Wright State expands scholarships

FAIRBORN, Ohio (WDTN) - Since 2006 Dayton CW's Scholarship program has made the dream of college a reality for many high school graduates.

Now Wright State University is investing $3 million in a new, expanded scholarship program designed to make a college education more affordable and attract and retain high-achieving and academically successful students.

"What we're doing this year is were going to expand the program to make it more available to more students from Ohio," explained Wright State President David R. Hopkins.

The new program broadens the requirements of existing scholarships, making more students eligible.

“This is Wright State’s way of helping deserving students who may find the pursuit of a college degree financially challenging,” said Wright State President David R. Hopkins. “We want to open the doors to a college education as widely as possible. Our Academic Performance Scholarship program, which features the new Wright Promise Scholarship and the new Raider Excellence Scholarship, is a perfect way to do that.”

The scholarship program promoted by Dayton's CW gets high grades from Dr. Hopkins. He says it's connecting deserving students to a quality education.

"Lot's of times we see families in great distress," he said. "Students and families really struggling that's the nature of the great recession of 2008."

That was the case for first generation college student Cheyenne Kelly of Clayton, Dayton CW's most recent scholarship winner.

"My family is most important to me so it's good they don't have to pay for me to go to school," Kelly said