if Joe could go to PITT med school (or some other grad program in Pa) and get up to 10k per year for up to 4 years.
That is education funding.
Agree?
No. Sometimes kids just have to grow up! That is why some parents will put their children through college, but grad school is on their own! That is my philosophy. The Pittsburgh Promise should not pay for post-graduate schooling. Your student can choose to go to school in Pennsylvania for an equal or better education. Who is to say that anyone will stay where they go to school anyway??????
Anon --
Some parents don't pay for college, so by your argument neither should the Promise?
I like the idea of grad school IF back in state and didn't use undergrad. Or some sort of down payment help if returning to the city after college.
However, I think the bigger question is how much of that $100 million we're actually going to see. Raising 15M a year is no low bar and they're not going to get it by asking the HSs to run bake sales for them.
The fundamental idea behind the PP fundraising seemed problematic from the start.
Let's say you are a foundation with a couple million to donate. You can give it to the PP and get a mention in the newspaper, but the PP will always be associated primarily with UPMC. And, if your job is to evaluate funding proposals, how much is there really for you to do?
On the other hand, you cn take that same money; sort through and evaluate a dozen proposals a year; and become THE funder for two worthy programs that will make a million go very, very far and will forever sing the praises of your foundation. Which is more interesting?
I thought promise dollars could only be spent @a 4 year university? Seeks there are programs in the schools now that are"Consuming"promise dollars prior to graduation...
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