Lynchburg Beacon of Hope Scholarships

Last-Dollar FREE community college at CVCC

Or Last-dollar up to $2000/annually or up to $8000 total over 4 years per LCS graduate (2019-2024)

Stay Close, Go Far: Lynchburg’s Promise is the first Promise Scholarship of its kind in Virginia. Using the Future Centers, nested inside LCS’s High Schools, Lynchburg’s Promise offers last-dollar scholarships to a universal population of LCS graduates (Classes 2019-2024 and we hope even longer into the future) who choose to pursue their post-secondary education at one of the region’s accredited colleges, universities, or technical certification programs.  

These include Central Virginia Community College, Centra College of Nursing, Liberty University, the University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, and Sweet Briar College.

Students can receive:

• Free community college at CVCC. This is up to a last-dollar scholarship in current dollars per student. The scholarship can be applied to Associates Degree programs as well as technical and industry certification programs and is paid by semester directly to CVCC on the student’s behalf over up-to two years.
• OR A Scholarship of up to $2,000 per year (up to $8000 last-dollar per student over 4 years) to pursue her/her education at one of our accredited local four-year colleges and universities.  
• Long-term access to the incredible support and resources of the Beacon of Hope Future Centers at Heritage and E. C. Glass High School.  And the support of the newly-formed Beacon of Hope Office of College Success and CVCC Future Center as our students move successfully through their post-secondary experiences.

• You must be a graduating senior from an LCS High School in the Classes 2019-2024. This is a 5-year Promise, but we hope, with this community’s support, to extend Lynchburg’s Promise for future LCS graduating classes.
• You must have attended LCS at least from grades 9-12. Lynchburg’s Promise is designed not only to help our individual students access college and technical school, but to create an added incentive for families to choose LCS for their students’ secondary education.
• You must complete the FAFSA and access all other scholarships and financial opportunities that are on the table.  Lynchburg’s Promise is a last-dollar scholarship.  This mean that families are required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which helps students access Pell grants and other state/institution aid.  We believe that it doesn’t make sense to leave any accessible dollars for students on the table. We know that the incredible LCS high school counseling staffs partnering with the Beacon of Hope Future Centers are extraordinary resources to help our LCS families access numerous streams of financial aid, grants, and support.  This, in concert with Lynchburg’s Promise, can help close the financial gap experienced by many of Lynchburg’s families.
• You must choose to pursue your post-secondary education at one of our region’s accredited colleges, universities, or technical certification programs. These include: Central Virginia Community College, Centra College of Nursing, Liberty University, the University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, and Sweet Briar College. Technical Certification and Industry Trade Programs can be pursued at CVCC.
• You must be academically eligible to return to your college/technical program each semester. Beacon of Hope, alongside each of our College and University partners, will work with LCS Promise graduates to access student supports and resources on campus that can help you be successful on your post-secondary journey. Scholarships are paid from Beacon of Hope directly to your college, so as long as your grades and performance permit you to return, we will continue to help close your financial gap.
• Lynchburg’s Promise is UNIVERSAL. It is not needs-based, which means it is not dependent on an LCS family’s income. It is not merit-based, which means it is not reserved for only our highest achieving students. It is for EVERY SINGLE GRADUATE of Lynchburg City Schools (Classes 2019-2024) who chooses to pursue education locally… who chooses to Stay Close, but Go Far.

Stay Close, Go Far Lynchburg’s Promise is a universal place-based scholarship program. It is a
tremendous community investment in our young people with some very important intended
outcomes:

1. To empower and equip Lynchburg’s young people not only to dream about pursuing college
   or technical programs after high school, but to achieve those dreams
2. To help create a home-grown, home-educated stream of young people ready to infuse
   Lynchburg’s workforce for the future
3. To keep our young people here after earning both high school and post-secondary degrees,
   helping make this community a workforce ready community for the future
4. To bolster an already successful and acclaimed school system by incentivizing pursuit of
   education through Lynchburg City Schools and onto the incredible resource of colleges,
   universities, and trade programs available to students in and around Lynchburg.
5. To reduce Lynchburg’s rate of families living in poverty, helping to positively impact
   generational poverty

We believe that if we can help our young people to pursue education and training and Stay Close, they will help this community to Go Far.

The Last-dollar Scholarship is a “gap-filling” award. It is awarded when a family’s expected family contribution (EFC) and financial aid package total are less than the cost of attendance; resulting in unmet financial need. In short, we expect Promise Scholarship recipients to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), apply for institutional aid at the local college, university, or trade program he/she chooses, and Beacon of Hope will help close the financial gap with a scholarship.

Lynchburg’s Promise represents a tremendous investment in the young people of Lynchburg—an investment made by thousands of people and families and businesses and corporations in Lynchburg. And as with any smart investment, this community expects significant returns on this investment.

• We expect our Promise scholars invest in themselves by doing their best at E. .C Glass or at Heritage. We expect them to prepare to be as successful as they can be all the way through high school graduation and onto college, university, training, or technical programs. This means graduating on time and showing up for class ready to be engaged. It means thinking about their futures NOW, preparing applications and financial aid documents, it means completing scholarships, caring about transcripts. It means thinking and planning for tomorrow today.
• We expect our Promise scholars to use the resources available to them. LCS students have an incredible wealth of post-secondary resources available to them that exist nowhere else. Lynchburg Beacon of Hope High School Future Centers– in partnership with the extraordinary school counseling staffs, administrators, and faculty at LCS—are making such significant strides in access to education and training after high school that the City of Richmond replicated them in five of its most underserved high schools.
• We expect our Promise scholars to continue to invest in themselves as they pursue college or technical school. We expect them to access and regularly use the tools and resources available to them to help them succeed at their post-secondary programs—in the same way they diligently used their High School Future Centers, their incredible School Counselors, and their teachers, coaches, mentors, and peers back in high school. We all encounter road bumps along they—it’s the resilience, grit, determination, and willingness to accept help that we expect of our Promise
  recipients as they surmount those barriers.
• We expect our Promise scholars to pay it forward. This is a really big deal. This community believes in our young people, our investment for the future, in such a profound way that they have pledged millions of dollars to help them succeed. The likes of a Promise like this one have never before been seen in Virginia. We expect our Promise scholars to believe in themselves and do everything in their power to successfully complete their program of choice after high school. We expect them to pay it forward to the 4+ classes of Promise scholars coming behind them—all the way through 2024 and hopefully beyond. We expect them to invest in this community that has invested in them—to complete college, to consider a career in this community, to give back to the community that believed in them.

Applications for Lynchburg’s Stay Close, Go Far Promise Scholarships are available online through our website starting on January 15th. Please use your high school Future Centers for any assistance needed.

Stay Close, Go Far: Lynchburg’s Promise is a true grassroots initiative. It has been a project in the making since 2012, the year Beacon of Hope opened our Future Centers and began an incredible partnership with Lynchburg City Schools.

Thousands of partners have contributed time, talent, and treasury to make this dream a reality including individuals and families, corporate headquarters, local small businesses, the region’s colleges and universities, the administrators and staff at Lynchburg City Schools, leaders within the City of Lynchburg, Friends of Beacon of Hope, Beacon of Hope’s campaign chair and committee, and the volunteer Board of Directors which has been so instrumental in the evolution of Beacon of Hope over the past 7 years.

No.  You can either (1) choose to use the Promise EITHER for free community college (last dollar) or (2) cover CVCC on your own and save your Promise for your junior and senior year at a Promise-eligible school.  If you choose (2), you will have an additional 2 years of Promise eligibility which you can use at one of the Promise-eligible schools to pursue graduate degrees, earn a second major, get a technical certification alongside your degree. 

Lynchburg’s Stay Close, Go Far Promise is a last-dollar scholarship. Scholarships are paid directly to our Stay Close, Go Far Promise colleges, universities and trade programs, not directly to the students themselves.  If a student has unmet need for tuition, fees, room/board, Stay Close, Go Far can apply to this need.  As is the case with all Promise Scholarships, awards are made directly to each Stay Close, Go Far college/certification program and will be reflected in your individual student accounts. 

Yes, absolutely.  Since Early College/STEM Academy LCS grads will already have earned your CVCC Associate’s Degree, you can use Lynchburg’s Promise (at up to $2,000 per year) to pursue your education for the next 4 years at one of our Stay Close, Go Far Promise college/universities.  This might mean getting a Bachelor’s Degree, pursuing your Master’s Degree after earning your Bachelor’s degree, pursuing a double major, or the like.